The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-09-11 00:00:00

DEATH OF TWO GRAVEDIGGERS.

CORONER'S INQUEST.
On Friday evening an inquest was held in the committee-
room at the workhouse of the parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate,
before Mr. Payne, the City Coroner, and a jury composed of
the Common Councilmen, the parish officers, and the most
respectable inhabitants of the neighbourhood, on the bodies
of Thomas Oakes. the gravedigger belonging to Aldgate
church, and Edward Luddett, a fish dealer at Billingsgate-
market, who came by their deaths on that forenoon, under

the following circumstances:--
Mr. Edward Cheeper, the master of the workhouse, stated
that about eleven o'clock, while passing through Church-
passage, Aldgate, he heard the loud screams of a female in the
church-yard, and he instantly hastened to the spot, and look-
ing into a grave, about 20 feet deep, at the north side of the
church-yard, he saw the deceased gravedigger, Oakes, lying
on his back, apparently dead. A ladder was instantly pro-
cured, and the deceased young man, Luddett, who with
several others had by this time been attracted to the spot,
instantly volunteered to descend to the assistance of Oakes.
On his reaching the bottom of the grave, witness called out to
him to place the ropes under the arms of Oakes, and the
instant he stooped down to raise the head of Oakes he ap-
peared as if st ruck with a cannon ball, and fell back with his
head in a different direction to his fellow-sufferer, and ap-

peared instantly to expire. King, the former gravedigger,
made two or three ineffectual attemps to ascend, but so foul
was the air that he was obliged to be drawn up again, and it
was full 25 minutes or half-an-hour before the bodies were
taken up by means of a hook attached to a rope. Every
possible exertion had been made to recover the bodies, and
the conduct of the medical gentleman, Mr. Junes, who
promptly attended, was beyond all praise.
Mr. Davis, a member of the Society of Friends, residing
in Church-passage, corroborated the last witness, and said,
that he was on the spot, and that every exertion had been

used to get up the bodies.
William Mallin deposed, that he and the deceased Lud-
dett, who was a friend of his, were accidentally passing by
the church-yard, when they heard that a man was suffocated
in a grave, and Luddell volunteered to descend the ladder. ,
Mrs. Mary Fleetwood stated that she was the daughter of
Phillip the sexton, and her father not being well on that
morning it was the duty of Oakes to ring the chimes at half-
past ten o'clock, and she finding that he had not done so,
went to look for him, and ultimately proceeded to the grave,
where she saw hint lying at the bottom. She instantly gave
an alarm, and Mr. Cheerier and other persons were soon on
the spot. The grave was what was termed a deep grave, and
had been opened for about four weeks.
Juror (Mr. Heard, a common councilman of Holborn.)—
Was not this grave what is called a pauper's grave?
Witness.—lt was, sir. The witness proceeded to state,
that such graves as these were kept open until there were /7
or 18 bodies interred in them : there was only the body of 'a
still-born infant in the one in question. It was not the custom
to put any earth between the coffins in those graves, except
in cases where the persons died of contagious diseases, and
in that case some slacked lime, and a thin layer of earth,
were put rinton ecparatc them. The practlCe Or digging
deep graves had been adopted by order of the churchwardens
five or six years ago. Witness knew of instances wherein
the gravediggers could not go down a grave owing to the
foulness of the ail ; but she was not aware that the fact had
beau made known to the churchwardens. On such occasions
they (the deceased, and his predecessor, King) were in the
habit of burning straw, and using other means, to dispel the
impure air, and then going down. The deceased had been
employed as gravedigger about six months, and was, she
should think. .53 years of age.
Wilii,xrn Thomas King, the late gravedigger to the parish,
said, he was passing by the gate, when he was told by Mrs.
Fleetwood what had happened. He offeted to go down, but
took the '
precaution to have ropes affixed to his person, so
that he !night be pulled up in case of need. He was then
lowered, so that he could nearly get his feet as far as the
bodies of the deceased; bet the smell was so offensive, and

