Editor:
Warning – this article contains details which some
readers may find upsetting.
(I’ve been watching too much television!)
An
accident of a most distressing nature occurred in
the Dorset village on 25 October 1858. A youth was
crushed to death under an iron waterwheel. The
subject of the melancholy catastrophe was Mr William
Henry Cox, son of Mr Henry Cox of Maiden Newton
brewery.
William, who was on a visit to his home for a few
days holiday, was articled as a medical pupil to
Messrs Curme & Good, Surgeons, of Dorchester, whom
he had been with for about fifteen months, and was
spoken of in the highest terms as an intelligent,
promising, and an exceedingly well conducted youth.
On
the evening in question William was paying a visit
to the residence of Mr Swatridge, miller, of Maiden
Newton. At about half past five he was in the
garden with his brother and a son of Mr Swatridge,
and in jocular manner he slapped the latter on his
back, observing, "Now Dick, I have paid you what I
owe you". He then ran from the garden, across a
small plot of ground behind the mill, and it would
appear that he attempted to cross the mill pond to
get to the other side. There is no bridge or
anything of the kind for the purpose of crossing
from one bank to the other, but simply an iron
grating about ten feet long to keep any substance
from getting under the wheel, the top of the fence
being only three or four inches wide. It is
supposed that he endeavoured to walk along this
narrow ledge immediately in front of the iron wheel
which works the mill. After he had disappeared from
the garden, young Mr Swatridge heard a grating
noise, and immediately the mill stopped. It was
inferred that the wheel had been damaged, and a
messenger was dispatched to Beaminster for a
millwright, no suspicion being entertained that a
fatal accident had occurred.
The
lengthened absence of the William, however, caused
some misgiving, and upon further examination the
horrible fact became apparent, that he had
unfortunately fallen into the wheel and had been
crushed to death beneath its ponderous weight. The
mill was about seventeen horse-power, and the wheel
usually rotates about eight times in a minute.
There was little doubt that he had missed his
footing while crossing over the top of the grating,
fallen into the buckets or flanges of the undershot
wheel, carried down one-quarter of revolution from
the mark where he first came into contact with it,
so that William must have been deprived of life in
about two seconds. The water had been shut off
immediately the mill stopped, but it was with
considerable difficulty that the body was got out,
the wheel having to be lifted right up. When
recovered it was in a frightfully mutilated
condition, the right leg being completely severed
and torn away from his body, with the ligaments and
part of the muscles of the thigh still attached.
His skull was fractured into small bits, and the
left leg and. both arms broken. The crushing was so
violent that eight iron girders, of considerable
thickness, which formed part of the wheel, were
broken.
On
Wednesday an inquest was held upon the remains
before H Lock Esq, Deputy Coroner, at the White
Horse Inn where a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’ was
returned.
Information from
Sherborne Mercury,
9
November 1858
