Frightful accident in a paper mill

A shocking fatality occurred at the paper manufactory of Mrs. Mary Crompton, at Collyhurst, Manchester. The sufferers were Eliza Jenkinson, twenty-eight years of age, house-servant to Mrs. Crompton, who was killed on the spot, her body being literally torn in pieces, and Mrs. Crompton herself, who lost her left arm.

It appears, that Mrs. Crompton was at the time engaged in “putting in " to one of the calendars, for Ann Horrocks, a female in her employ, who had just gone to dinner; the deceased servant came into the room to deliver a message. The room is nearly filled with the machinery.

On the left of the entrance was a large water-wheel, and on the right was the calendar at which Mrs. Crompton was employed, a narrow avenue, only sufficient for a person to pass, being left between them. Up to this avenue came two cog-wheels, and in passing the cog-wheels the deceased's clothes were caught by the teeth of the lower wheel. The wheels going at the rate of twelve to fifteen revolutions in a minute, the poor creature was instantly drawn into the hole under the wheel.

Mrs. Crompton perceiving her danger, ran to render what assistance she could, but she also became entangled. The assistance of some of the men being procured, the wheels were reversed, and Mrs. Crompton, who was found laid upon the deceased, was extricated.

She was severely injured, and her left arm was torn from her body, She was conveyed home, and efforts were then made to release the poor girl. The body presented a most frightful spectacle; she was lying under the hole of the wheel; all her clothes were torn off; her body was literally cut in two, from the lower part to the head; her entrails were torn out, and lay upon the floor; part of her face was torn away, and almost every bone in her body was broken. One of her legs was found on the opposite side of the wheel. The body, thus shockingly mangled, was conveyed to the Andrew's Arms, where an inquest was held on the same day before the borough coroner.

Evidence of the occurrence was given, but there was no proof of blameable neglect, except that the cog-wheels might have been partitioned off. The jury found that the deceased “died from lacerations and fractures accidentally received from a cog-wheel,” stating that had it not been for the injuries received by Mrs. Crompton in trying to extricate the deceased, they should have imposed a very heavy deodand on the machinery.