Durham – Death On My Doorstep

1/ Castle Eden Colliery, February 1866 (Roasted a Child Alive)

A drunken father took it out on his six-year-old child. The wife began to nag him when he came in and a fight ensued and she cut his face in self-defence. The man, whose name is Dudley, grabbed the child and threatened to throw it on the fire. Dudley tried to, the wife fled to neighbours and told them what he was doing. In his drunken stupor, he had knocked over a boiling hot pot of tea, scalding the legs and body of it. No doubt he would have carried out his threat if not stopped, but he has since absconded.

2/ Hartlepool, (Child Buried Alive) May 1870

3/ Durham Cathedral Death, November 1873

Mr David Lambert, bass-singer of cathedral music, was taking care of the choir at Durham with the psalms about to commence when he dropped down dead smacking his head on a desk. His Dad was nearby and ran to his son’s side, but he was already dead. The Dean stopped the service and it was cancelled from then on.

4/ Bishop Auckland Cemetery Murder, April 1909

The body of 5-year-old John Leslie Armitage was found in the cemetery at Bishop Auckland, with his throat cut. At nine a.m. the grave-digger named Woodhall found his little body lying at the base of an ash tree with a prayer book laid over the boy’s heart. The superintendent of the cemetery, George Ross, said that the lad was laid out as if prepared for burial, his arms at his side and a handkerchief tied on top of the head and under the jaw. The father of the boy was found hanging at Fylands Bridge and the murder weapon, a razor, still in his pocket saturated with his son’s blood. The father was an ex-policeman in the Durham force and was twenty-seven years old. (Boy’s grave nearby?)

5/ Margaret Pit Disaster, June 4th, 1885

Margaret Pit Disaster, June 5th, 1885

6/ Durham, September 1880 (Suicide of Servant)

Mr T.Scawin, Justice of the Peace, employed 21-year-old Martha Walpole Mustard as a servant. He left her alone for an hour and when he returned the door was bolted shut. He tried shouting and pounding on the door but no answer, so he got his foreman to break in. They entered the house and went to the girl’s bedroom to see where she was, but she was hanging by a cord from a hook, with an upturned chair near the body. Martha had been heartbroken by the death of her boyfriend in the Seaham Colliery explosion, and she wished to be with him.

7/ Aycliffe Railway Deaths, January 1890

8/ West Hartlepool, (Molten Metal Deaths)August 1890

On Tuesday morning a car containing 25 tons of molten metal exploded at Seaton Carew Blast Furnaces, West Hartlepool. Two men, named Thomas Anson and John Musgrove were covered with the fluid and Musgrove was burnt to death. Anson was also shockingly burned.

9/ Belle Vue Church, West Hartlepool, July 1895

During a heavy thunderstorm on Monday night, the Belle Vue Church, West Hartlepool, was struck by lightning, and the tower fell. Some men standing nearby had a narrow escape from injury.

10/ Stockton-on-Tees, (Fatal Gun Accident) April 1892

11/ Collingwood Road Suicide, West Hartlepool, March 1898

A shocking discovery was made in a grocer’s shop in Collingwood Road, West Hartlepool. A customer went in and found the manager named Davidson, lying in the back of the shop with his throat cut, and a large bacon knife lying near. On a piece of wrapping paper was written: “I can’t stand life any longer. I am mad with a toothache, and have been up all night”.

12/ Stockton-on-Tees,? 1883 (Murder of Son)

George Cooper, a labourer, has been committed for trial by the magistrates at South Stockton on a charge of murdering his son, the body of whom was found in a pond tied in a sack weighted with bricks. The prisoner stated that he had sent the boy to an aunt in Norfolk, producing a letter purporting to be written by the aunt stating the boy had arrived there, but the letter was proved to have been written at the request of the prisoner by a boy in Stockton.

13/ Darlington Waterworks Fatality, June 1885

Yesterday afternoon a painter named Henry Coates was decapitated at the Darlington Waterworks, being caught by the engine and carried amongst the machinery.

