| Disasters - Names |
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Disasters - Names | ||
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| Date: | 5th April 1848 |
| Colliery: | Murton |
| Cause: | Died after a fight |
| Lives Lost: | 1 |
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| Description | |
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William Graham, 21, a pitman at Murton Colliery, died from injuries he received in a fight on the evening of Wednesday, 5 April with fellow pitman, William Gilroy. Gilroy was waiting with others at the pit mouth for Graham to come to bank. When he got out of the cage, Gilroy said to him, "Are you ready to fight as you said you were this morning?", and then hit him. They then repaired to an adjoining field and fought about three-quarters of an hour; during the last round the deceased was knocked down by Gilroy and the latter fell on his breast with his knees, after this the deceased was unable to fight any longer, and he was carried home. A surgeon was sent for, but he was unable to save Graham whose body was a mass of bruises and contusions. The surgeon stated that Graham had died from "an effusion of blood from the brain", between it and the pleura matter. At the inquest, the jury asked the Coroner to issue a warrant for Gilroy's arrest on a charge of manslaughter.
On 31 July, at Durham Summer Assizes, William Gilroy, aged 17, was charged with the manslaughter of William Graham. Prosecuting counsel, Mr. Warren, stated the case:
On the 5th of April the parties, after coming out of the mine, quarrelled and, after a severe fight of three-quarters of an hour, the prisoner fell upon the bowels of the deceased. He was taken up in a state of insensibility and conveyed home, where he soon died. Mr. McGregor, surgeon, stated that he made a post mortem examination, and found that the deceased had died from effusion of blood on the brain.
Gilroy was found guilty and ordered to be imprisoned for fourteen days.
| Source: | Text kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle). |
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