The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-10-07 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE of DROWNING.

Satunlay an adj4,lirried hpiniry WttS held at Lee.
laekheath. e ui ng the death (I Albert Johnston
Sam•to, aged seven years, who., wan I,,,ind in ft
md in a 11e1411.111itItt briatkw. Th, roeeeding
gre,t interest fr•Ril the fact that another lad,
eiAt pin if ae. amed Ileury l'oppin, was alleged
to hare 0,•ca,i,,,..41. his death.

From the evidence taken it appeared that on Thurs-
day week the deceased lift home for the purpose •,11
playing, and not returning at half•past five, when his
father returned from work, some uneasiness was felt,
and a sister of deveased, knowing that he and Coppiu
ecu,panions, inquired the some evenin•• of l'oppin
s. hether he had seen him, and he replied anit he had
not seen him all that .lay. The lad repeatedly gave the
same answer to his father, but the next morning, while
he was engaged fishing in another pond, the sister of
the deceased•again asked him concerning her brother,
an •I 1. ther he ectild slow her where the large pond
11- thet Ire emild show her, and tbter
tie wet'' 11 -7, is alp,nt
~ of (t 1.. t. ;Or 1 the
' .

v.
I

,
I' ; i• j.• ill, ill.:
I- Ss ht., to get (mt."
Nlea,ures ,•.re ftx dra,ging the pond, and
the f.,und, why] it, nthe lad C•ppin ran
away acro,, a field, and aften% arils denied knowing
anything of the deceived.

_
tie following miming poilke,iiiirimatit
lVellt ti the house 1 thi• parents llf I %ppm, ant fines-
tioneil him nl-imt the iies,a,sl, when be still persiste,l
in having no knowleilv lif him. The sen.mant then
asked 'op/in to show him the powl in question, and
tin moths r iliseeted him tot, so. Arrived atthe pond,
he pointed to the put of the pond lie hal !one to de-
ceased's sister, and then, without any suggestion or
ptirsnasion on the sergeant's part, he Ma. le the following
statement :

On Thursday afternoon I was too late br school, and was
sent home. As I was going back I met Albert Sancta lean-
ing against Sears farm. He saint "tonic. let us go fishing,-
We came here, and threw some bread on the water to make
theta bite, and caught them with our bawls, and put them
into a (iii can full of water. We might matte, I caught seven,
and Albeit two. tee mtarrelleil to know who should have
them, and Albert took up the tin, and said, " If you take
them away I will hit you." I then hit hint, and he fell into
the pond. That is where he went down, Mal there is where
he tried to get out. The tin can went down with hint.

To this ( 'oppin added, that the de aged scratched
his Own thumb with the tin can.

A postmortem examination of the holy had been
made by Mr. Burroughs, surgeon, of Lee, who said
there were no external or internal marks of injury ; the
organs generally were healthy, and in his opinion death
was sAdy ta lie attril tumble to slab s-atit in from drown-
ing. The lad Coppiu was produced before the court,
hut appeared either very reticent or very stupid in
answering a few general timations put to him.
The coroner observed upon the has tender age as
not enabling him to have a free will of his own to make
a statement by which be might he held resj onsible, and,
having gone through the evidence, he left the question
to the jury to detei mine either upon an open verdict
tar one of manslaughter. They adopted the former
course.