Age: 30
Sex: male
Date: 1 Oct 1909
Place: Skelton
Daniel Chilvers was found dead in water that was six inches deep.
Daniel Chilvers was last seen by a Primitive Methodist minister who had met him on his way home along with some other people in Guisborough. He said that he walked with him through Ellers until they reached their usual parting place where Daniel Chilvers had said goodbye and headed home towards Skelton.
When he did not return home a search party of five people went looking for him.
When he was found by a member of the search party the man said that it looked like clay had been forced down his mouth although he could not be sure.
Footprints were found nearby by a cap as well as footprints near a wall that were not his, although there were no signs of a struggle. The police said that the slope of the bank was soft and at the top heel marks were seen indicating that he might have slipped from the top to the bottom.
A doctor said that he had a bruise on the bridge of his nose and another mark on his right temple. He said that death had been due to asphyxia but that he had not drowned in the ordinary way and might have been hurt or stunned before he came into the water. He said that he did not think that the bruises could have both been caused by the fall as one was older than the other and that both injuries must have been caused by a blow from a fist or a blunt instrument.
Another doctor said that the two injuries were probably caused minutes apart and suggested that he had afterwards staggered and then slipped down into the water where he died.
Daniel Chilvers was an insurance agent.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Friday 01 October 1909