Hopper drowned (1906)

Post date: Mar 08, 2018 6:58:25 PM

Extract from Kent & Sussex Courier - Friday 14 September 1906

SAD DROWNING FATALITY. —An inquest was held by Mr Thos. Buss at the Railway Hotel, Wateringbury, on Thursday, on the body of Edward Charles Tilsley Richards, hop picker.

—Bessie Richards, the boy's mother, wife of a farm labourer, said the deceased was 15, and he had never been attended by a doctor. They came down to Pelican Farm, Wateringbury, for the purpose of hop-picking Friday week. On the previous Sunday deceased went to play after dinner, and the next she heard of him was between four p.m. and five p.m.. when some people came and told her that her boy was in the river. She found his clothing on the bank found some men searching for him. They could not find him. The search for the body was continued every day until Wednesday, when it was found. The boy could not swim and had never been in the river before to her knowledge. The tent in which she and her husband were living was near the water side.

— Walter Page, a van builder, said that he came into the district for hop picking. On the previous Sunday afternoon he was by the river in Wateringbury and saw deceased go into the river for a bathe. The boy did not appear to be able to swim and called for help. Witness, who could hardly swim at all, went into the water and succeeded in struggling across to the other side of the river to the boy. He managed to just touch the boy as he was sinking for the last time. Witness than had to struggle to the side to save himself.

—William Charles Elpher, of Campbell-road, Maidstone, a boatman employed by Mr J. Hutson, said on Wednesday afternoon, about four o'clock, a young man who was fishing said he thought he saw a corpse in the river. Witness got a boat and rescued the body, which was floating in mid-stream.

-Dr. Sanders, of Wateringbury, said he had examined the body and found it to be apparently well nourished and healthy externally. The heart, however, was extensively diseased. The muscles and valves were fatty, rather strange for anyone at his age. Death probably took place immediately, and was due to heart failure. There was no water in the longs, nor in the stomach, nothing to show that death was due to drowning. If the boy had not died then, heart disease would have sooner or later been evident.

—The Coroner remarked upon the importance of a post-mortem examination in drowning cases, which was proved by this instance. But for the doctor's evidence they would no doubt have come to the conclusion that death was due to suffocation from drowning.

—A verdict to the effect that the boy died from heart failure whilst bathing was returned, and the man Page was complemented on his plucky conduct.