An inquest took place in the Forresters' Arms, West Auckland, into the death of Ralph Smith Calvert at St. Helen's Colliery on Saturday, 22 April. Calvert, John Roxborough and Isaac Wood got in the cage to come to bank at about 10a.m. They were drawn up by two horses attached to the crab. The shaft is about eighty fathoms deep. When they got to the level of the ground at the top of the shaft, a man named Martin Sewell, asked them if they were going to get out at the back of the shaft. Roxborough said yes. The deceased was standing with his feet upon the top of the cage, and the other two men standing on the ledge on the outside of the bottom of the cage. The two got off when they got to the level of the ground, but deceased said he would go to the bank with the cage. Sewell told the deceased he had done wrong not to get out, but he never spoke. Immediately after, the cage caught the bolt-head, and then sprang past it about three inches, and after standing a little went down the shaft again. The rope broke and the cage with deceased fell to the bottom. Two men descended the shaft and found the unfortunate man quite dead. His brains were scattered about in the cage. It was a hempen rope, and had been very little used, and not exposed to the weather.
| Source: | Text kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle). |
 | Calvert, Ralph Smith, shaft rope broke |
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All names found |
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Some of the names of mining fatalities on this web site have been kindly provided by
Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser
and Durham Chronicle) and are marked with
.
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