Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-03-10 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

STORY OF THE SNOW.  An inquest has been held at Aehopton, in the. High Peak of Derbyshire, on the body of William Walker, 17, son of a Derbyshire farmer. The lad and a brother, aged 13, named Frank, went to tend ; their father's sheep on the moors, taking with them two collie dogs, " Nell" and "Dot." Some three hours later the dogs returned home alone, and appeared to be ery restless and peculiar in their manner. The father and mother then meet out to find the lads. The dogs went along and kept " waffling " (as the people put it), eager in their desire to get on. After going a considerable distance Mrs. Walker observed a dog's footprints, but noticed no bootmarks in the snow. Tire dogs, especially the old one, appeared to "settle" near a great mass of fallen snow, which had slid over front Win. stone Lee Torr. The snow had evidently drifted to the edge of,the cliff, and, subsequently, slipped over in a huge mass, weighing many tons, and the path under the face of the tor was buried. Mrs. Walker soon discovered a foot and ankle projecting from the snow, and raised the alarm, recognising that it was the foot of her youngest son Frank. Her husband, who was some distance away, came with all possible speed, the mother meanwhile working at the snow to save her boy, who was head downwards, and must have been there for three or four hours. A fierce wind was blowing at the time, and the snow was whirling about in clouds. In a short time she rescued her son, but the body was stiff and cold and the face blue and discoloured. The mother used every effort to restore animation. Partially succeeding, she at once asked, "Oh, Frank, where is " and he answered, "He was here last night," evidently being under the. impression that he had been there all night. As the search was being continued the husband observed the old dog "Neil" again scratching and "waffling," and he went up to the animal, who barked impatiently. On reaching the place indicated by the dog he noticed the feet of the other son, Willie, projecting through the face of the solid mass of snow, which was at that spot several feet deep. This body was also buried deeply, the snow being firmly wedged, and the body " jammed " in so closely that it could not be extricated until a shovel was obtained and the snow cub. It was found that the body was face downwards in a slanting position, over four feet of snow being on the head. After hard work the body was got out. It was evident that life had been extinct for a considerable time. From the statement of Frank it seems that the two boys, after attending to the sheep went to look at the snow on Winstone Lee Tor. While they were looking they observed the snow slipping down upon them, and ran to get out of the way, but both were overtaken by the huge mass and buried.— The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death," and expressed their sympathy with the parents.  Three Bulgarian officers have arrived in Brussels to superintend the delivery of 15,000,000 Martini cartridges and a large quantity of powder ordered by the Bulgarian Government in Belgium.  Judgment was given by the Court of Session on Friday in an action by the Steel Company of Scotland which was brought to force the Forth Bridge contractors to take all the steel they need from the company, under terms of a contract, or pay £100,00(t damages. The judgment was for the pursuers; but the question of the amount of the damages was delayed.  A young man named Fearnley died at the Button Infirmary on Friday from the effects of terrible scalds. He was employed on the night shift at soma metal works, and in the darkness walked into 'a pit of water which was at boiling point, having been heated by contact with some molten metal. The poor Fellow was immediately rescued from the vat, but too late to save his life. Mr. J. H. Blackburne, tile English champion chess player, signalised the close of the Chess Congress at Bristol by playing 37 ga:nes simultaneously. Of these lie lost only two, one of them being to Mr. W. G. Grace, jun., a son of the celebrated cricketer. Mr. Blackburne won 29 games and drew six. Out of the 37 six were consultation games.  An inquest has been held at Sheffield on the body of Thomas Greaves, aged 22, a groom employed at the Sheffield-lane Paddocks of Sir Robert Jardine. It appealed from the evidence that deceased was to have been married at Easter. and having no money with which to purchase furniture, he asked another groom to lend him £lO. As he did not succeed in obtaining the cash he hanged himself in a horsebox. The jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst temporarily insane.