The circumstances attending the death of Albert E. Askham, the two-years-old child of Wm. Askham, shoe-hand, Wellingborough-road, Rushden, formed the subject of an inquiry by the deputy coroner, Mr. J. C. Parker, at the Oakley Inn, on Monday night. Mr. J. T. Colson was foreman of the jury.

Mrs. Askham, the mother of the deceased, identified the body viewed by the jury as that of her son. On the previous day deceased went out in the yard to play at about 5.30 p.m. At 6 o’clock witness went to look for him, but did not find him till just before seven, when she found him in a barrel of water on some ground where some building was going on. Deceased was lying backwards in the water with his legs hanging over the side of the tub. Witness lifted his head out of the water and called for assistance. A man came up and witness’s husband sent for a doctor. Deceased had several times been seen playing with the sand used for building, but never before with water. From the position of the body it looked as though the child had fallen into the tub backwards.

Ebor Bilson, cycle agent, Wellingborough, said he was riding into Rushden at about five minutes to seven, and when passing the building land mentioned he saw the last witness running across the land apparently very excited. Witness went after her to a tub of water, and afterwards took the body of the deceased out of the water. The body was in such a position that it appeared as if the child had sat on the side of the tub and fallen backwards into the water. The body was quite cold.

Dr. Durance said he was called at about seven o’clock to go to the corner of Wellingborough and Brookfield-roads, where he found the body of the deceased. Witness tried artificial respiration both on the spot and after the body had been taken home but to no effect. Death was the result of drowning, and there were no marks of violence on the body. In witness’s opinion death had taken place from twenty minutes to half-an-hour before he arrived. The body was quite cold.

The Deputy Coroner, in summing up, said it was a very unfortunate occurrence, but nobody seemed to be to blame, particularly.

Mr. John Claridge (one of the jurymen) said it seemed to him that some protection should be provided for barrels of water left on the ground, in order to prevent such occurrences.

Mr. Colson : Your idea is that the water should be covered up?

Mr. Claridge : Yes, because children play about buildings to the detriment of builders and occasionally to the injury of themselves.

Mr. Swindall (also on the jury) said it was a difficult matter for builders to deal with. Unless they let the barrels into the ground boys upset them and if they covered them up the covers were thrown off.

The jury found a verdict to the effect that the deceased was accidentally drowned, and Mr. Colson mentioned that Mr. Henson (the contractor) had left a sovereign for the parents, to show his sympathy with them in their trouble.