A HISTORY OF FEATHERSTONE
1879
HANNAH HARPER - MANSLAUGHTER?
A SNYDALE COLLIERY TRAGEDY
The jury at the inquest last September on Hannah Harper gave a verdict of manslaughter against her grandmother Jane Newey because of an overdose of laudanum. The
case came up for trial in January. Before the trial started the judge
told the jury it was alleged she was guilty of culpable negligence in
giving the child an excessive dose. They would find beyond all question
the woman was extremely kind to the child, and she had given her own
child a similar dose of laudanum, and had also given it to the children
of other people. If in this case they thought there was an error of
judgement on the part of the woman, rather than any criminal intention,
they would no doubt ignore the bill (not try the case).
He said it seemed to be a practice in this district to send cases for
trial that had only come before the coroner. It was very much better for
cases of murder and manslaughter (at inquests) to also go before the
magistrates for inquiry. In the present case there was not a shadow of
evidence against the prisoner. It was difficult to get the facts from
the coroner's depositions, and in this case he had had some difficulty
to find out the name of the party to be charged (John Newey the father
or Jane Newey the grandmother). The jury agreed with the judge and the
case was not tried.
The following
account of the day the winding rope broke at Snydale Colliery is from the 1879 report by Frank Wardell, the
inspector of mines for Yorkshire.
The most
terrible accident which has occurred in this district for many years in
connection with shafts took place at the Victoria Colliery, Snydale, near
Pontefract, the property of Messrs Rhodes and Dalby on the 7th March.
The
"Stanley Main" seam is worked here at a depth of about 220 yards. The
shaft is fitted with wooden conductors, and the "shoes", which are
about four inches wide, attached to the cages run upon these. The rope in use
was a steel wire one, about four inches in circumference.
About 9 o'clock on the 7th March, Friday night, the night shift,
consisting of about 40 men and boys, commenced to descend. Eight persons went
down at one time. Three cage loads had reached the bottom, and a fourth batch
of eight men was being lowered when the vibration of the rope gave evidence to
the banksman that something was wrong. He had hardly signalled to the engineman
that something was wrong when the rope broke. For some time those in authority
on the surface did not know what had actually happened, as they were unable to
communicate with those at the bottom, the signal having been broken, and it
being considered dangerous to move the other cage with the engine without
knowing the state of affairs in the shaft. A message was sent down attached to
a safety lamp by means of a cord, and after the lapse of considerable time one
of the men who had gone down in the first cage sent an answer back that the
cage and all in it had gone down into the "sump", and that all was
quiet. After this, two men were sent down in a "skip" attached to a
new rope, and ascertained that the other cage was tightly wedged across the
conductors. By degrees this was loosened and lowered to the bottom of the
shaft.
The bodies of
the unfortunate men were got out of the sump and sent to the surface, the last
being recovered about 1 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.
The men and
boys who were in the pit were drawn out at the upcast shaft. The rope which
broke had been at work for about two years, and when examined afterwards, as it
had also been before the accident, no flaw could be perceived in it; it had not
broken off short, but with a long tear.
Witnesses at
the inquest spoke to the fact of the cage being lowered at the ordinary and
regular speed; nothing uncommon or irregular had been noticed. I carefully
inspected the shaft, cages conductors and rope; the ascending cage had
apparently left the conductors about 30 yards from the bottom; one of the
conducting rods was disconnected at the bottom, but the cage had got beyond
this point before it got out of the guides, and I believe that at meetings it
had collided with the descending cage, taking the latter up with it for a
moment, which would produce a certain amount of slack rope, and when the cages
separated the descending cage would fall to the extent of the slack rope, and
the jerk consequent on this broke the rope. The shaft was previously in good
working order, and had been so reported by the enginewright after examination
in the proper report book. The jury at the inquest returned a verdict of
accidental death.
Those killed were:
Samuel Kerfoot age 36, byeworker. From Lancashire - body sent back home.
William Douthoit age 38, byeworker
Charles Alsop age 35, byeworker - buried at Sandal.
John Brown age 42, horsekeeper
William Aldridge age 32, miner
William Pegg age 28, miner. From Derbyshire - body sent back home.
John Cancannon age 29, miner - buried at Normanton.
Samuel Clamp age 20, pony driver - buried at Normanton.
The
offertories at St
Thomas's Church
on the Sunday were given for the relief of the seven widows and 30 children
rendered fatherless. A total of £12 5s 4d was collected, and the sermon,
special for the occasion was "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away". The congregation
left the church to the solemn strains of The Dead March in Saul played
on the organ by Mrs Hall of Purston Hall.
This photo from the Tony Lumb Collection shows the winding arrangements. The peculiar headgear at the left with a single small wheel is where the men were brought out a few at a time. It had a winding engine with one cage and a slow speed. It took minutes for each wind compared with about a minute or less for most normal installations.
This photo from the Tony Lumb Collection shows the winding arrangements. The peculiar headgear at the left with a single small wheel is where the men were brought out a few at a time. It had a winding engine with one cage and a slow speed. It took minutes for each wind compared with about a minute or less for most normal installations.
SANITARY BYE-LAWS
1879 NEWS ITEMS
JANUARY The Pontefract Advertiser
announced Mr John Shaw of Featherstone, who will occupy Darrington Hall
from Candlemas next, will be the second Conservative candidate for the
representation of Pontefract borough.
