Death by Billiard Ball
The scene of one truly daft and bizarre death.
Location: 2 Bateman Street, Soho
Description: Today it's Simmons Bar, but not long ago this was a traditional West End boozer with a bizarre death in its history.
The story goes that in November 1893 a young man called Walter Cowle, an envelope-cutter had visited his regular here, the Carlisle Arms Tavern, to meet with friends.
A bit of a joker, Cowle claimed he had the ability to place a large billiard ball in his mouth and close his teeth. His friends were eager to see this trick performed, and so the landlord was requested to produce one which he did after several assurances that Cowle would not actually put the ball in his mouth, but would use sleight of hand to amuse and trick the gathered company. A good friend of Cowle's insisted he had seen Cowle do the trick many times, and it had never gone wrong before.
Unfortunately something went wrong, and Cowle attempted to swallow the ball, immediately choking. There was little the collected crowd could do. They held him upside down, slapped his back, and tried to remove the ball from his mouth, but nothing worked and Cowle was soon pronounced dead.
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The scene of one truly daft and bizarre death. |
Ranking This Month: 133/2969
Pages Hit This Month: 152
Credits: BBC History Magazine 8 Oct 2015
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Where Judy Garland Died», 1.5km
Newgate Execution Scaffold», 1.6km
Walthamstow's Plague Pits», 7.1km
William Bligh died here», 0.5km
Death by Billiard Ball», 0km
Cursed Workplace?», 1.3km
Death of Jean Charles de Menezes», 2.9km
The Markham Square Siege», 2.2km
Edward Leeson died here», 11.km
The Dorchester», 1.0km
Location Pinpointed:
pinpointing the forgotten and lost history of London
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