the air so affected him, that he became faint, and he was cer
taro that if he bad not been instantly drawn up, he must have
shared the fate of the others. He made one or two ineffectual
attempts, but without being able to succeed. The witness
said that he had dug graves as deep as 58 feet, and had fre-
quently been similarly affected with the foul air within, and
his general plan was to throw down some lime, and sprinkle
water on it, and in half an hour afterwards he used to go
down with safety.
Mr. Jones, a surgeon, of Jewry--street, stated, that a little
before eleven o'clock he prOceeded to the churchyard, when
he found a young man about to descend into the grave. Hav-
ing at once discovered that the cause of the death of the un-
fortunate men was carbonic acid gas, generated from decayed
animal matter, he would not permit the party to go down, as
not the slightest hope could be entertained of saving the lives
of those who were already at the bottom of the graves. He,
Mr. Jones, then sent for two bottles of concentrated solution
of chlorate of lime, which he threw into the grave; but even
after this, he found that the foul air of carbonic gas was not
expelled, for on lowering a lighted piece of paper and a candle
into the grave, both were extinguished some time before they
reached the bottom. The body of the young man was the
first taken up ; and though he (Mr. Jones) had not the
slightest hope of restoring animation, he used every remedy,
but of course without effect. The case of the other man was
beyond all hope.
The witness, on being asked his opinion as to the effect of
keeping a grave open for a couple of months, replied that
the noxious effluvia emitted from it must be most injurious
to health.
Mr. Townley, a respectable tradesman residing close to
the chur.ch, complained of the practice adopted in the church-
yard, which he said was most distressing to the sight and
injurious to the health of the inhabitants of that crowded
neighbourhood, and be hoped something would be done
around it.
Mr.Tyars, the deputy of the ward, and who is alsochurch-
warden, here said, that from the observations just offered to
the coroner and jury, he felt it to be his duty to reply to
them. He begged, in the first place, to say, that about six
years ago, when appointed to the office of churchwarden of
the pariah, he found, in consequence of the practice which
existed of digging the graves so shallow, some of them not
being more than three o surface, r four feet from the that the
ground was literally full, and there was scarcely a spot to
inter bodies, which, at that time, owing to the dreadful ma-
lady, the cholera,
this unpleasant were unfortunately very numerous. In
dilemma he felt it to be his duty to call a
meeting of the inhabitantstodevise what was best to be done
under the circumstances, and the result was a recommenda-
tion to dig deep ;raves
mightravei rom
attach thenceforth.ot This much he
said, lest any blame
his office;
and successors in
and he begged to add, that from that period to the present
i sent
he had heard no complaints of the practice.
begged to state, that he had on several
occasions
coulds use,
sentinent, expressed in the strongest language
he He further
a
to the archdeacon of the diocese, or his surrogate,
aroucur descriptive
of the filthy state of the vaults and the bury itv3uet
no notice tied been taken of the evil. lie would appeal to
the medical gentleman present (Sir. Jones), if burials in a
densely populated neighbourhood were not most injurious
to health; and, for his own part, he hoped the time was not
distant when such a practice would be discontinued.
Mr. Jones confirmed the opinion of Mr. Tyars.
The jury here, at the suggestion of Mr. Hoard, the fore-
man, proceeded to the churchyard to view the grave, which
presented a scene most repulsive to the eye, and almost im-
possible to describe. It appeared much more narrow at the
top than ordinary graves; and this and its extreme depth
gave it a most singular appearance. On each side there
were coffins heaped up on each other, and shelving out about
the middle, so that the space at this place did not appear to
be more than 20 inches or 2 feet. The coffins exhibited
proof that they were indiscriminately placed there; one in
particular was exuding matter of a most offensive effiuvium,
and not a particle of earth was there between those and the
new grave.
Mr. Jones tried several experiments, which proved to de-
monstration that the grave remained still two-thirds full of
the noxious vapour.
The Jury then retired to the inquest-room, and the Coroner
haring summed up the evidence, they returned a verdict of
" Accidental Death" in both cases.
The Foreman expressed a hope, in order to allay the strong
feeling which the unfortunate affair had created in the neigh-
bourhood, that the grave would be at once filled up, and Mr.
Tyars said he would most readily acquiesce in the wish of
Use jury.

HANOVER, A ua. 29.—The accounts of the harvest, respect-
ing which some fears were felt, are very satisfactory from
almost all parts of the kingdom.
'The "Twilight," an above bridge iron-steamer, on being
cast adrift from Old Swan pier, on Monday evening, could
not get her engines to work; the passengers appeared dis-
appointed, and the master and crew surprised. The paddle-
wheels were inspected but they would not go, and as the tide
was running down, the crew of the vessel attempted to cast
anchor, when lo! it was discovered that the stock was not
shipped properly, and the anchor would not hold. A rope
was then thrown out to make the vessel fast, but another dis-
appointment ensued, as it fell short of the pier, and the
"Twilight" went down the river and drifted through one of
the arches of London-bridge, striking against a pier and
alarming the passengers. She ultimately dropped alongside
Fresh-wharf, and put out her passengers. " Daylight" after-
wards took the place of " Twilight," and did her business in
the dark. " Twilight" was laid up by "Moonlight," and
A 0.47
si
snfl
wassh she
slightlyrecin damaged bymenced running
by " Sun-
thicollision
irrkbilikko:;-‘Morning Herald.
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