Washington Colliery Shaft Accident – Gateshead – 1867

WASHINGTON. Gateshead, Durham. 31st. May, 1867.

The colliery was owned by Bell, Kimpster and Company and the accident occurred when the cage containing ten people was drawn past the landing place at the top of the shaft and into the headgear where the winding rope broke and the cage and men fell down the shaft which was 120 fathoms deep.

The men who died were:

• Hiram Milner aged 51 years, miner.
• Patrick Kearnoy aged 40 years, miner.
• Patrick Brannon aged 40 years, miner.
• H. Curran aged 38 years, miner.
• John Coil aged 39 years, miner.
• John Smith aged 53 years, miner.
• William Briggs aged 24 years, miner.
• Jonas Todd aged 30 years, miner.
• P. Atkinson aged 13 years, putter.
• M. Muloaney aged 15 years, putter.

The bodies all went into the sump and the water was pumped out before they were removed. The bodies of Brannon, Smith and Curran were reported to have been “smashed to pieces”.

The inquest was held in the house of Mr. Armstrong at Washington. Those present included Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Southern, Government Inspectors of mines, Mr. Barker, a solicitor of Sunderland watched the proceedings on behalf of the relatives of the victims, and Thomas Taylor the brakesman at the colliery was in the room in the charge of a policeman.

George Charlton, the under viewer at the “F” pit at the colliery, was the first witness. He said that at about 7 p.m. the cage was being wound up from the Maudlin Seam which was 90 fathoms down when the cage went into the pulley and the rope broke. The man and cage went down the shaft and into the sump. Men went down the shaft to see what they could do. He continued:

I sent George Routledge to attend the “rapper”. The men I understand, got into the cage before Routledge got there and Frank Smith “rapped” them away. I considered Smith a qualified man to do this. The men would have been at the bank by 5 o’clock but a fall took place and the men had to round by the “waste”.

Thomas Taylor would take charge of the engine between 5 and 6 o’clock. He lowered me down steadily at 6.30. He appeared sober. He has been about 10 months at the colliery. Taylor always worked the engine, as far as I could see, properly and steadily. he always appeared to have great command over the engine. I have had no complaints against him. I have never seen him drunk either when at work or not at work. An extra length of rope is put on at night to work the Hutton Seam, but it had not been put on when I went down, nor was it on when the men were killed. The rule states that the onsetter is to work the signals himself and not to allow anyone else to do so. The onsetter, who is named John Wilson, should remain until the deputies and back overmen are out and Wilson in his leaving told me that he expected all the men were out of the seam. It is very common for the men “rap” themselves away when the onsetter is not there.

In reply to a question from Mr. Atkinson, Charlton said that there were usually twelve men in the cage at a time and John Coulson was the banksman. The engineman had nothing to obstruct his view of the pit. When coal was being wound “keps” were used and sometimes when men were riding. He pointed out that if there had been “keps” they might have caught the cage.

John Walton was the engineer at the colliery and Thomas Taylor was under his charge. He had known the man for many years and said he had been brought up a s a brakesman. He said there was a bell on the indicator in the engine house which rang when the cage was about 130 feet from the bank to give the enginemen notice to slow the engine as it approached the bank. The bell was in good order and the engineman could see the indicator. He could not fault Taylor and there was sufficient braking on the engine. He suggested that on the day, Taylor’s attention had been distracted, perhaps by a passing locomotive. Mr. Atkinson questioned the witness as to the rope that was in use and he said the rope was 4 inches in circumference and had a breaking strain of 36 tons and the working load was 2 tons 14 cwt. It was put on the 14th of January 1866.

The brakesman on the other engine was John Hollyman he said:

I braked the engine on the other side to Taylor’s engine. About seven o’clock on Friday night I was standing at my engine, looking at the mouth of the shaft. The men were in the cage. There was nothing I could see in the way to cause Taylor to draw the cage up. A locomotive passed just at that time. I have braked the same engine and when the locomotive has passed it has given me a shock. The steam might have prevented Taylor from seeing the shaft. Supposing I heard the bell, there is a good deal of difficulty in stopping at the proper time when the place is filled with steam from the locomotive. I have never complained to the officials. The cage was going at the ordinary rate for drawing men. I believe, from the rate the cage was going up, the engineman was at the engine handles. I did not see Coulson, the banksman, at the mouth of the shaft, but he might be there. The brakesman did not stop the engine. The engine is not heavy to brake. The engine is a good one. I went to the engine house about 15 minutes after the occurrence, I said, “It’s a bad job”, and he replied, “It is a bad job that engine was going by at the time”. I understood him to mean the locomotive.

