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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	13th July 1883
Colliery:	Lofthouse (Ironstone)
Company:	Pease and Partners Ltd.
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 18 on the list was caused by a shot blowing through from one working place to another in Lofthouse Mines. There were two miners in each place, and they were all perfectly well aware that the shot would probably blow through.

It was the duty of the miners, in the place where the shot was fired, to have satisfied themselves (under the special rules) that there was no one in the place they were likely to hole into before it was lighted up. The evidence as to the warning which should have been given to the deceased and his mate was contradictory, the men who fired the shot maintaining that they gave proper warning, and got a reply of "all right, fire away" ; this was positively denied by the mate of the deceased, and some points in the evidence appeared to support this denial. The two men who fired the shot, both named Joseph Harland (being uncle and nephew), were censured by the coroner and jury for negligence. They were afterwards brought before the magistrates by the police and charged with manslaughter, but the evidence not being sufficient to convict they were accordingly discharged.

Source:

1883 Mines Inspectors Report (C 4078), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 216 Where to find this report

	Walker, John, aged 33, Miner, killed by a shot being fired in a place when it blew through; not sufficient warning being given to deceased
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