Spicer was a Trooper in the 35th (Middlesex) Company of the Imperial Yeomanry.
The assault seems to have been random and without cause, but reading the various newspaper reports, I found that Beels was described as being a "dark man," and that Spicer's father was a "West Indian planter" (presumably a planter in the West Indies). Perhaps Spicer said something out of place to Beels at the coffee-stall?
