Sheffield Independent – Monday 10 September 1883
Sad Death of a Child at Denaby
On Saturday evening a little boy, aged eight years, named John Thomas Cooper, son of a collier employed at Denaby Main, was drowned in the canal near Gray’s Bridge, Denaby, while attempting to reach a piece of wood which was floating.
A boy, named Norman, with whom deceased was playing, states that two men were standing on the bridge at the time of the accident, but did not render assistance to the drowning child, who struggled for some time before he finally sank.
Norman ran to the toll bar and called the inmate, Mr. T. Ensor, who pulled the body out with a boat hook. Efforts were made to restore animation, but without effect.