THIN ICE

12 January 1891

On Saturday the weather continued frosty and fine at Whitby and the neighbourhood, and hundreds of young people were out on the ice skating on Ruswarp dam and on the River Esk adjoining the Carrs.

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A sad fatality occurred on Ruswarp dam, at the lower part. A young man named James Bell, about 19 years of age, son of Mr.George Bell, fishing boat proprietor, ventured too far down the dam, where the ice was not quite so firm as in the upper reaches.

The ice suddenly gave way, and he was submerged. An effort was made to rescue him by Mr.Naylor, of the Home and Colonial Stores, but the unfortunate young man disappeared beneath the ice. The body has not yet been recovered.

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From The Times 1891