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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:	38
Died:	14th Nov 1894
Accident:	14th Nov 1894 3:30 PM, 9th hour of shift
Year Born:	abt. 1856
Colliery:	Cliffrigg & Slacks (Metalliferous)
Company:	William Winn
Occupation:	Miner
Notes:	A heavy hall of whinstone from the roof of the mine
Buried:	[not known]
Category:

Number 3 on the same list occurred at Cliffrrigg and Slacks Whinstone Mine on the 14th of November last, about 3.30 o'clock p.m., causing the deaths of David Pearson and William Watson, both miners.

It appears these men had come back about 100 yards from the face of their working and commenced to work some stone where it was easier to get; they got some down, and while filling it away another stone fell, which had been loosened, from a height of 30 feet and killed them both.

It was a most reprehensible proceeding to go back and work stone as they did, and I cannot too strongly condemn such want of regard for safety and all safe methods of working.

At first it was supposed to have been a purely accidental occurrence, but the true aspect of it was given by one of the witnesses at the inquest who was working along side the deceased men and who admitted they had been "robbing" when the accident occurred.

This is the first fatal accident that has happened at these mines, and they have been working for more than twenty years; this fact makes the present case all the more to be regretted. If men are guilty of such foolhardy actions as these men were, fatal accidents are sure to occur.

• 1894 Mines Inspectors Report (C 7667), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 16 Where to find this report
• 1894 Mines Inspectors Report (C 7667), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 49, Accident Number: 3 Where to find this report

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