A pitman, John Chapman was standing at the pit bank when the accident happened and he said the cage was moving slowly when the bell rang and then seemed to speed up. He did not see steam around the engine house. The banksman, John Coulson said he had not seen a copy of the colliery rules and had been a banksman for six years and was not at the pit bank when the men rapped. Mr William the viewer of the colliery said that the rules were posted at the pithead and Coulson never paid the rules. In his opinion on hearing the men rap, Coulson should have gone to the shaft.

Francis Smith, a hewer gave an eye witness account of the events at the Maudlin seam:

On Friday I rapped the men away from the Maudlin Seam. The cage went away at the ordinary speed. There were three men in the top hole of the cage, three in the middle hole, and two men and two boys in the bottom hole. The brakesman attended the signals in the proper manner. The men went up in the south cage, and I and the other men were waiting for the north cage, which came down the Maudlin seam, very fast. I heard a rumbling in the shaft and suddenly the cage fell into the sump. I have heard complaints about the brakesman one man complained to me about the brakesman pulling him so quickly as almost to take the breath from him. I told him to make the complaint to the proper person.

Isaac Starle, a fireman at the colliery was at the surface when he saw the cage come up the shaft. He said it was not going very fast. He heard the bell ring and did not hear the men shouting. He was the first to go to the engine house and found Taylor standing at the engine handles. He asked him what he had been doing and Taylor replied, “Dear me, what a bad job this is the locomotive going by, and one thing and another”. The engine was standing and there was no one else in the engine house.

Several witnesses gave their accounts of what they saw from the surface. James Coils, a pitman, John McQuiggan also a pitman, and Patrick Quinn who was at the place at the time of the accident all gave their accounts of the cage falling down the shaft. Michael Thompson and William Gilmaney both shaftsmen at the colliery gave evidence to say that the shaft was in good order and that they had always found Taylor attentive to his job. Richard Heckles of the Monkwearmouth Colliery had examined the shaft and he had found everything in good order. He said he could not recommend any of the patent safety cages that were available and anything that lessened the responsibility of the brakesman was objectionable. He preferred to be drawn up and lowered down in the ordinary cages. He said he would rather rely on the banksman.

The Coroner then called Thomas Taylor and told him that he could make a voluntary statement or make a statement on oath. Taylor gave his account of the accident:

I was the brakesman in charge of the engine at the time the men were killed. I was aware that the men were to ride at the Maudlin Seam. They rapped as usual. There were three departments of the cage filled with men. The signal was given to draw away, and I drew the men away steadily as usual, and they came on until the bell rang. At this moment the locomotive came past the engine house door, which took my sight from the pit owing to the steam. I then looked at the indicator in the bell box. We have two marks in the box for when the cage is at bank one is 9 inches above the other. The 9 inches indicate three-quarters of a stroke of the engine. The high mark is for the night shift when the rope is lengthened. By the locomotive going past the door at the moment the bell rang I was obliged to take my eye from the pit shaft, as I could not see it because of the steam and I got my eye on the wrong mark on the bell box. I got my eye on the mark for the long rope this is the mark ought to have gone to if the rope had been changed, that was my mistake. Had the locomotive not passed by, I would have seen the rope and cage at the mouth of the pit and known when to stop.

The Coroner addressed the jury and told them that of they considered Taylor guilty of gross and wilful carelessness they would have to bring in a verdict of manslaughter but if they believed that he had committed an error of judgment then the verdict was that the men were accidentally killed.

The jury retired and after a short time returned a verdict of “Accidentally Killed” and they recommended that a signal should be given to the brakesman to prevent him from drawing men from the pit until the locomotive was clear of the engine house. The jury considered that Coulson, the banksman was deserving of censure in leaving his work when men were being drawn up the pit. One of the jurymen suggested that one of the marks on the indicator should be covered up when not required and Mr. Willis, the viewer, and Mr. Atkinson, the Inspector assured the jury that the required arrangements were being made.

REFERENCES
The Mines Inspectors Report, 1866. Mr. Atkinson.
The Colliery Guardian, 22nd June 1867. p.567.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.