A RORKES DRIFT HERO COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

"375 December 10 1892
A RORKES DRIFT HERO COMMITTED FOR TRIAL At the Lichfield City Police Court, on
Friday, the 2nd instant, John McNulty, a corporal in the North Staffordshire Regiment, stationed at
Whittington Barracks, was charged with assaulting Margaret Cotterill, wife of William Cotterill,
boatman, 13 Warwick Street, Wolverhampton, and also with stealing from her a purse containing
£2. Lieut L B Scott and Lieut C C W Troughton represented the military authorities. On Thursday
prisoner was sent to Chester to escort a soldier from the military prisoner there to Lichfield. At
Chester he got into the same compartment as the prosecutrix and a woman named Amelia Smith,
who were travelling to Crewe. The soldier recognised Smith as a former acquaintance at Lichfield.
At Crewe all four got out and went into the town, where the prisoner pawned his watch and chain.
The soldiers then persuaded the two women to proceed to Lichfield, which they did. Shortly after
their arrival the woman Smith was arrested on a commitment. The prisoner and the prosecutrix
were seen in Backcester Lane about seven o'clock in the evening. The woman was on the ground,
and the prisoner kicked her. She accused the prisoner of taking her purse and money, and a woman,
in passing, saw the prisoner throw away a purse, which the prosecutrix identified as her property.
The prosecutrix was so drunk that the police detained her in custody. Lieutenant Scott gave the
prisoner an excellent character, and said that he had been 13 years in the service. He formerly
belonged to the 24th Regiment, and served at Rorkes Drift. The Bench imposed a fine of 5s and
costs in the first case, and committed thee prisoner for trial at the quarter sessions on the second
charge."

He was not a Rorke's Drift Hero. Headlines sell newspapers. Yes, he was there at the mission station after the battle was over.

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England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935