Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	15th August 1906
Colliery:	Bewicke Main
Cause:	Crushed by tubs
Lives Lost:	1

The loaded tubs of coal from the Riding drift are brought by endless rope to Bewick Main pit to be screened and loaded into waggons. After leaving the endless rope they pass over a weighing table and then over a short curved length of rails having at first an inclination of inch per yard in favour of the load increasing to 1 inch per yard and terminating at a tippler. Often the tubs will not run round the curve and require to be pushed forward, but if the rails are wet, as was the case when the accident happened, owing to a water tub having passed over them shortly before, they run more freely. Deceased, who acted as token boy and assisted generally, was examining a tub of coal in the tippler, when a loaded tub ran forward and crushed him against it. He was not thought to be seriously injured but was told to go home. He left the pit but was not able to reach home without assistance, and died the same day from a ruptured bladder. The Jury added a recommendation to their verdict that chocks should be provided to prevent tubs running forward unexpectedly, and the manager promised to give effect to it. The Local Inspectors reported, "Found it to have been a pure accident."

Source:

1906 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 3449), Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. B. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian.

	Cawson, Armstrong, aged 15, Token Boy, crushed by tubs
	All names found

 

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