James Clegg Eyewitness Account

• Place: Oldham
• Role: Spectator
• Occupation: Cotton Spinner

Work colleague and observer to the injuries inflicted on John Lees the day before his death; subsequent witness to his post-mortem examination.

Account

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Name: James Clegg

Occupation: Spinner

Home: Oldham

Date: 25 September 1819

Source: Lees Inquest 33 − 35

Summary: Work colleague & observer of the injuries inflicted on John Lees during the days before his death; subsequent witness to his post−mortem examination.
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JAMES CLEGG called by the Constable, sworn, and examined by the CORONER.
Q. What are you?
A. I am a spinner.
Q. Did you know the deceased, John Lees?
A. I have known him five years, and worked in the same fac¬tory with him.
Q. Did you see him on the morning of the 16th of August last?
A. I did.
Q. Where did you see him?
A. At the factory.
Q. At what time?
A. Between eight and nine o'clock in the morning.
Q. Did you see him again that day after that time?
A. Yes; I met him coming home from Manchester about 5 o'clock that evening.
Q. Did you have any conversation with him?
A. He said he was wounded, and I saw clotted blood on his arm.
Q. Did you see that he was wounded?
A. I saw he was wounded about half-past six the next morn¬ing, when he came to the factory.
Q. Did he do any work?
A. No, he remained about an hour, but did nothing.
Q. Where was he cut?
A. I saw a cut on his arm.
Q. How came you to see it?
A. I asked him to let me look at it, and he showed me his right elbow.
Q. Did you see any of his clothes that were cut?
A. I saw the hem of his waistcoat, which he said was cut.
Q. Where was it cut?
A. On the left shoulder.
Q. How long was the cut?
A. It might be a quarter of an inch.
Q. Did he complain of being cut any where else?
A. No, he did not.
Q. When did you see him again?
A. I saw him again the same evening going to the doctor.
Q. Did you see him at the factory after this?
A. Yes, I did, in the course of a week or a few days after; he was then throwing up his food, and he told me very little had passed him but in that way since the 16th of August.
Q. What time of the day was it that you saw him at the factory?
A. It was about twelve o'clock.
Q. Did he say any thing more?
A. He said he was poorly.
Q. How far distant was the factory from where he lived?
A. It might be about 100 yards.
Q. Did he walk backwards and forwards by himself?
A. I never walked with him any way.
Q. Do you recollect seeing him walk out any where after that?
A. No, I do not.
Q. When did you next see him?
A. On the Thursday before he died; he was then very poorly, and I stopped up with him on the Sunday night.
Q. Did he say any thing to you while you were sitting up with him?
A. No, he could not answer any thing that was said to him.
Q. How many times did you see him in the factory after the 16th?
A. I suppose about four or five times; but I cannot exactly say.
Q. Did you hear him complain of pain in any other part except his arm?
A. No, I never did.
Q. Was he in good health before the 16th of August?
A. He was a hearty man for any thing I knew or saw.
Q. Did you ever hear him complain of a pain in his breast?
A. I never did.
Q. Were you very intimate with him?
A. No, I was not.
Q. Did you go about with him?
A. No, I did not.
The CORONER—(to the Jury and Mr. Harmer)—Will the Jury or Mr. Harmer ask this witness any thing?

The Witness examined by Mr. HARMER.

Q. Although you saw him at the factory four or five times after the 16th of August, did he ever attempt to work?
A. He never did.
Q. Was he a regular steady worker before that time?
A. He was.
Q. You were not very intimate with him, you say, and perhaps never asked him if he had any other hurt?
A. No, I did not.
Q. Were you present when Mr. Cox opened the body?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. Did you hear Mr. Cox say what occasioned his death?
A. He said that the bruises and not the cut had caused his death.
Q. Were any other persons present when this passed?
A. Yes; Betty Ireland and George Chadwick.

The Witness re-examined by the CORONER.

Q. Did not Mr. Cox say that bleeding might have prevented in¬flammation?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. Did you at any time see blood taken from him?
A. Never, except by some leeches.

Mr. COX here requested permission to put some questions to the witness, which the Coroner granted.

Mr. Cox—(to the witness)—Did I not say that the appear¬ances in the lungs accounted for his death?
A. Yes, you did.
Mr. Cox—Did I not say that the deceased did not die of the cut in his arm, but of the injuries on his body?
A. Yes, you said he died from the bruises on the body.

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