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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	2nd April 1889
Colliery:	Hutton Henry
Company:	Hutton Henry Coal Co., Ltd.
Cause:	Crushed by tub
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 20 on the list. — This accident happened at Hutton Henry Colliery on the 2nd of April, about 11.30 in the morning. At that time a tub had fallen into the "sump," or that part of the shaft below the level, where the tubs are put into the cage. The onsetter and waggonway-man were engaged in getting it out, and while doing so some of the workmen came to the shaft bottom to ascend after having finished their day's work, and being naturally anxious to get home at the earliest possible moment, commenced to chaff the onsetter and waggonway-man about the time they were taking to get the tub clear. This chaff was the cause of laughter amongst the men, and the noise thus made drowned the sound of an approaching set, which joined 24 full tubs standing on the "kip," driving them with great force amongst the men. Deceased, and six others were injured more or less seriously, and he succumbed to his injuries on the 6th of April.

There should have been someone at the rapper to signal to the engineman to stop the set before it joined the full tubs. Usually a lad is stationed at these rappers continuously while work is going on, and the reason given why one was not attending to this was that the waggonway-man, under whose supervision the boy would be, had sent him either to do some other work or to get a meal, saying he would attend to the rapper in the meantime himself, but the waggonway-man denied this. Whether the lad left his place, attracted by the larking going on, or had been sent away from it by the waggonway-man, and the latter had promised to do the work during his absence, and forgotten all about it whilst getting the tub out of the "sump," I cannot say, but it seems as if one or the other had happened. The accident was directly due to neglect of duty either on the part of the rapper-lad or waggonway-man, and indirectly to the uproar caused by the men waiting to ascend the shaft

Source:

1889 Mines Inspectors Report (C 6015), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 6 Where to find this report

	Roscoe, Joseph (died: 07 Apr 1889) , aged 48, Hewer, along with four other men he was waiting at the shaft bottom to ride; a tub fell into the sump causing delay; the engine set came out and was run violently amongst them; this man had one leg broken, which was afterwards amputated
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