It seems that as Blanche’s sister went downstairs, Florence noted that her mother had left the Venetian blinds closed in the bedroom next door which she shared with her husband. Thinking nothing of it, she continued down to help her mother prepare breakfast for the family. There she noted that her father soon followed her into the kitchen. Before he went downstairs however, Jesse Early had put his head around Blanche’s bedroom and called out to his daughter to also get up. It was almost 8 am by this time and so when he was descending the stairs, he saw his daughter walking along the landing heading towards the back bedroom, but that was where the mystery began.

A servant girl who was employed in helping out in the Early’s butchers shop as well as helping around the house, lived in a house opposite. She was called Lily Woodhead and she was surprised as she was getting ready for work, to glance across to her employers house. To her complete astonishment she saw Blanche put her legs out of the window, which Lily knew to be her employers bedroom. She watched in horror as Blanche, still in her nightdress seemed to sit on the sill for a moment before plunging down into the yard below. Lily screamed helplessly, as she knew that the bedroom window was estimated to be twenty five feet from the ground, and therefore must inevitably lead to the girl’s certain death.

Blanche’s brother, who had been working in the butchers shop below, heard his sister fall and he found her seriously injured on the cobbles. Picking Blanche up, he carried her through the shop and into the family’s living quarters behind. It seems that he had heard someone lift the window in the bedroom above, just a few minutes before, but had thought no more about it. A local doctor, Dr Baldwin was immediately called out. He quickly attended the girl, but two days afterwards on 14 December Blanche Early died. It seems that although she re-covered consciousness soon afterwards, the injured girl was unable to remember anything about the incident or what had prompted her to take such desperate actions.

Needless to say the family was quite distraught, and the only conclusion that they could come to was that Blanche had walked in her sleep and jumped out of the window by mistake. An inquest was arranged for Monday 16 December 1901 by the deputy coroner, Mr Benjamin Bagshawe at the Rotherham Infirmary. Blanche’s father was the first witness and he said that his daughter had never been a healthy girl even from birth, but that last few years had seen some slight improvement in her health. Mr Early stated that Blanche had, for many years been subject to walking in her sleep, but that had ceased around six years previously and he had never known her to do it again until her sudden death.

The witness claimed that on the Tuesday night prior to the incident, that Blanche had seemed normal, and had gone to bed at the usual time. He said that as far as he was concerned his daughter had been in her usual health and spirits. The next time the butcher saw her was when she was unconscious in the arms of her brother when he found her in the yard. Mr Early stated that the death had occurred around 1.30 am on the Saturday following. When asked if he could account for any reason for his daughters death, Mr Early shook his head. He said that he had looked long and hard at what had happened, and could only conclude that in opening the Venetian blinds, the brightness of the day had startled Blanche.

He suggested that instead of being in the bathroom, Blanche found herself in her parents bedroom and for some unknown reason had fallen out of the window. One of the jury asked the witness if he thought his daughter was awake at the time, but her father could only suggest that she might have been still dazed and not fully awake. Blanche’s sister then gave her evidence. Florence Amy Early told the coroner that she was in the kitchen downstairs when she heard her sister go into the back bedroom. She thought she had gone in there for some clean clothes and so thought nothing of it. Then she heard her brother shouting that Blanche had fallen into the yard.

She said that her sister was unconscious, but that she revived about an hour or so later. However Blanche didn’t even remember getting out of bed. The coroner asked the witness if she and her sister had been close, to which the witness agreed that they had been. Mr Bagshawe then asked her if her sister had been particularly worried about anything at the time, but Florence stated that she was not worried, nor was she in any trouble. The servant girl who worked for the family, Lily Woodhead was next to give evidence. She described seeing Blanche coming to the window and sitting on the sill for a minute. Lily told the inquest that the girl seemed to be talking to herself ‘because her mouth was moving’ but the witness could not hear anything.

The servant girl said that as Blanche opened the window she anticipated what was going to happen and Lily called out, but at the same time the girl jumped into the yard below. At this point the coroner summed up for the jury and he told them that sadly they could only come to one conclusion. He repeated the fathers assertion that his daughter had previously been a sleep walker, which he added was common for girls of that age. Mr Bagshawe pointed out that according to the witnesses evidence, Blanche had gone to bed quite cheerful and therefore the family had no reason to suspect that she might have intended to kill herself.

So, they had no reason to be concerned or to suspect that their daughter might do what she had in mind to do. The coroner suggested that the jury’s verdict should be something along the lines that ‘the deceased had died from the effects of falling through a bedroom window, whilst probably still in a semi-conscious or somnolent condition.’ A verdict to that effect was given by the jury. Mr Bagshawe added his deep sympathy for the family before closing the enquiry.