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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	13th June 1891
Colliery:	Edmondsley
Company:	Edmondsley Coal Co., Ltd.
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	2
Category:

No. 24 on the list occurred at a sinking pit in connection with Edmondsley Colliery, belonging to the Edmondsley Coal Company, on the 13th June, about 8.15 a.m., causing the death of Robert Miller Pearson, a master sinker, and John Henry Sutton, a sinker. This accident was caused by a tram falling down a small shaft, which was being sunk to prove some coal beyond a fault at the royalty belonging to Edmondsley Colliery, when the two deceased men were working at the bottom.

A kibble was sent up full of water, and the man who was banking out, Anthony Miller Pearson, placed it on the tram and ran it on to the heap, and emptied it. He put the kibble on the tram again and went towards the shaft, but slipped and lost hold of the kibble, which was still running towards the shaft. Pearson, in his anxiety to stop the tram, ran after and clutched at the kibble, which caused it to fall off the tram, which ran forward and, with the impetus given to it by the kibble falling off, jumped over a chock put across the rail to stop it, went under the fence and fell down the shaft, killing both men.

An inquest was held before Mr. Coroner Graham on the 16th June, when a verdict of accidental death was returned.

This is a class of accident which does not frequently happen, and it is one which no one would have thought would occur at the shaft in question. The man Robert Pearson, who had charge of the sinking, was an old and well-experienced sinker, and had fitted up everything in such a way to make one think such an accident as this could not take place. It was made more sad by the fact that the banksman was a near relative of the two men killed, one being his father and the other his cousin. It was difficult to ascertain if the chock was really in its proper place at the time. After the accident I tried to make the tram jump the chock by pulling the kibble off it, but was not successful in doing so. I am afraid myself that the chock was not across the rail at the time of the accident, and, if it was not so placed, the tram would have a clear run into the shaft.

Source:

1891 Mines Inspectors Report (C 6625), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 10 Where to find this report

	Pearson, Robert Miller, aged 49, Master Sinker, the banksman in bringing a kibble on a tram back from the waste heap ran it against a chock, which upset the kibble and threw the tram down the shaft
	Sutton, John Henry, aged 29, Sinker, the banksman in bringing a kibble on a tram back from the waste heap ran it against a chock, which upset the kibble and threw the tram down the shaft
	All names found
	Those names marked with , have a web page providing individual details of the accident, the page may also include a photograph of the deceased. Click on the symbol next to the name to see the web page.

15 Jun 1891

Fatal Accidents (The Times)

 

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