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Joseph Heaton

Age: 41

Sex: male

Date: 14 Sep 1902

Place: Great Northern Railway Sheds, Ardsley

Joseph Heaton was found on the coal staithes at the Great Northern Railway sheds at Ardsley.

The Coroner heard that he was a practical joker and played practical jokes on other workmen.

He had been a labourer at the engine sheds and on the Thursday night he had left his place of work for a time with another man and gone to a public house.

He was later found at about midnight at some adjacent coal staithes and complained of a head injury but could not explain how he had received it.

His cap was found where there was a drop of seven or eight feet and it was considered probable that he had had a fall there.

The base of his skull was found to be fractured and he later died at the Leeds Infirmary.

It was later determined that on the night he had received his injuries that he had played a practical joke upon a fellow workman by placing an empty oil can in the man's food tin, but it was asserted that the victim of the joke had not been aware of who had given him cause for annoyance until after Joseph Heaton was injured.

Following the hearings the Coroner's jury expressed their dissatisfaction with the evidence that they had heard.

Joseph Heaton had lived at 6 Daisy Vale Terrace in Ardsley.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Hull Daily Mail - Tuesday 16 September 1902

see Leeds Mercury - Tuesday 09 September 1902