18th August 1860

Soldier kills colleague with a scrubbing brush

Quite what caused the argument we might never know, but on 18 August 1860, private Thomas Lee of the 30th Regiment threw a boot at his colleague, private Denis Sloane. When Sloane dodged and it missed him, Lee grabbed a scrubbing brush and smashed Sloane over the lead. Sloane was knocked out, and when he was lying on the floor, Lee jumped on him.

Although Sloane wasn’t killed outright, he was so badly injured that nobody expected him to recover. Part of the scrubbing brush was lodged in his head, where the cranium was smashed and there were also signs of bite marks.