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Daniel O'Brian
| Age: | 12 |
| Died: | 11th Jan 1875 |
| Accident: | 11th Jan 1875 |
| Year Born: | abt. 1863 |
| Colliery: | West Wheal Frances (Metalliferous) |
| Company: | West Wheal Frances Mining Co. |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Notes: | Drowned in the botton of a shaft, having "ridden" down in the skip against orders |
| Buried: | [not known] |
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| Description | |
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Miscellaneous in Shafts.
If rules are made for the protection of men, agents must be strict in seeing that they are duly enforced, for the best of rules are of course worthless if allowed to become a dead letter. Until stricter obdience is exacted accidents such as No. 2, for instance, will occur from time to time.
A boy named Daniel O'Brian and two comrades jumped into the skip at the surface, in order to be lowered down one of the shafts of West Wheal Frances, to save themselves the trouble of climbing. The lander cautioned them, told them they were disobeying the rules, and that they were liable to a fine of 10s. each. The lads would not leave the skip, and the lander at last lowered them to the 130-fathoms level. Unknown to him, the water had risen considerably, and the boys suddenly found themselves in water six or seven feet deep, their lights were extinguished and O'Brian, who could not swim, was drowned.
Of course the lander acted very wrongly in allowing the boys to descend in the skip, but though there was this fine of 10s. it did not appear, from the evidence given at the inquest, that it had been inflicted, at all events during the preceding 12 months, though the offence had been committed several times. Cases of this kind seem to demand "Special Rules" for then men and boys might be made liable to severe punishment for neglect to observe the rules, and agents would run the risk of prosecution if they did not enforce them.
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| Sources | |
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- 1875 Mines Inspectors Report (C. 1499), Cornwall, Devonshire, and part of Somersetshire District by Dr. C. Le Neve Foster, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 350 Where to find this report
- 1875 Mines Inspectors Report (C. 1499), Cornwall, Devonshire, and part of Somersetshire District by Dr. C. Le Neve Foster, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 360, Accident Number: 2 Where to find this report
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