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James Laws
| Age: | 23 |
| Died: | 12th Sep 1907 |
| Accident: | 12th Sep 1907 |
| Year Born: | abt. 1884 |
| Colliery: | Backworth, Church Pit |
| Company: | Owners of Backworth Collieries |
| Occupation: | Hewer |
| Notes: | killed by a fall of roof |
| Buried: | Preston Cemetery, North Shields |
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| Description | |
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He was working during the back shift of the night shift driving a water level place in the New South district of the Yard seam of the Church pit. The place was about 13 feet wide and the coal 2 feet 7 inches thick. A bottom canch, 5 feet wide and 2 feet deep, was shot up to within 10½ feet of the face on the left or rise side of the place for tub height. The timbering consisted of planks, one end let into holes cut in the coal on the left side and supported by seam props at the other end, these planks protected the tramway as it advanced and were supplemented by props and planks on the low side. The roof consisted of about 14 inches of blue metal followed by post. The putter was in the place at the time of the accident and he was in the cut holding deceased a light while be set a plank. Deceased was on the canch and the plank was resting at one end in a bole cut in the coal and he was about to put a prop under the other end when some of the blue metal, 11 feet long by 3 feet wide on the average and from to 14 inches thick, fell upon him from two converging slips running diagonally across the place which was very wet. The putter got help and he was released in about ½hour but was dead. The place had been visited by the chargeman twice during the shift, the last time about 1½ hours before the accident when he fired a shot in the coal, and on neither occasion had he observed danger. There was a sufficient supply of loose timber near. The fall displaced two planks. The Local Inspectors described the fall in their report and stated that they were of opinion deceased was "Accidentally killed."
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| Sources | |
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- 1907 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 4045), Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. B. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 41, Accident Number: 73 Where to find this report
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| Researchers | |
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