John Hanlon was tried at the Durham Assizes and found guilty of the murder of his sister but deemed not responsible for his actions by reason of insanity, and was detained at His Majesty's pleasure as a criminal lunatic.
[4] He performed well in pre-season and for the reserve team in the Midland League,[13] and when first-team centre-half Tommy Boyle was sold to Burnley, Hanlon took his place.
[14] Although not of Boyle's quality, he was initially viewed as an adequate replacement,[15] and kept his place for six matches,[16] in the last of which, away to Leeds City, he scored what proved to be his only Football League goal.
[14][16] Hanlon was a regular member of the 13-man training squad that prepared for FA Cup matches as Barnsley went on to win the competition,[17][18] but did not make the team.
[16][18] Barnsley chose not to retain Hanlon's services, and he returned to Darlington,[19] where he contributed to their winning the North-Eastern League title for the first time in 1912–13.
[20] In the 1914–15 FA Cup, Hanlon scored the only goal with two minutes remaining of the match against London Caledonians to take Darlington through to the first round proper,[21] in which they faced Bradford City.
The Yorkshire Post reported that in general Darlington paid the First Division club too much respect, but picked out Hanlon and Percy Sutcliffe as "effective spoilers of their opponents' tactics".