The house in question was occupied by a forty nine year old man called John James and his housekeeper was a woman called Mrs Georgina Parry. She lived at the address with her fourteen year old daughter Ethel May. On the night of Friday 12 February 1904 a next door neighbour, Mrs Hopewell popped into to see her friend, and she had not been there very long when Georgina complained of feeling unwell. She had barely laid down on the sofa before she was taken with a violent attack of vomiting. When the attack subsided, Ethel May brought her mother some brandy and whisky, before she too complained of her head hurting.

The girl went upstairs to bed whilst her mother continued to lie on the sofa. Eventually after trying to settle her two neighbours, Mrs Hopewell left to go home around 10pm. The next day it was noted that matters had not improved and during the following afternoon Dr Byrne of Attercliffe was finally sent for. He found the mother and daughter were still complaining of headache and feeling ‘muddled in the head.’ However the lodger John James appeared to be in his usual health, although the doctor could detect that he had been drinking. The following day the family were visited by a young woman called Miss Nellie Bee, who soon after she entered the house, also complained of feeling queasy and unwell.

It was not long before she too collapsed unconscious, nevertheless she vomited ‘awfully.’ Thankfully she was able to go home where she soon recovered. The next day it was reported that the householder John James had died. It seems that the day before he had been drinking in several of the local public houses before returning home. Soon afterwards he was complaining of ‘going mad’ and was seen to be waving his arms around in a frenzied manner. However his behaviour just seemed to be the actions of a drunken man. Another family friend, a Mrs Chapman, hearing about the mysterious illness also called at the house and she found Georgina with froth coming from her mouth.

Mrs Chapman sat in a chair next to the sofa where Georgina lay and it was not long before she too complained of feeling ill. Suddenly and without warning, the poor woman collapsed, falling from the chair onto a hearth. Yet another visitor, another female friend called Mrs Lily Jinks called in and she too felt the effects of this strange illness. She later stated that there was a strange smell in the house, which she described as being like ether, although no one else could smell it. After all this, the lodger James and another neighbour, a man called Smith decided to sit up all night and keep and eye on the housekeeper. The rest of the night passed quietly before yet another visitor, Mrs Summers called around the next morning around 8 am.

She immediately noted that the man Smith, had foam coming from his nose and mouth. However the lodger John James was stretched out unconscious on the hearthrug. Approaching him, Mrs Summers could see that he was dead. Georgina was in an unconscious state as she lay on the sofa. Another surgeon Dr Hargit was called in, but there was little for him to do. He order the removal of the body of James to the Mortuary and the others were dispatched to the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, including young Ethel Parry, who was still vomiting. Needless to say the police had to be notified of the mysterious poisoning in Attercliffe and Inspector Hebb was called to the house.

He inspected every room most carefully, but could find no reason to account for all the illnesses. So he locked up the house and took possession of the key. Needless to say several suggestions of what might have caused the poisonings were put forward, but it was reported that there was no gas laid on at the house, so no reason could be found. Over the next few days, the house was inspected by Mr Scurfield, the Sheffield Medical Officer of Health and Mr H Cleghorn the Superintendent of the Sheffield Gas Company. Meanwhile the inquest into John James was opened on Wednesday 17 February 1904 by the Deputy Coroner, Mr Kenyon Parker.

The deceased man’s brother Henry was the first to give evidence, and he described for the jury the layout of the house. He also mentioned the close proximity of the Siemans Blast Furnace to the property. Significantly he told the inquest that the furnace had been shut down for some months until the previous Thursday when it had been suddenly started up again. Other witnesses gave evidence of feeling ill at the house and vomiting after they got home, but no one complained of any smell. A surgeon called Dr Carter gave evidence of carrying out the post mortem on John James where he described some of the deceased man’s organs as being cherry red in colour.

The surgeon stated that he sent specimens of the deceased man’s organs to Professor Macdonald of the Sheffield University College, who had made a minute inspection of them. He was able to exclude prussic acid or cyanide poisoning, but instead confirmed to presence of carbon monoxide or nitrous oxide. Dr Scurfield told the coroner that he agreed with his colleagues account. He too, had closely examined the house and theorised that gas from the blast furnace might have passed through faulty brickwork under the house which had been damaged whilst the blast furnace had been shut down. Therefore gas might have been absorbed into the earth around the house.

Nevertheless this theory was immediately dismissed by Mr Cleghorn of the Sheffield Gas Company. In his summing up, Mr Kenyon Parker told the jury that although the cause of death of John James was clear, the evidence itself was not conclusive. After consulting together for some time, the jury finally returned a verdict after two hours. The conclusion they had reached was to the effect that the deceased had died from poisoning by carbon monoxide, but they expressed no opinion as to the source of where the gas had come from. Indeed it was not until Thursday 25 February before the solution to the mystery was finally found.

It soon became clear that the Medical Officer of Health had not been too far off in his suggested that damage had been caused to the brickwork. Dr Scurfield said that due to the Siemans blast furnaces being idle, the joints between the underground brickwork had become leaky as a result. Once the works were re-opened, the gas now escaped through the opened joints. He pointed out as confirmation that the illnesses had started the next day. Dr Scurfield concluded therefore that John James’ death was due to poisoning by his inhalation of carbon oxide coming from the blast furnace.

When asked what preventative measures were now being taken, the Medical Officer of Health stated that the house was to be left empty. He said that the Siemens Blast Furnace Company were, at present renting it, in order to make sure no such poisonings happened again. They had also agreed that at the end of six months to demolish a concrete wall to a depth below the foundations of the house. The company will then ensure that a new length of brickwork would replace the old, to prevent gas finding its way into the earth around the house in the future. Whether this was of a comfort to the dead man’s family or to the others who suffered from the catastrophe went unrecorded.