The Rushton Mutilation

When two farmers Johnson and Clowes left the Fox Inn at Rushton Spencer one snowy December night in 1879 they little thought of the terrible ramifications over an argument about the sale of geese with another local man named Brooks would have. The pair met farmer Brooks on the road. That night Johnson realised that Brooks was still annoyed at being out bid by Johnson for the birds. But in Johnson’s account nothing was really said and the men went home. A day or so later Johnson heard that Brooks had been attacked and maltreated. Although in the demur way of the press of the time this was not the whole of it as Brooks had been castrated by an unknown assailant. Johnson thought that when the police called a day or so later that he would be called as a witness having seen Brooks prior to the assault. It turned out that the police had arrived to arrest both men on a charge of grievous assault. The judicial process was speedy and both men found themselves in the dock by the end of January 1880. They were found guilty. Johnson in a subsequent interview was very contemptuous of the lack of guidance and support by his legal team. Johnson and Clowes got ten years penal servitude. They rigorously protested their innocence and began to serve a prison term firstly at Pentonville and then at Chatham. It was hard at first as they were in solitary confinement and the two men were used to the outdoor life. The regime was a severe one and the two men were put to work in menial back breaking work. Johnson did not feel any bitterness to Brooks for allowing this situation to develop. Johnson gained some solace from the prison chaplain at Pentonville “ But many a night I burst my eyes thinking about it”. The poor diet and toil reduced both men to shadows of their former selves physically and mentally.

Clowes added a statement ” Our conviction came on us sudden. We could not blame the jury or the judge, for no one at the trial had anything to say for us and Brooks words were not contradicted”.

The two men’s luck changed when Brooks died and in a death bed confession insisted that the two men were innocent. Brooks had in fact wounded himself. The Home Secretary ordered their release and the two men were given a change of clothing and put on a train to North Staffordshire. They were well treated and spent some time in Burslem where the Mayor of the town gave them money before the men went to their homes.

Mrs Clowes told the press that the family had been broken up and she had been turned out of the farm. The children were living with other relatives and she now ran a shop on Biddulph Moor. Johnson had been much changed by the experience.

October 1962- Cuban Missile Crisis recalled

We are coming up to the 50^th anniversary of a time, which was nearly the end for humanity in October 1962. It was the occasion that the Soviet Union and the United States almost went to war over the siting of Soviet missiles on Cuba the Caribbean island off the coast of Florida. President Kennedy issued a series of ultimatums to Soviet President Kruschev demanding that the missiles, which could easily reach cities on the eastern seaboard of the United States, be removed. The US Navy began a naval blockade of the island with the tacit threat of firing on any Soviet ships. October 24^th was the peak of the crisis. The Soviets relented and the possibility of a nuclear war passed. It was a close thing

I was 7 at the time. I can dimly recall the tense atmosphere of the time when the threat of nuclear war was a real possibility. A physical reminder of those nervous times was evident just across the road from where I lived. Somebody had painted on a war close to Stoke Railway station in large letters the slogan NO WAR OVER CUBA. The graffiti was so discernible that it stayed there for many years.

However reading the newspapers of the time there is no evidence that fear gripped the populace although it is likely that fears were deliberately surpressed by a Government keen not to panic the general public. The burning question for example that animated the parish councillors of Tean as the real prospect of atomic Armageddon approached was the fear that local couples were making out in a local telephone box. A Horton farmer Mr Bailey had photographed an odd shaped vegetable- a potato that looked like a rabbit. A letter from Rushton WI warned of the dangers of fireworks

However after the event passed realisation dawned that we had a narrow escape did dawn on some

The possibility of a nuclear holocaust remained a real one during the period of the Cold War- we again claim close in November 1973 when President Nixon put US forces on a high state of alert. And with the appalling availability of fissionable material possible falling into the hands of terrorists arguably the terrible prospect continues to haunt humanity.