The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-08-08 00:00:00

BAO ACCIDENT.

An inquest was held last Thursday afternoon
at the George If del, b•dore the Bor..ugh Cr .ner, J.
B. Aldridge, Leo.. and the following Jury :—George
Chariton (foreman), Robert Edwardes, Henry Collis,
John A. Chlorine, Wiliam Brown, George I. Pearcy,
Haprr Tozmna• n 74, .7.. a pis arf..t,
Edwin J. Coutuiell, George I.u•h, William Pearcay,
Alfred Street, ant Walter Burden, on the body of a
young lad named Charles Ebenezer Evans, son of the
rs.pected past e• of the Independent Church, who hail
Wet his death on the pr,vioue day while bathing off
the Sandbanks. The greatest commiesration has been
ezpreswe I for the unfortunate pawns, thin being the
eldest child, and what rendered it still more sad was
that Mr. and Mrs. Evans were away at the time on
ex,.o rsion.

The inquiry was not of any length, the first witness
called bolus Peter Fyne, °Cur of the coastguard
'tat i,n at Poole Harbour. (Mr. Chief oth:or Farwell
wak hint the prom-dings on the part of the c
usrd.) He simply deposed to the holing of the body.
It IVIIIA I und n-ar the c 'hereto tone, and was picked
up at 7.:41, two ho tre after the Warm being given, and
al, nit aid ysrds fr to the steno of the accident.
There was a grotto I-swell on at the time.
11.rold 11rtie Hopkins, a lit of 13t. said he was
. . . . .

with the deceased ye.-terd-iy on the Sandbanks. They
went down there about ten in the moralug. and
rental,. I th ro all day. They bathed four times.
De eased bathed each time. There were five of them
alt Tne list time they got int., the water
was al, ,ut half-past five. Nolie i.f them could swim.
There was not any sea on, and they went out up to
about their chests. Evans said it wan not enough to
swim in, awl he should go out further. He did eo,
and then went us or the water throe times—he called
out save me, cave me, lam out of my depth." They
all tri-d, and were washed down two or three time.,
but could not got to him. The saw no mire of him,
and celled some RIM they saw on the beach, whr said
they would not go out unless they could see him. The
men remain( d on the beach some tim-, but did not
attempt to he:p. Mr. Jew- Curtis came down
directly after, awl went ut in the wat•a and tried to
find him. %Vane s went to fetch the craatguard, ni.d
two of them gut the boat directly. Toe deceased did
not appear at all faint on the three previous times
when he was in the weter ; they bad bad plenty to
eat. Deceased wag trying to learn to swim.
The witness Pyne eras recalled, and in reply to the
C i Coroner, said that he knew the shore n question. It
Wall very uneven, with very soft sand and pits, so that
any person who could not swim would be liable to get
drowsed. Outside the sandbanks was p most unsafe
place to bathe at, but b.tween the Light and the
CoastTuard.buildings one could bathe all day long.
Thomas Macklin, errand by for Messrs. Hipkins
and S in, who was with the deceased and others,
vs,,terday, c orohor ,t.,1 the evidenoir of Her ,Id Bertie
Ifirpk4l4, ,-tic •pt th 0. he did uot ku rw whit the
u.. lie „hot try and save him
some little dissent*, but he found hoc mid not go, he
bottom went a steeper the further they went.
This we all the evidence.
.

iftel3c;;;;;;Tu.gg.;•-te--1 the jury on returning their
verdict shoul I attach a ridr t • it, suggesting a notice
board should te put up wirning non-swimmers against
bathing on the outside of the Brinks.
The Jury unanimously adopted the suggestion, and.
having loon I a verdict of " Aocidentslly drowned
whilst bathin.r," added a recommendation that the
Corporation should er ct a notics hoard, cautioning
non-swimmers against bithimr outride the Harbour,
and eaegeetinethey should bathe inside in wh.t is
called Ntrike's Lake.

in-ri4n:tiTr—expre.sed their sympathy for Mr.
and Mrs. Evans in their deep bereavement.