South Yorkshire Times, May 12th 1939
Heart failure, and not drowning, as might have been expected, was found to have been the cause of the death of Frank Batty (19), train register boy employed at Mex borough Station and lodging at 46, Coss land Street, Swinton, whose body was recovered from the River Don at Hexthorpe, Doncaster. The inquest was held by Doncaster Coroner, Mr. W. Cartile on Wednesday.
MOTHER’S EVIDENCE.
Annie Lamb, of 48, Melton Road. Rotherham, wife of Burton Lamb, a signalman, mother of deceased, said he was in good health when she last saw him on April 19th. He was cheerful and had not a care in the world. He had lived away from her for twelve months but he was in no trouble at all and had no worry She knew of no reason why he should want to take his own life. It would be the last thought in his head to want to do away with himself
George Allan Parkin, aged eleven, Of Hexthorpe Said he was playing on the banks of the River Don at Hexthorpe on April 29th at 4 p.m., when he saw a rowing boat in the River going up and down. When he first saw the boat the man in it was rowing very fast. He was a young man by himself. Then witness heard a splash and turned round and saw the man in the water. He shouted for help and ran down me bank. The man was struggling in the water and went down. A man came with a rope and just then the man in the water appeared again. The man with the rope shouted “I will throw you the rope,” but the man went down for the last time.
Mrs Lamb, recalled, said her son could not swim. Continuing, the boy witness said the man did not seem to shout, but he seemed to be trying to save himself by catching hold of the side of the boat.
Frank Hazlewood, lorry driver, of Wentworth Road, Blacker Hill, Barnsley, said that on Sunday May 7th at 2.45 p.m., he was in a rowing boat on the River Don at Hexthorpe about half a mile east of the boathouse when he saw the body of a man floating in the river. He reported the matter to the park attendant at the boat house and later helped to recover the body. P.c. Miller spoke to recovering the body.
NO WATER IN LUNGS.
Dr. Peter Milligan, pathologist, of Doncaster, said he had made a postmortem examination of the body and found no sign of injury externally or internally. The organs were healthy. There was no water in the lungs or the stomach There were haemorrhages on the surface of the heart and the lungs and he concluded the man had not died from drowning but from heart failure, probably due to exertion and from the shock of immersion. He was a normal healthy youth. There was quite a lot of partly digested food in the stomach and that may have had some effect. The Coroner said there was no reason why Batty should deliberately take his own life. What possibly happened was that he rowed a good deal, then lay in the bottom of the boat to rest.