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Mystery Solved
Several members emailed with comments and information concerning the article in the last newsletter
regarding the tragic death of a Salvation Army officer couple in late 1925. We had come across and asked for information on a postcard showing a gravestone bearing the Salvation Army crest and word recording the Promotion to Glory of Mr and Mrs Awumani who "went to Heaven from West Hartlepool on November 3, 1925” Below is a modern photograph of the same tombstone:
Hartlepool Central Library's referencing team have been able to reveal the devastating circumstances of the couple's death. The staff have unearthed articles from the Northern Daily Mail which describe how the couple, Kwesi Morgan Awumani and his wife Adjua Essar
Awumani, also known as Mr and Mrs Ellis, died after they were found gassed at a house in Alderson Street,
Hartlepool.
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A November 4, 1925 article headlined 'West African Natives Gassed – Blew out the light? - Distressing Affair at West
Hartlepool', told of how the couple were lodging with Captain and Mrs Shaw and were unfamiliar with the way a gas light worked. Despite Captain Shaw's specific instructions on how to operate it, he was unable to rouse them from their sleep the next morning.
The report said: "It is presumed that in spite of Capt Shaw's instructions, the gas must have been blown out or turned off and then turned on again”.
In the same edition, the newspaper had described how the West Africans had earlier been part of a congregation at the York Road United Reformed Church, at a service attended by Reverend W Cherry. The next day's edition of the paper carried details of the Ellis' inquest and funeral.
The then Coroner Newby said the Ellis', natives of Salt Pond on the Gold Coast, had been killed as a result of coal gas poisoning and Mrs Ellis died before her husband. The coroner returned a verdict of "death by misadventure".
The article on the funeral said: "A crowd of between 4,000 and 5,000 people this afternoon attended the funeral of the late Capt and Mrs Ellis, the West African native members of the Salvation Army who died on Tuesday night in
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sad
circumstances. "Stockton Street was densely packed with people from opposite the Salvation Army Citadel to beyond the Picture House, and the traffic was held up for a considerable time”.
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Another SA
Mystery
This cloth item showing William Booth was evidently intended as a humorous item. Any information would be gratefully received by the Editor. |
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