Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-15 00:00:00

THE CORONER'S INQUEST

Yesterday, at two o'clock, the Coroner held an inquest
on the body of Timothy Hunt, a labourer, aged 57 years,
who lived at 13 Court, Kew-street, and was killed in
Tithebarn-street, on Thursday morn; by the falling of
the floors of Mr. R. Lumb's public-house. An account
03of this fatal affair appeared in our second edition of
iluirsday, and in our issue of yesterday morning. The
ueceased was in the employment of Mr. Thomas Hughes,
a builder. Mr. Clarke Aspinall appeared for the friends
of the deceased. The following evidence was given on

THE INQUEST.
Mr. James Eyre, who said : lam a joiner and builder;
and live at 7, Wellington-road, Park. I had the contract
for the building. lam in partnership with Mr. Nichol-
=en; and on the 22nd September I had the contract
with Mr. R. Lumb to pull down the house and shop in
4itheharn-street and Stephen's-lane, according to plans
prepared by Mr. Allison, the architect ; I commenced
operationsin a week or two after the contract was signed.
ilughes contracted with me to take down the brick-
thatk; he is a bricklayer. He employed his own men in
Wednesday
department, but I generally had a foreman and
_a_nother man there at the work. I was there on
evening, but had no occasion to find fault
W
the men. First heard of the accident at a quarter
taPaaetaten. in
noors
oorinp. the morning, when I went. there. I found
had given way and fell into the cellar ; four
have way.. I only saw a few bricks amongst the
rubbish. I inquired if the men had overloaded the floors
wi:th bricks ? and was informed they had not. _Deceased
paes,,?ue of Mr. Hughes's men. I have examined the
-"aes since, and I think the joists were not
oprperations. h f That fact
enticient nce' in tewa , or one
notch ave been discovered before commencing
'll-.0 the Jury : The joists, in some places, did not go an
11ca into the wall, and in some places only into the
Piaster; that we could not discover before; nor' did we
anticipate such a thing at all. •
Is_.,xamined by Mr. Aspinall : We were' beginning to
Guilud the new Place at the back. When I heard of the
mr Great 'George-street accident, I cautioned my own men,
Rughes's men, and all, to be cautious and careful, to
avoid accident. The cause of the' accident was the joists
not going into the wall. I beard that a man stepped off
the wall on a. brick, that,"canted and threw him down,
and. his dead weight caused the floor to give way, in
consequence of the state Of the timber.
To the Jury : It is not usual to prop floors when
taking down the whole building.
John Cattarell examined : I am a bricklayer, and
foreman to Mr. Hughes the contractor. He took the
contact to take down the old and build the new pre-
inises. I personally superintended the work, which. was
done in the usual workmanlike manner. I was on the
second floor when the accident took place. The upper
one was the first to fall. The deceased was one of our
men. His name was Timothy Hunt, and he was a
labourer. There was no overloading of the upper floor
with bricks, as they were taken down. They were taken,
to the spouts in barrows, and passed to the bottom. I
have examined the premises since. The joists and plank-
ing of the--floors were all more or less rotten. -I -noticed
that -the joists had very inferior hold,- and 'some even
rested on the plaster. ' I attribute the accident to the
short bearings of the joists-r-the springing of the floor
with the barrow of bricks going to the spout—that was
the cause of the accident. We never prop up
floors when taking the whole of a house down. If
I had a similar work to do now, I would not
Prop it tip.
Coroner : Then you would run the risk of your life ?
A Juror : Yes ; particularly in old property like that.
The witness, in reply to Mr. Aspinall, said : 'I would
not call it safe in wheeling barrows across- bedroom
8. floors. man falling eighteen inches on the floor would
hake the joists
from the state they were in.
w
Mr. William Rishton, the town surveyor, examined : I
a ent to the place when I heard of the accident, and made
careful examination of the 'ruins; the joists and the
planks were very much decayed ; indeed I am very much
surprisedm that the flooring remained so long there—l
Onlythat so much of the building' above the floor had
Oneln ,aken down without an accident. The joists were
Pressed inches deep, and from the continual swaying
nearly' sthe joist out of the wall, so that they lost hold, or
the side, and of
wall next Stephen's-lane receded from
floorshould have
the nd of course crushed out the joists. I consider
the floors shouclausei
wards in this been proped from the basement up-
front the evidence generally I think
he
been es..minpfl before. The state
and -condition of the joists could have been ascertained
before the work commenced, and should have been, as it
everya very old log.buig It is not necessary to prop
!fzy floor when kown buildings.
,ero Mr. Aspinall : The state of the floors might have
re en ascertained from the portion that had been
removed

- ,
, .
To the Jury: The roof was already removed.
[A piece of the timber was here shown to the jury. It
was quite rotten and decayed.]
The witness, in reply to the jury, said he was of
opinion that all the floors should be examined before
being taken down.
' Cattarell was again called, and said the men were all
Practical men, so far as he knew.
Stephen Hunt, the son of deceased, proved the identity
of his father.
Police-officer Blain (640), proved that he got the body
out of the ruins, quite dead.
Mr. Aspinall offered a few words to the jury, and said
he was merely directed to look after the case, and to
report to the friends of the deceased.
The Coroner then summed up the evidence, and the
jury found a verdict of " Accidental death," and were of
opinion that the building-surveyor ought to have more
power over the taking down of old buildings.
After the jury had eturned the above verdict,
The Coroner asked them if they thought there was any
negligence on the part of the contractor ?
This raised a question, and the jury, after consulting
for a short time, asked leave to retire. They then went
into the private room, and remained for over an hour,
and then again entered the box, when
The Coroner asked them, had they agreed to their
verdict ?

