Leeds Times (19/Jan/1867) - Inquest at Meltham

The following is a transcription of a historic newspaper article and may contain occasional errors. If the article was published prior to 1 June 1957, then the text is likely in the Public Domain.

An inquest was held at Meltham, on Wednesday, on the body of Mr. John Hirst, lodging-house keeper, and sixty-seven years of age. The evidence showed that on Sunday morning, a person named James Armitage called upon the deceased, and induced him to go to the Harden Moss Inn, about a couple of miles away. They left in the evening, having had a quantity of beer, and as they were going along Pricker Lane the deceased fell, and Armitage being also under the influence of liquor, was not able to lift him up and get him home, but went away, leaving him in the deep snow. Although the night was very cold, Armitage called at a beer-house and stayed there a while before he went to the house of the deceased to tell his wife that he had left Hirst behind, and even then, according to the statement of Mrs. Hirst and Sarah Taylor, Armitage did not state where and in what condition he had left the deceased. The result as, no one was sent for the old man, and he lay in the snow all night. The next morning Armitage and another man went in search of Hirst, and found him in Pricker Lane, not far from the place where he had fallen, alive but insensible. He was conveyed home, where he died in about an hour. The jury returned a verdict of "Died from exposed to cold," and the coroner administered a severe reproof to Armitage for his unfeeling and inhuman conduct.