South Yorkshire Times, October 28th 1944
Cut Shin in Pig Sty
Goldthorpe Man’s Death
A cut made on his sin by a piece of tin plate fastened to the pig sty on his allotment, was stated at a Mexborough inquest on Saturday to have caused the death in hospital nearly a week later, through septicaemia, of William Henry Burton (69) retired miner, 19 Princess Road, Goldthorpe. The Doncaster District Coroner (Mr. W H Carlile) recorded a verdict of “Accidental Death.”
Mary Ann Ashton married 19, Princess Road, Goldthorpe, said that on Thursday October 12th Burton returned from his allotment about 7 p.m. and said he had cut his leg while feeding the pig. He explained that he had slipped on the wet concrete while entering the sty and had cut his left shin on a tin he had put up the side of the sty to keep out the cold.
Witness later dressed the cut with lint after cleaning it with disinfectant. The cut, which was about an inch long, bled a good deal but Burton said he had had worse and went to this allotment the next day, returning about 4 p.m. when he complained of a pain in the leg. The cut was a little inflamed and witness poulticed with bread and Epsom salts, continuing to do so over the week-end. When he got up on Saturday his ankle was swollen.
Witness persuaded him to go back to bed and to send for the doctor on the Monday as his leg had swollen further. The doctor called on the Monday and again on the Tuesday, when Burton was removed to the Montagu Hospital.