The Foreman : We have, sir.
Coroner : What is your verdict ?
Foreman : Our verdict is "Accidental death, with
negligence on the part of the contractor." • •
Coroner : Not culpable negligence ?
Foreman : No sir, not culpable.
A Juror : That is not the unanimous opinion of the
jury.

Coroner : Then I must lock you up. He then swore
Mr. Blake in the usual way, and ordered the jury to
retire, saying, I will come at seven o'clock to see if you
have agreed.

However, soon after, the jury returned a verdict of
"A.ccidental death, and that some blame was attachable
to the contractor, but not culpable blame."
The enquiry then terminated.,
The deceased has left three children in great distress,
one a girl, totally blind, and all unprovided for. This
is a case deserving of public sympathy and assistance of
the benevolent. The only support of the three children
is a few shillings a week earned by a boy aged 17, who
is an apprentice •to Howson, Pilchard and Co., ship-
wrights, Boundary-street.

THE WEST DERBY GUARDIANS.
The weekly meeting of this Board was held on Wednes-
day. Mr. 73. Edwards presided. The other members
resent were--Messrs. Ledger, Abrahams, Kirkus, Taylor,
H Edwards, Stone, Roberts, Parker, Clarke, Medcalf;
aayes, Wood, Rainsford, Mawdsley, Sagar, Green,
w ensley, Roscoe, Bolshaw, and Smith. Some discussion
took place as to the propriety of dividing the offices of
assistant-master and porter (supported by the Poor-law-
board) which ended in a resolution directing Mr. Cleaver
to explain the nature of the duties fully to the Poor-law-
board. Mr. Roscoe moved that the name of Mr. William
Roake be added to the number of names of candidates
for the office of assistant-master. This gave rise to a
very long and angry debate, and the motion was finally
!est. Aother scene was caused by Mr. Taylor's demand-
;lig of Mr. Kirkus an explanation of the allegation made
by him some weeks back, that he (Mr. Taylor), upon a
certain occasion, went down upon his "marrow bones.,,
3.ubsequently, Mr. Shaw complained that, on the 18th June,
4.r. Gough was absent from the workhouse, and that
;;Nras the day on which the irregularities had taken place
and Miss
Kennedy, the late assistant-master and porter,
-11 u Miss Bell. His informant was Ann Stewart, who
141 waited upon him. It vius his intention, on a
11
.uture occasion, to open the question at greater
leilgty. He was also able to prove that, last week,
r. tiough absented himself for three days together
Itrin the workhouse to attend the audit in Tox-
h.
Th; ht and if that was to be the case they
he
tett: perhaps do without him altogether. Also, on
uue 30th December last, Mr. Gough left the Workhouse
until imi.°d:ntehkt in the morning, and did not return
•
Sha • g 1-1. us defended Mr. Gough, and charged Mr,
_7) with a desire to stab him in the dark.
1,,,P thing arose out of the discussion but some hot and
.7.crous personal interchanges of words, and the
iness of the board concluded amid some confusion.

LIVERPOOL ESTABLISHMENT FOR
NEEDLEWOMEN.

:The annual meeting of this society was held in the
Saving's Bank, Bold-street, at 11 o'clock yesterday morn-
ing. There was a large attendance of ladies and gentle-
men. The chair was taken by his Lordship the Bishop
of Chester.

His Lordship said : lam very happy to have the
pleasure of meeting so many kind ladies, the friends of
this institution again, and I take it as a great compli-
ment your inviting me, as you have done during the last
few years, to come amongst you. It is a great pleasure
to me.- I am very happy to find you not only giving
your countenance by attending: the meeting, which is a
very important one, but that you give so very much kind
attention to the working of the institution itself. The
gentlemen who attend here are entirely indebted to you
ladies, for the good management of this institution, and,:
consequently, for its success. (Hear, hear,) It would
be impossible for me, gentlemen, to undertake the manage-
ment of such an institution. I do not know
whether the society ought or ought not to be
called a charity, strictly speaking, because its,
principle is not to give away what may be called alms,
in the ordinary sense, in the sense of gifts of money.
But I think it is the best form that charity can possibly
assume, 'because it is the way of enabling people to
support themselves by their own honest industry; without
receiving alms or charity at all. (Hear, hear.) I think;
therefore, that if, strictly speaking, this is not a charity
it is the best substitute for it, and perhaps a better thing
than charity itself. (Here, hear.) There are other cases
of actual destitution which the society does not touch.
I hope, however, that in other -quarters such cases will
always find relief in a different way, and upon a different
principle, from that which is adopted here. His Lordship
then read the