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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	23rd December 1897
Colliery:	West Thornley
Company:	Weardale Iron and Coal Co., Ltd.
Cause:	Fall of ground
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 562 on the list occurred at West Thornley Colliery, belonging to the Weardale Iron and Coal Company, Ltd., on December 23rd., causing the death of a hewer.

The roof of the seam in which the deceased man was working contains a great many stones in it, like a cauldron upside down, and there is a parting like glass between it and the stone surrounding it. They are at all mines regarded as death traps, and at most collieries it is compulsory that they should, as soon as ever discovered, be supported by timber, and then when the coal has been got out that they should be taken down. Some managers pay the men a certain sum for taking them down in order to encourage them to do so, I am sure the money is well spent.

A stone of this kind had been found in the place by the man in the preceding shift just as he was finishing, and he said he showed the deceased man where it was and advised him more than once to get a prop set under it, and that he promised him he would do so.

He appears to have tried to take it down, but finding it difficult to do so, he had left it alone and neglected to put in the timber under the stone, and it afterwards fell and so seriously injured him that he died two days afterwards.

I cannot too strongly impress on both officials and men the danger of allowing these stones to remain up without proper support. They are most treacherous and cannot be trusted for a moment as they will not answer to the usual test of jowling or testing by sound.

Source:

1897 Mines Inspectors Report (C 8819), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 13 Where to find this report

	Graham, William (died: 25 Dec 1897) , aged 54, Hewer, Head severely cut, collar bone broken, and spine injured by a fall of stone from the roof of his working place. Died on the 25th
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