Mexborough & Swinton Times, May 6th 1892
Alleged Assault at Denaby Colliery
Jos. Taylor, of Denaby, was summoned by Richard and John Kelly, of Denaby, for an assault; and Richd. and John Kelly were summoned for assaulting Hy. Taylor.
Mr. Diehard appeared for the Taylors and Mr. Hickmott represented the Kellys.
Mr. Hickmott said Richard Kelly and his brother John were employed at the Denaby Main Colliery as miners. On the 30th March a boy named Henry Taylor, brother to Joseph, was acting as driver, taking corves to the pass-by. Sometimes there was difficulty in certain parts of the mine in obtaining a sufficient number of empties. Kelly’s driver—a boy named Machin—had brought some up to near the working place. His (Mr. Hickmott’s) case was that two of the corves were taken by Henry Taylor for the use of his brother Joseph. Later on, Henry Taylor was seen by Machin to take another corve. He communicated with Richd. Kelly, who came and asked the lad what he was going to do. He replied that he was going to take it into his brother’s working place. John Kelly then came up, whereupon Richard told John what had happened. John got hold of Henry Taylor by the waist, while Richard took the corf away. Directly afterwards Joseph Taylor came into Kelly’s working place, and struck Richard a blow in the face. There were also other blows given. The matter was reported to the Colliery Company, and they issued a summons for going into a part of the mine ether than that in which he was employed. That case had been decided by the court. The company, however, took no action in regard to the assault.
The contention put forward by Mr. Gichard was that Taylor was entitled to the corves which he took and that the Kellys already had four empties in their working place. The assault by Joseph Taylor was denied. It was alleged that the Kellys assaulted Henry Taylor by gripping him round the waist and throwing him down.
After a rather lengthened hearing the magistrates dismissed both cases.