On the 20 February
1909, Plymouth Argyle travelled to play Derby County in the 3rd
Round of the FA Cup. It wasn't a successful trip; Argyle lost a game
in which both sides played poorly to an Alf “Snobby” Bentley goal
which came at the end of the final minute of play. It was virtually the only
incident worthy of note for the afternoon, and was a
controversial one; the Argyle players had rounded on the referee,
insisting that he had blown the whistle to end the proceedings before
the ball had crossed the goal line; meanwhile the crowd, made up
predominantly of Derby supporters – their celebrations cut short
for a brief, agonising, moment, became almost hysteric as they burst
their way on to the pitch and the referee had to be escorted from the field by the police. Jubilation soon followed with the realisation that the goal and
therefore the result would stand; Argyle were out of the cup. However
the game would be remembered for events off rather than on the pitch.
In the immediate
aftermath of the game, it was discovered that a pickpocket had been
active in the crowd throughout the game. Frank Lester aged 23, of
Birmingham, had managed to pilfer a not inconsiderable sum of nearly
£14 during the course of the afternoon before he was caught. (He was
subsequently found guilty and sentenced to 2 months hard labour.)
After the game the
majority of Argyle officials, staff and supporters made their way
home on the 19:40 train from Derby. Four members of staff, namely
goalkeeper William Horne, forwards Teddy McIntyre and Jimmy
Hindmarsh, and club trainer Nicholas Wallis were given permission to catch
the later train leaving at 23:40 which they did so with two
supporters – Ernest Vanstone, a fish merchant of Stokes Lane,
Plymouth, and Frank Barnett a chief engine room artificer in the
Royal Navy.
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| Nicholas Arthur Wallis ©Greens On Screen |
After boarding the
train, the six men settled down to play a game of 'Napoleon' - a
card game similar to Euchre. With the exception of Jimmy Hindmarsh
who was teetotal, the men were all, to a greater or lesser extent,
the worse for wear for drink and the game became a bad tempered
affair; McIntyre seated across the table from Wallis accused him of
cheating by continually looking at Vanstone's cards. Wallis, who was
said not to be violent while in drink but argumentative, used rather
offensive language to McIntyre in response. McIntyre though, thought
he was going to be attacked and struck Wallis a savage blow on the
jaw, knocking him out. Horne - a large man playfully known to his
friends as “Tich” - then hit McIntyre. Hindmarsh put himself
between the two men and managed to separate the pair. McIntyre
retreated to the toilet to inspect his wounds - Horne's punch had
caught him in the eye – and noticed a water bottle which he grabbed
and went back to the carriage with the intention of hitting Horne
with it. Again Hindmarsh managed to keep the two men apart and
eventually McIntyre took a seat in a different part of the train for
the rest of an uneventful journey back to Plymouth. Wallis,
meanwhile, regained his senses and although bloodied and bruised,
appeared to have recovered enough on arrival at North Road Station to insist on carrying his own bags back to his lodgings at Amherst Road, Pennycomequick. Indeed, all of the men seem to
have put the fight behind them and the six of them parted on good
terms and as friends.
By eleven o'clock the
next morning however, Wallis was in a bad way and a doctor was
called. Dr Harold Ashton Lyth attended and concluded that Wallis had
a compound fracture on the right side of the jaw; with the assistance
of Dr Lynch, Wallis was given an anaesthetic and his jaw wired. It
was then discovered that Wallis was suffering from a condition known
as Rigg's Disease, a gum disease which caused secretions of pus in
the mouth. Later in the week, on the 26 February, Wallis was seen by
the doctors again as the wiring around his jaw had loosened, probably
as a result of the gum disease and it was decided he should remain at
the doctor's nursing home while the jaw was rewired and he
convalesced.
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| Teddy McIntyre ©Greens On Screen |
In the meantime, Teddy
McIntyre had been suspended by the club pending investigation and he
returned to his native Newcastle Upon Tyne.
As time progressed,
Wallis appeared to be making a full recovery until on the 8 March he
was found to be in a considerable fever caused by pleurisy which then
developed into a sceptic pneumonia from which he would never recover.
He died aged 31 at Dr Lyth's nursing home on the 24 March. Chief Inspector Sowerby of the Plymouth Borough Police issued an arrest warrant for Teddy McIntyre and despatched Inspector Tucker to Newcastle.
It didn't take long for
the news of Wallis' death to reach the ear of McIntyre in the North East, and when Inspector Tucker and Sergeant Gibson of the Newcastle
police knocked at his door, he was ready and waiting to leave with them. McIntyre was clearly devastated by the death of his friend and explained to the police officers that hadn't been able to sleep since hearing the news. He
returned to Plymouth the officers, where on the 6 April, he was
charged with the manslaughter of Nicholas Arthur Wallis. McIntyre
pleaded not guilty and was bailed to appear at the next Exeter
Assizes on sureties of £200.
On 30 June, the case
was heard at the Devon Assizes at Exeter Castle. There was
much legal and medical to-ing and fro-ing, the case for the defence rested on the fact that the death of Wallis was a result of sceptic pneumonia caused by
the existing gum disease. They added that although this
condition was exacerbated by the blow he received during the fight on
the train, as McIntyre was acting in self defence when he struck
Wallis, it was justified. The jury agreed, and Teddy McIntyre
was
found not guilty.
Although the incident
had a lasting affect on Teddy McIntyre, both mentally and
financially, and his career at Plymouth Argyle was over, he did go on
to make appearances for Portsmouth before returning to the North East
where he played for among others Hartlepools United
Sources:
Western Morning News (various editions February - July 1909);
Derby Daily Telegraph (22 February 1909);
Nottingham Evening Post (22 February 1909);
Greens On Screen (www.greensonscreen.co.uk) " The History of Argyle: 1903 - 1910" - Colin Parsons.
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