The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-21 00:00:00

THE LATE DREADFUL ACCIDENT IN

NEWPORT.

'The inquest on the bodies of the father and three
children, suffocated by gas in a cellar last week, an
account of which appeared in The Sun, was resumed
on Tuesday, before Mr. W. H. Brewer, deputy-
coroner.

MarylA. Dunsten was the first witness examined.
She said—l live in Church-street. On. Friday,
about ten o'clock, I want down to the house of Chas.
Webb, and found that he and the family ware not
up. He and the children are always very early
risers and•l -wondered they were not up. I tried
the door but it was locked, and I then looked
through Lthe window. I went back again after
breakfast, and saw Webb, his wife, and children,
in bed. Webb looked very • black, and I thought
he had been out at work the previous day, and had
not washed himself. The child looked dirty, and
Mrs. Webb was all in a sweat. The child's head was
partly raised against the head of the bed, as if it
had been trying to get up. I went to Mrs. Flinn's,
next door, and told her, and she said, " Let them
alone." About half-past 12 my daughter went
down and broke open the window. She came back
and said the family were all dead. I rubbed them
with brandy. Dr. James was sent for, and he did
all he thought necessary. The priest was there, and
tried' to restore the woman. About six months ago I
wrote to the gas company about a smell of gas, and
save the note to the man who lit the lamps. He said
it should be remedied, but it continued up to thetime
of the accident. When the opening for the drain-
age was made, the gasfitter came by and said there
was an escape of gas. I was ill all one day from
the effects of the smell, and when the men dug
about the pipe one of them took up some earth and
said he would take it to the Town-hall 3 the smell
of gas in it was strong. This was some weeks
before the accident, and we suffered dreadfully
from it. Last Thursday night (when the accident
occurred) we could not open the door for it, it was
so bad. A sewer has recently been opened.
Alfred Williams said—l am engineer of the
Newport General Drainage Work, and town sur-
veyor. I produce a plan and other drawings of
the late lamentable accident in the court near
Church-street. A sewer has recently been con-
structed, under the general drainage contract in the
portion of Church-street near which the accident
occurred, as shown on the drawings. It was a very
difficult work to execute on account of the tides,
the land-water, the soil, the narrowness of the
street, which is only thirteen feet wide, the close
proximity of railways, houses, pipes, inefficient
drains, &c. I consider it probable that the fracture
in the gas pipe found in Church-street occurred in
consequence of the unequal settlement of the
ground, portions of the pipe being in solid ground,
and other portions in newly-made ground over the
sewer. The floor of the dwelling lately occupied
by Charles Webb is below the level of high water
extraordinary springs. It is the duty of the con-
tractor, for the drainage works to protect all pipes
and other works, properties, &c., that may be
affected by the drainage works, and to cause any
damage to be repaired, but I do not know of any
measures which would render the breaking or dis-
location of a pipe improbable under such circum-
stances. It had come to my knowledge that there
was an escape of gas in Church-street, and I spoke
to the engineer of the Gas Company (I think about
a day or two before the accident) and directed his at-
tention to it on the ground. Thad, however, no antici-
pation of an accident such as that which has occurred,
nor had I any knowledge that the gas affected the
dwellings in the court where this house is situated.
The sewer was finished and the surplus earth re-
moved before the accident for a distance of about
12 yards beyond the break in the pipe. The
dwelling in which the accident happened is unfit
for human habitation. The rooms have the fol-
lowing cubical contents :—Kitchen, or living room,
950 f9et ; front sleeping room, 280 feet ; back
sleeping room, 205. It was built before the Public
Health Act was passed. The dwellings in this
court:are entirely shut in from light and air on
every side, excepting that in which a door and two
small windows for each dwelling open on a con-
fined court. They are 41 ft. below the level of,
and have no communication with, or opening to,
Church-street, where the gas main is situated. I
believe that if the room had been ventilated no life
would have been lost, as, in my judgment, only a
small portion of the gas Which escaped could have
got into it, the fracture in the gas pipe being
9 ft. 3 in. from the outside of the wall of the dwell-
ing on the Church-street side, where there is no
apparent opening. There is, however, a crack in
the wall. Breakage of gas pipes is not uncommon,
even where no works are in progress, as the pipes
are of thin cast iron, and not laid deep. About
two months ago I was annoyed for some time by
an escape of gas from a fracture in the main pipe
in front of my house. I have discovered this
morning a crack in the wall of the house, through
which the gas doubtless passed. I have also dis-
covered a drain under the flag stones, and although
that is dry in itself, yet it communicates with sewers
which have gases in them. I think it very de-
sirable for the gas company to have a man to look
after the pipes, and see that they sustain no
damage.
James Ellis said—l am Inspector of the Drainage
Works. On Friday morning Mrs. Dunsten told
me that there was a man and two children bad
in bed. I asked her if it was the gas, and she
said, " Yes, but we think there is a little fever in
the house as well." She said people who live in the
cellars can't be as clean as they would be. She
asked me to attend to it, and I said I would. As I
was going into my house some one came up and said
to me' "Master, you must come back directly—
there be three on 'em dead in the house." I went
to the place and found three persons dead and two
living. I found a division in the gas pipe of an inch
and a quarter. Perhaps the pipe had been broken
about thirty hours. I cannot account for the frac-
ture of the pipe. During the progress of the drain-
age works I have called Mr. Bryan's attention to
the escape of gas in several parts of the town. They
generally attended to the complaints and Mr. Bryan
said ha should at all times be very glad of my
speaking to him about escapes.
Mr. Wm. James, surgeon, Commercial-road, said

—On Friday, between 12 and one o'clock, I was
called to Chas. Webb's house. I went down imme-
diately, and found Webb in the yard dead. I went
into the house and found two children there dead.
Outside were Mrs. Webb and another child in an
insensible state. I applied remedies to these two
to restore them to animation,_ and partly succeeded
in about an hour or an hour and a half. I asked

the landlady of the Tredegar Arms whether she
would allow the woman and child to be taken there,
and she said ";Yes." The child died about 3 o'clock
on Saturday morning. The woman is now living.
I found the house much impregnated with gas, and
could hardly stay there. The houses have always
been unhealthy, fever and diseases of the lungs
being almost constantly there. There is not a worse
place in the town. They are not fit for human
beings to live in, there being no ventilation at the
best of times. On Saturday I made a post-mortem
examination on Chas. Webb. There were no exter-
nal marks of violence. The face and neck appeared
much congested with blood, and had a dark lurid
appearance. On opening the head I found the
vessels of the brain very much gorged with
blood. On cutting the substance of the brain
it appeared to be very. much congested likewise.
On removing the brain I examined the base of
the skull, and there I found a quantity of fluid.
In the upper part of the spinal canal there
was a quantity of blood. There were no symptoms
of apoplexy on the brain. I then examined the
chest. I found the lungs completely gorged with
black blood, as if it had not been charged at all.
On cutting the tissue of the lung, it appeared to be
one mass of black blood. I then opened the heart
and found the right ventricle and auricle filled with
coagulated blood. Asphyxia from carbonated
hydrogen gas was the ca use of death.
Henry Edmunds, smith, said—l examined the
pipe after the accident. I could not tell how long
it had been broken. It had dropped from half an
inch to an inch. The drainage works were not
carried on satisfactorily.
The coroner here said the inquest must be ad-
journed for the evidence of the woman who is re-
covering.
An adjournment for three weeks was accordingly
ordered.