14/ Seaham Steamer Disaster, November 1885

15/ Elemore Colliery, near Pittington, August 1857 (Decapitation)

A terrible accident happened to a pitman named Hunter at Elemore Colliery. Hunter and another man named Lishman, just finished work, came to the bottom of the pit to be drawn to “bank”. They put their feet in the loop of a chain attached to the engine at the pit mouth, and holding the chain in their hands they began to ascend. After getting halfway, somehow a loop in the descending chain got caught over his head and before he could disentangle himself his head was literally ripped from his neck. The headless body came to the “bank” with Lishman, and the head was found later on and brought to the top of the shaft.

16/ Stockton-on-Tees Double Murder, May 1920

17/ Etherley Colliery, January 1885

Two men were buried by a fall of a roof in the George Pit, Etherley Colliery, Bishop Auckland, and one of them was killed.

18/ Durham Murder, January 1899

A Durham telegram states that Henry Burns aged seventeen, who is alleged to have fatally shot a girl named Ellen Palmer at Durham on Saturday, was arrested at Newcastle yesterday and handed over to the Durham police.

19/ Durham, July 1885 (Child Murder)

A domestic servant named Sarah Dunn aged seventeen was sentenced to death for the murder of her illegitimate child, only sixteen months old, by thrusting it into a drain where it suffocated in the mud. The jury recommended her to mercy and it is perfectly understood in such cases that the sentence will be commuted.

20/ New Seaham Colliery, August 1885

Two men were killed at New Seaham Colliery by the fall of a roof while they were at work. The men, who were brothers, were named Joseph and Bernard Wood. The former leaves a widow and child.

21/ Darlington, August 10th 1885

22/ Darlington (Cab Fatality) August 12th, 1885

23/ Long Newton near Stockton-on-Tees, October 1889 (Double Suicide)

Two brothers, James and John Reed, aged forty-eight and forty respectively, both shoemakers, were discovered to have committed suicide at Long Newton near Stockton-on-Tees. They had both been drunk for some weeks and when they vanished for a couple of days a search party was gathered. James was in the house, hanging from a rope and John was found drowned in a pond half a mile away. They were due in court for disorderly conduct and this worried them both.

24/ Consett, July 1895 (Skeleton Found)

A group of friends went on a picnic and found a female skeleton lying beneath a tree in a lonely part of the woods near Consett. All the flesh was stripped from the bones, and an arm and a leg were missing, thought to be eaten by woodland animals. The skull was still there and police believe it is the remains of a woman who disappeared from the area about a year ago.

25/ Spennymoor Murder, February 27th, 1885

26/ Spennymoor Murder, March 12th, 1885

27/ Bishop Auckland Suicide, October 1893

48-year-old Benjamin Peart’s body was found drowned in a stream that runs near to Bishop Auckland Cemetery. In a tobacco-box, was the following suicide note:-“Dear Wife-Forgive me. May the Lord bless my innocent wife and children. Myself alone to blame. Only keep up; don’t fret; you’ll be better off without me. Kiss them for me. Tell son’s to be teetotal”. (Near Red Alligator pub-St Andrew Auckland-River Gaunless next to it).

28/ Durham Murder, April 1899

29/ Seaham Harbour, May 1885 (Any Fatalities?)

30/ Consett Ironworks Deaths, May 1859

Seventy men were working in the rail mill, rolling iron for railway plates when the fly-wheel suddenly broke. This is a twenty-ton hunk of metal rotating at 70 rpm, so anybody or anything in its way would stand no chance. Bits fell in the wheel pit but large fragments went everywhere including one piece, three and a half tons, flew 25 yards and stuck against a wall. Another one and a half ton segment were embedded in the ground and the roof had a 150-foot gash in it, and it was this damage that caused debris to fall on four working nearby. They made every effort to get them out from the rubble and hot metal fragments lying about. The men are -Patrick Marther who was killed and Daniel Duffy severe burns and loss of a finger; Matthew Murphy cuts and bruises and badly burned, and lastly, Michael Duffy has had to have a leg amputated due to a huge mass of iron falling on him.

