The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-26 00:00:00

The Ice Accident at Leeds.

Yesterday Mr. Blackburn, the Leeds coroner, held an
inquest on the body of Miss Mary Jane Bulwer, aged 16,
daughter of Mr. G. Bulmer, surgeon, and on that of Mr. W.
Lyndon Smith, aged 28, of the firm of W. Smith, Son, and
Co., woollen merchants, Leeds, who were drowned on
Monday evening by the breaking of the ice at a large pond
on the estate of a gentleman named Cooper, at Gledhow,
near Leeds. The pond is 500 yards long by 100 wide,
and it is a place at which Mr. Cooper freely allows skating
except on Sundays. About 150 persons were skating on
this frozen pond on Monday afternoon, but by five o'clock
the number had become much less. The deceased young
lady went there with some companions of her own sex,

and an assistant to her father, Mr. Sam Haigh. A
chair was upon the brink of the pond, and a medical
student named George Broughton first pushed Miss
Bulmer's sister about the ice in it, and then pushed
Miss Bulmer herself in it a short time, when the ice broke
at about 10 or 12 yards from the side where the water is
14 or 16 feet deep. The ice there was only an inch thick,
while in other parts of the pond it was much stronger. It

appeared from the evidonceat,the inquest that, besides the
deceased lady and gentleman, five other gentlemen risked
their lives and behaved in a most praiseworthy and gallant
manner in attempting to save those who unhappily after
all ,were lost. Thoso persons were Mr. Sam Haigh and
Mr. G. Broughton, medical students or assistants ; Mr.

James Broughton, professor of music ; Mr. Naylor, son of
a member of the well known woollen firm ; Messrs. B. Gott
and Sons, and Mr. Osmond Rhodes. The middle of the
pond was very much cracked, and some of the skaters
avoided it, but Mr. G. Broughton, who propelled the de-
ceased young lady in a chair, had frequently gone over the
same spot, and he considered it was one of the safest places,
The deceased gentleman, Mr. W. L. Smith, was in the
middle of the pond when a shout of danger arose, and on
reaching the place where Miss Bulmer had fallen in he tried
to rescue her, and while doing so the ice broke under him.
His head could be seen above the water, but he wa6 lost
because the ice kept breaking whenever he attempted to
get out. Mr. G. Broughton fell over head into the water
at the time that Miss Bulmer disappeared, but his brother
got him out with a stick. Mr. James Broughton's evi-
dence was very important and painfully interesting. He
said he was far away from the fatal spot when he per-
ceived that something had happened, as all the 20 or 30
persons on the ice a minute or two before had disap-
peared. He shouted for his brother, but got no answer.
He saw five or six people standing and not doing anything.
He skated up to the place, and the ice had closed up again,
but soon a hand appeared out of the water, and he reached
his stick to it, but the ice gave way and he fell in. He
went over head, and with his stick tried three times to get
on the ice, but he could not. He then managed by some
means to get out—he did not know how—and he felt some
one had hold of the other end of his stick. It was his
brother, and he got him out, but he was nearly lost, for he
was unconscious for some time after. He did not think he
saw anything of Miss Bulmer, but there was a surging in
the water. Nor did he see anything of Mr. L. Smith.
There were persons on the bank, but they made no effort
at a rescue. If they had made an effort this lady and gen-
tleman might have been saved. At all events, if ropes and
ice-poles had been at hand they would certainly have been
saved. He should have gone into the water a second time,

but he was so fatigued with getting his brother out.
When a cord was brought from the lodge, near the
residence of the proprietor of the estate, Mr. Naylor and
Mr. N. Rhodes stripped and went in. Mr. Naylor
thought he had seized one of the bodies, but it turned out
to be only a coat. It was thought by some of the wit-
nesses at the inquest that everything was done which could
be done prudently to render assistance, for the ice at the
side where the bodies had gone down was in such a state
that it would have been very dangerous to go upon it. The
Coroner remarked that people might bevery desirous to save
life, but it was not expeeted that they should prejudice their
own safety. An hour and a half at least transpired before the
bodies were recovered, and Mr. Carter, a surgeon, who was
then present, thought it was too late to attempt resuscita-
tion. A police-sergeant living in the neighbourhood de-
posed that the ice was weak at that particular place, because
it was near that part of the bank where the water from some
very high ground runs into the pond, and there is adlsovaas
dyke close by. He considered that the ice on this pond
booni.
not safe the day after the accident, though there hadbers
coo_
another night's frost, and yet people in large nu:
tinned to skate there. The Coroner, in sum,
facts of this distressing case, said in his oe
to blame. If people would go on the ice and
blame. He
tunate results took place, they
baalodnebeen
no
roci_itancy
thought it was quite clear there
_ughton,P
for he had
or rashness on the part of Mr.tG "r°
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nn
is tint cogh o nuuP aforeh -e
the whatever
estate, mighthe wasb be the
Bs"ultemdere
tvheerrethbeetrreaiskcehderboreses
e
gested that ropes and assvponou f ae.
b en tdo
pos ▪ ve• Aind ej buder duringyt mooakn
Misss
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hg
ready to discharge it ; but providing
his
recreation. neighbours
Thet he o
no one would becoin
skatingdituusirys e:ondtfe seasonooamrre rJ .
C;
obotpl tertrli oPt ChiFoown enresra
oi said, ,
rcel be considered the duty of a
such apparatus 11
juryportu-
of indulging
of
f factories, and uncle of Miss Bulmer,r expressed
su b-
condolence Miss Bulmer's family with Mrs,
verdict . " accidental death." m Rickards, re-
turned
of
ngeitnytienlati who
freely
afialveowuerdite
the
endon Smith, the widow of the deceased gentleman—con-
dolence which was all the more sincere because he had lost
his life in attempting to save his (Mr. Rickards's) niece.
Also ho expressed his deeply grateful sense of the noble
efforte used by the other gentleman before-named.