Jessie Nelson

Jessie Nelson was found injured in the street and it was thought that she might have been hit by a car.

She was found unconscious in the road at Mount Street on the Thursday evening, 17 January 1946 by some boys out playing and then taken to hospital where she died two days later on 19 January 1946.

She had a fractured skull and had other punctured wounds on her forehead and her left ear, both of which were bleeding. The doctor said that her death was due to shock following a fracture of the skull and noted that there were no other bruises about her to suggest that she might have been knocked down by a car or other vehicle, and that there was no fracture to the front of her skull.

Jessie Nelson had lived at 44 Leskinnick Terrace in Penzance with her brother. She had been married to a miner who died in Penzance in 1904.

At the time of her death she had been working as an ironer at Penzance Laundry and was described as being active with good sight and not to have suffered from dizziness.

She had gone to work as usual on the Thursday and was said to have seemed all right there.

The 12-year-old boy that found her said that he had been out playing with other boys in Mount Street on the Thursday evening just below the gap leading through to Leskinnick Terrace. He said that he first went up the gap alone, but that because his friends didn't follow him he went back to fetch them. He noted that when he first went up he didn't see any one lying in the road. However, he said that when they then went back, they saw Jessie Nelson lying in the roadway about four feet from the gutter on the right hand side going up Mount Street. He added that he was quite sure that he saw no car or other vehicle passing up or down at the time either. The 12-year old boy also said that he had not seen Jessie Nelson walking up the hill or heard any bumps or sounds of anyone falling.

However, one of the other boys said that he thought that he saw someone passing up the street on the opposite side and further agreed that there had been no cars or other vehicles about.

A car then came down the hill and then the licensee of the White Hart came out and Jessie Nelson was then taken into the pub and then taken by car to the West Cornwall Hospital.

Another person that arrived at the scene said that when he got there he saw Jessie Nelson lying in the street with her head facing down the hill and said that he then rendered her temporary first-aid. He noted that it was a fine, dry night.

An open verdict was returned.