Fatal accident at brewery (1878)

Extract from Kent Times - Saturday 31 August 1878

WATERINGBURY.

FATAL ACCIDENT.--On Saturday afternoon, William Norman, 50 years of age, employed by Mr. J. Featherstone, plumber and glazier of Wateringbury and living at Yalding, was engaged putting the strap on the wheel which turns a water wheel forcing the water up to Leney and Son's brewery. Before doing this, however, Norman stepped upon one of the spokes of the wheel for the pupose of clearing some stones away, which had been tossed on to the machinery by children. The wheel moved with his weight, and he was thrown inside. His head in the fall rested on a low wall, and the spoke of the wheel came down, crushing his head. The poor fellow cried out, and he was at once taken from his perilous position by some men near, but he died almost immediately. He was then conveyed to an inn to await an inquest, but upon the coroner being communicated with he did not deem one necessary.