31/ Woodhouse Colliery Explosion, May 1899

32/ Armfield Plain, March 1873 (It says it’s twelve miles from Durham)

The other confusing aspect of this tale is that they had a 15-year-old barmaid! She was Mary Ann Birch and she had been accused of dipping her fingers in the till. Mary Ann admitted it and was told to leave the premises the next day. On the morning she was due to go Mary Ann was sat down chatting with another servant when she grabbed a knife and said: “She had a good mind to cut her throat”. Later on, she was spotted mixing a powder with water then gulping it down, and within the hour she became violently ill. Mary Ann died later on that day. “Suicide while of unsound mind” was the verdict.

33/ Ushaw College, (Mill Dam Fatality) June 1885

34/ South Durham Steelworks, October 1901 (Man Roasted Alive)

A smelter by the name of James Gallagher died at West Hartlepool Infirmary from his shocking injuries, sustained at South Durham Steelworks. He accidentally fell into a pit containing red-hot ingots of steel and became jammed between two moulds. Before he could be extricated he was literally roasted alive.

35/ West Hartlepool Murder, May 17th, 1899

An inquest at West Hartlepool yesterday on the body of Mrs Emily Thompson aged thirty-seven, who was shot on Monday night with a revolver by her husband, a coloured man named Thompson, and who died yesterday morning. Thompson was jealous of the lodger, Isaac Phillips, whom he also attacked with a knife. A verdict of “Wilful Murder” against Thompson was the jury’s verdict. Phillips is in a critical condition.

36/ West Hartlepool Murder, May 23rd, 1899

37/ Wingate, November 1909 (Mother Kills Four Children)

Mr James John Dodd, a solicitor, left Ivy Cottage, East View, to go to work at West Hartlepool. He came back for lunch and a scene of horrific proportions met his gaze. Firstly, he found his wife who was semi-conscious from the effects of poison, then in the bathroom, he found his 8-month-old son, David, in his pram with his throat cut. The bath was full of water and at the bottom was a carving knife and also a bottle of poison was there. Elsewhere he found Millicent, his eldest daughter, only six, and four and a half-year-old John, then two and a half year old Paul, all in bed with their throats cut. Dodd rushed downstairs and went to get an ambulance and police. They took away Mrs Dodd who was still alive. They had lived happily at Wingate for a couple of years and were both devoted to their children, so why she did this, is a mystery.

38/ Kimblesworth Colliery, (Three Killed) August 18th, 1885

39/ Kimblesworth Colliery, August 19th, 1885

An inquest at Kimblesworth Colliery on the three men killed through the breaking of a rope attached to the “cradle”. It is stated that the rope had been in the colliery for ten years. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death” and recommended that ropes should be covered over to protect them from the weather.

40/ Etherley Dene Murder, November 1885

41/ Neville’s Cross (Cycling Death) May 1905

42/ Blackhill near Consett, October 1876 (Glutton’s Suicide)

John Holiday committed suicide by hanging himself with a neckerchief attached to an iron bedstead. The name of Holiday was well known in the North of England, for his gluttonous habits. (19th Century-Man v Food). He was a well-paid boiler plate-roller and during his dinner break, he could drink a bottle of brandy. His wife turned up to work one day with a roast duck with a couple of pieces cut off the kids. He threw it in the works machinery stating that next time she would bring him an entire duck. The guy would be nowadays known as “Fat Bastard”, but he lost his sight later on, and it is for this reason that he killed himself.

43/ West Hartlepool, (Drowned) August 1885

Two young gentlemen, the son and nephew of Mr Geipel, shipbroker, in company with a Miss Pounder, went out to sea at West Hartlepool in a pleasure boat. As they were leaving the harbour the boat was struck by a heavy sea and capsized. The two young men were drowned and Miss Pounder was only saved with extreme difficulty.

