The ponds had long been a scene of much popular attraction. It was estimated that on the night in question the month had been icy and cold, so consequently there were around 200 skaters enjoying themselves. It looked most picturesque as lit candles were also placed here and there. Suddenly around 8 pm the centre of the ice on one of the ponds gave way and several young people were cast into its icy depths. Altogether it was estimated that seven young people had gone into the water, and four had been quickly drowned. Rescuers were immediately on the scene, but one body was still unaccounted for. Two of those who died were sisters, Emily Pennington aged 16 years and Ethel Pennington aged 14 years whose bodies were taken to the Little Bridge Inn, Parkgate.

The girls mother and their stepfather lived on Effingham Street, Rotherham and the couple were quickly notified of the sad event. The body of another 16 year old girl called Maggie Abson was also recovered, and her parents too were notified. By midnight the police, including Superintendent McDonald and Inspector Kelly were still searching for the body of the fourth fatality, a young man aged 15 called Fred Powell of Rawmarsh. Thankfully his body was recovered shortly afterwards. Needless to say an inquest on all four bodies was arranged by Deputy Coroner, Mr J Kenyon Parker on Saturday 21 January 1905 at the West Riding Police Station at Rawmarsh.

Mr Parker apologised for the swiftness of the inquest, but stated that it was so that the funerals might take place as soon as possible for the victims relatives. He informed the jury that the cause of death was simply because the ice had given way and was not due to any danger of the place itself. Therefore there would be no question of identifying who the property belonged to, or into any lack of fencing or right of way for the general public. The step father of the two sisters, William John Ellis, George, the brother of Maggie Abson and Thomas Powell, the father of Fred, stated that they had all identified the bodies and were satisfied that the occurrence was purely accidental.

The first witness was a 15 year old boy called Samuel Angell, who told the inquest that he had been skating on what was known locally as ‘dead house ponds’ around four hours on the night in question. He said that the ice had originally broken first around 6 pm, although it was a smaller break, nevertheless the ice had made a loud ‘crack’. No one had fallen into the water, so after a short break the skating continued. Around 7.40 pm there was about 200 people on the ice at the time when the ice broke with no warning this time, and the seven bodies were plunged into its icy depths.

The witness then described how he too had been trapped under the ice, until he was rescued by a young man called Daniel Cooke, who was the next witness. He said that he was 19 years of age and described how one man tried to rescue people by using his jacket. The man had tried to reach those trapped in the water with his jacket, whilst Cooke held onto his feet. The witness also described how he ‘had to fight with the ice and was so exhausted that he and thought he was done.’ However he managed to save himself by “skating” his body across the ice to a place of safety.’ The deputy coroner asked his opinion of what had made the ice give way, and Cooke told him that he thought that the ice was very thin at that part.

When the foreman of the jury asked him how deep the pond was, Cooke told him that they had tried to reach the bottom of the pond, but without success. Therefore no one could say how deep it was. Mr Parker stated that he considered that the witness had ‘behaved very pluckily’. He added that ‘it is not given to everybody to do as he had done, to keep his head and do his best under the circumstances.’ Samuel’s brother William Angell was the next witness, who stated that he had been putting his skates on and was about 15 yards away from the crack in the ice as it gave way. He had noted three girls who had been arm in arm and skating along. After the crack in the ice they all quickly disappeared into its icy depths.

Angell said that he had helped to rescue them, before being cast into the water itself, which he judged was about about four yards under the ice. Labourer, Matthew McGowan described getting the bodies out of the iced-up pond. He said that he began breaking the ice around 8.30 pm and using hooks he managed to recover the bodies of the two sisters first. Then around a quarter of an hour later, the body of Abson was brought to the bank. Fred Powell’s body was found just shortly after 11 pm. The deputy coroner in his summing up said that sadly no one could be blamed for what happened.

He therefore informed the jury that in such a case there could only be one verdict, that of accidental death. He said it was just a case of rashness on the people who went onto the ice. The fact that the ice had given way earlier in the evening, should have been a warning which sadly, had just ignored. The foreman of the juror stated that the jury were of a unanimous opinion that these unfortunate souls had been accidentally drowned and asked for an expression of sorrow for all the families who had lost people in this accident. He asked if the owners of the land could be required to fence the ponds off, but the deputy coroner pointed out that the ponds were on private land and no pressure could therefore be put on anyone.

However, he hoped that if the press reported this conversation, that steps would be taken and that was where the matter was left. The jury needless to say, brought in a verdict of ‘accidentally drowned.’ The funerals of all the victims was held on Tuesday 24 January 1905.The two sisters, Mary Emily Pennington and her sister Margaret Ethel Pennington were interred together at Rotherham General Cemetery in front of a large crowd of as many as 300 people. In fact so great was the crowd in front of the Pennington’s house as the funeral cortège set off, that for a while the tramway service was temporarily suspended. Margaret Ethel Abson was buried at the Rawmarsh Cemetery. The funeral of Fred Powell also took place at Rawmarsh Cemetery later in the same afternoon.