| Disasters - Names |
|
Disasters - Names | ||
 |
 |
|||
| Date: | 22nd September 1892 |
| Colliery: | East Hetton |
| Cause: | (See description below) |
| Lives Lost: | 1 |
 |
 |
| Description | |
|
|
No. 24 on the list occurred at East Hetton Colliery, belonging to Messrs. Walter Scott, Limited, on the 22nd of September, about 8 o'clock p.m., causing the death of Andrew Beattie, a stoneman.
The evidence of the man who was working along with deceased at the time of the accident, at the inquest, was as follows :— "I was working along with deceased, in the 1st North Longwall workings, in the Low Main Seam, when the accident occurred. We were taking up a bottom canch, and fired the first shot, and then went back for out baits. On going back to the place, 20 minutes afterwards, we commenced to wedge the stone, left on by the shot, when a large stone fell from the roof, caught deceased, and killed him on the spot.
"We knew the stone was bad, and we were going to take it down after we had filled some loose stone out of the way. The stone measured 7 feet by 5 feet by 12 inches thick at one end, tapering to 6 inches at the other. We tried the stone before firing the shot, and it was bad then, but we thought it would not fall until we drilled a hole and fired the shot.
"Deceased tried it again after getting back from our baits, and it seemed to be in the same condition.
"The machine for drilling the hole had been set under this stone, and might have loosened it.
"There was plenty of timber close to. Deceased was chargeman. The stone should have been taken down or secured by timber directly it was found to be bad. Deceased, as a rule, was a very careful man."
This accident, with ordinary care, should not have happened, especially knowing, as deceased must have done, the danger he was running in working under a stone which was likely to fall at any moment.
| Source: | 1892 Mines Inspectors Report (C 6986), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian. |
|
|
| Fatalities | |
|
|
Beattie, Andrew, aged 42, Stoneman, back broken by a fall of stone in gateway [Sunderland Daily Echo reports: accident - 24 Sep 1892 pg 3 col 1] | |
All names found |
Return
Return to Top
