Skeleton

The skeleton of a man was found in a boiler at the New Ferry Brickworks, Cheshire on 17 March 1924.

It was initially thought that it had been a certain man when the inquest opened, but the man had since turned up.

Then again, during the inquest, a woman tried to establish the skeleton as that of her missing husband by its small head and feet, crooked nose and the khaki shirt and army boots, but it transpired that her husband had had two false teeth on top, whereas the skeleton had had a full set of natural teeth.

The watchman at the brickworks said that he had previously seen a man wandering round the works and then afterwards missed him, and noted that it was possible that he had climbed into the boiler and died.

The doctor that carried out the post mortem examination said that it was impossible to state the cause of death.

When the Coroner summed up he said that there was no evidence to show who the man had been, and that owing to the condition of the body, it was impossible to ascertain the cause of death and an open verdict was returned.