Church-going teenager was innocent victim of brutal police attack
THE press and public alike were incensed by the death of young Harold Curtin, who worked in the Jewellery Quarter.
An advertisement appeared in local papers appealing for information that would lead to the killer: “Will the persons or passengers on the tram who saw or heard the young man Curtin struck by a policeman in Colmore Row on Wednesday night by the cable queue kindly communicate with the deceased’s parents at 76 Anglesey Street, Lozells.”
Eyewitnesses revealed that the deeply religious churchgoer was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He was a popular man, with more than 100 mourners following the funeral cortege to Handsworth Parish Church. The subsequent inquest heard from Isaac McGlaughlin, friend of the dead man and present when he was struck.
He said they were standing outside the Town Hall and saw men battering the door with a scaffold pole.
The police charged and Curtin joined those running from the scene. Near the Bluecoat School, 300 yards from the Town Hall, a policeman came rushing along and struck Mr McGlaughlin on the arm while screaming, “Come on, you bastard!”
The witness heard a dull thud as Curtin was struck on the head. The dead man’s brother said he heard the police cry, “They have got the door down,” before drawing their batons. Another witness said they heard shouts of, “Let’s out them”.
Curtin, the inquest was told, had been separated from the crowd in Colmore Row. An officer, running towards the teenager, appeared to slip before delivering a blow to the head. As the policeman walked away, members of the public called on him to stop. One shouted, “Take his number!”
The officer kept walking, was never identified and never stepped forward. One witness said Curtin remarked, “Oh, dear. I’ve had a smack”. Passers-by examined his head, and found a cut about three-quarters of an inch long. They helped him rise and walked with him.
On the way Curtin remarked: “It’s just my luck. I have a ticket for a soirée
tomorrow night, but suppose I shall have to postpone it.”
They strolled in the direction of the General Hospital, but when they got to the top of Weaman Street, he staggered, then seemed to suffer a fit. He died at 2am.
Curtin’s killer was never identified and the December inquest returned a manslaughter verdict.
The Gloucester Citizen reported: “The Birmingham Coroner, assisted by the Chief Constable, made efforts on Monday to establish the identity of the police officer who is supposed to have administered the fatal blow to the youth, Harold Curtin, who was killed in the police charge in connection with the Lloyd George riot.
“About 120 constables, who took part in the Colmore Row advance, were paraded at Duke Street Police Station, and a dozen witnesses were produced in the hope that they might be able to pick out the man of whom they had spoken at the inquest. The proceeding, however, proved fruitless, and the mystery in connection with the missing policeman remains unsolved.”