44/ Durham Execution, March 1898

45/ Accidental Shooting at Archer Street, Darlington, December 1872

46/ Durham Asylum Murder, January 1876

A lunatic in the Durham Asylum, named Dobson, was murdered by a fellow lunatic named Mayley. It all started when Dobson took Mayley’s seat then Mayley grabbed him by the legs, threw him over his head and jumped on him. All his ribs were fractured as was his chest bone.

47/ Hartlepool Cliff Fall, September 1870

48/ Hartlepool Grievous Bodily Harm/ Unlawful Wounding in Bishop Auckland. December 1870

49/ Hartlepool Murder, December 1870

50/ Death on the Wear at Durham, December 1870

51/ Pelton Colliery Accident, January 1866

On Friday night a collision took place at the Pelton Colliery, near Chester-le-Street, Durham, between two sets of tubs, on one of which twenty-five lads were proceeding to the foot of the shaft. Several of them were crushed against the wall of the shaft and under the tubs, which fell upon them. Five of them died soon afterwards, and four are so badly injured that they are not expected to recover.

52/ Pelton Colliery Explosion (Twenty-Four Killed) November 1866

53/ Accident or Suicide? Middleton Shooting, June 1866

54/ Wolsingham Murder/Suicide, October 1866

55/ Brandon Manslaughter, February 1902.

Twenty-eight-year-old Thomas Felton, miner, married, was committed for trial at Durham Assizes on the coroner’s inquisition on Monday for the alleged manslaughter of twenty-year-old Thomas Wright, who was also a miner. It is alleged that Felton stabbed the deceased during a disturbance about some pigeons!

56/ Stockton-on-Tees Child Murder, June 20th, 1903.

57/ Seaham Harbour Murder Trial, July 1904. (George Breeze Strangled Margaret Chisholm)

58/ Mainsforth Colliery Tragedy Solved 18 Years Later, June 1905.

59/ Strange Suicide in Durham Gaol, September 1906.

60/ Stella Gill Fatal Accident, October 1906.

An accident, resulting in the death of two men and the injury of three others, occurred yesterday morning at Stella Gill, near Chester-le-Street, Durham. The railway being widened, and a footbridge, Pelton flat bridge, is being taken down. Five men were working upon it removing bed-plates. Suddenly, a girder fell, and with five who were carried with it, falling fifteen feet. Joseph Raffles, foreman, and Robert Harrison, labourer, both of Gateshead, were killed, and three others were seriously injured and were taken to Newcastle Infirmary.

61/ Four Miners Killed at Urpeth Colliery, December 1906.

62/ Wingate Colliery Disaster, October 16th, 1906. (At least 26 men were killed at this time)

63/ Two Young Girls Murdered in Darlington. November 1907

64/ Young Man Murders His Girlfriend at Evenwood, near West Auckland. October 1880

Wednesday, 17th November 1880 (Execution of William Brownless)

William Brownless, aged twenty-two, and a shoemaker by trade, was executed at Durham Gaol, at 8 o’clock yesterday morning, for the murder of his sweetheart, Elizabeth Holmes, at Evenwood, on the 18th of August.

65/ Body Found near Hartlepool Station. December 1880

The Coroner held an inquest yesterday at Hartlepool concerning the death of an unknown man, whose body was found on the railway, near Hartlepool Station, on Christmas morning, with the head completely severed from the body. His appearance and clothing seem to indicate that he was a fireman of a steamer, but inquiries instituted by the police have failed to establish his identity. From the fact that only a knife and a tobacco-box were found upon him, and from the position of the body when found, it is feared that the man had committed suicide from want. The inquest was adjourned.

66/ Fatal Accident on Hartlepool Pier. October 1880

Early on Saturday morning a workman, named Alfred Excell, employed at the new pier extension works at Hartlepool, met his death in a shocking manner. He was assisting to take down some gearing at the pier end, at a height of nearly thirty-five feet above the level, and, missing his foothold, fell headlong into the stonework of the pier. He thence fell into the sea, from which he was taken out, dead, a few minutes later. Deceased was married, but leaves no family. This is the first fatality that has occurred at these extensive works since their commencement, over eleven years ago.