William
Twigger of the New Inn Beerhouse, Phipp's Row, was charged with permitting
drunkenness on the premises and was fined £3.
William
Cheetham was charged with being a deserter from the Royal Artillery. PS
Grimshaw said he apprehended the prisoner at Featherstone in consequence of
private information he had received, and found he corresponded with the
description in the Police Gazette. The prisoner admitted he was a
deserter and he was committed to await orders from the War Office.
FEBRUARY Elizabeth Clarkson bought a hare for 6s but her husband didn't think
much of it, so she invited the neighbours to take part in a lottery in her
house at 6d a time. Fifteen people took part and the 6d entitled them to a
throw of two dice, the biggest score winning the hare.
PS Grimshaw heard
the noise in the house and charged Mrs Clarkson under the Lotteries Act. Mr
Boulton, who prosecuted, said he did not wish to press the case harshly and the
desire of the prosecution was to put a stop to such proceedings, which were
common in the neighbourhood. She was ordered to be imprisoned until the court
rose and to pay the costs.
MARCH All three
local Guardians were returned unopposed. They were George Bradley for Ackton,
who had made only three appearances at Guardian meetings during the past year,
Ernest Andrew for Featherstone (14 appearances), and John Waller for Purston
(22 appearances).
John Bramley,
the overseer for Ackton, was summonsed by the Board of Guardians for the
non-payment of £90 owing from Ackton. He was ordered to pay but didn't, so the
Guardians issued a distress warrant and sent their officers with it. John
Bramley decided he had better pay up.
APRIL The
voting for the three places on the Featherstone Local Board was Richard Cowling
(Purston grocer) 552, George Earle (Whitwood farmer) 438, David Denton (Streethouse grocer) 389, Joseph Walker (Streethouse
butcher) 359. So Mr Walker, who was one of the original members of the Local
Board, lost his seat.
The Revd B
Burgon wrote to the Board of Guardians regarding the dependents left by the
Snydale Colliery accident, asking if the Board would pay their relief
irrespective of the money they had received elsewhere. In reply it was said the
Guardians were obliged to take into account all the receipts by each family.
MAY Four
Featherstone men were charged with playing cards in the street for money. Supt
Whincup said the practice of gaming at South Featherstone had become very common, and was of daily occurrence,
though it was with the greatest difficulty evidence could be obtained, as the
players sent out scouts to watch for the police. The men were fined 2s 6d.
JUNE A special
meeting of the Local Board was held to consider tenders for the drainage and
sewage scheme. It was agreed to accept that from Messrs Smith and Freeman.
Mr Swales, the
school attendance officer, summonsed six Featherstone people for neglecting to
send their children to school. Orders of attendance were made and they were
fined 2s 6d each.
AUGUST Mrs Day,
a Featherstone widow, sued the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Co. for damages. She said she
was getting out of a train at Featherstone Station when there was a sudden jerk
which caused her to slip and injure her leg. She was conveyed home in a
handcart and attended by Dr Buncle. Her bills for the accident were for the
doctor 10 guineas, nursing £4, and stimulants and delicacies £5 10s. For the
defence it was said she had attempted to alight before the train stopped, but
she was awarded £50 damages.
The second annual athletics meeting was held
in Purston Hall Park. The band of the 3rd West Yorkshire Militia entertained
the crowd.
The Revd B
Burgon and Sarah Stables of Barlow Hall, Selby, were married in Purston Church. The Pontefract Advertiser commented "During his
seven years residence in the village, Mr Burgon has won universal goodwill and
affection, and it was therefore little wonder that on such an important
occasion the church should have been crowded to excess and that some six or
seven hundred of the parishioners should have assembled to witness the
ceremony". The new vicarage house was almost complete. The photo is a personal one.
Two men
stripped and staged a fight in Station Lane. The Advertiser said similar conduct was a
weekly occurrence.
SEPTEMBER
Sixteen Featherstone men were fined for gambling at cards and pitch and
toss.
The Local
Board decided to light the main streets with gas lamps and invited tenders for
the lamps and fixing. The Castleford Gas Co. turned down an offer to supply
Ackton and Loscoe with gas on the grounds the cost of the main would be too
high. A tender of £151 17s by William Teale of Wakefield was accepted for 68 lamps to be erected about 60 or
70 yards apart in Purston, South
Featherstone and
Streethouse. A letter from Mr Bowling asking for a lamp in-between his home and
the sewage works was turned down on the grounds if he had a lamp others would
ask.
OCTOBER
Featherstone All Saints' Church was in a very poor state of repair and it
was decided to set up a restoration fund. Special services were held and
sermons preached to launch the fund, and all collections were given to it to
give it a good send off.
NOVEMBER A
farmer (not named) left his farm in Featherstone last March and applied to the
overseers for a refund on his poor rates. They gave him £3 and entered it in
the accounts as irrecoverable arrears. The district auditor decided this was
illegal and surcharged the overseers for the money.
DECEMBER Joseph
Green was fined the maximum £2 for taking a pipe down Featherstone Main
Colliery. Ernest Andrew, the manager, said it was a safety lamp mine and he
suspected someone was smoking, so he ordered a search to be made, and the pipe
was found.
Robert Johnson
of Featherstone Common had broken one of the new lamp standards by running a
conveyance against it. He offered to pay all expenses so the Local Board decided not to take the matter any further.