ADDERLEY GREEN. Longton, Staffordshire. 17th. July, 1860.

The colliery was the property of Messrs. Stirrup and Pye. A rail fell down the shaft and caught thirty yards from the bottom. It upset an ascending coal tub and sent the deceased to their deaths in down the shaft.

Those who died were:

  • James Hurst aged 45 years.
  • William Taylor aged 14 years.
  • Daniel Salmon aged 35 years.
  • Enoch Woolley aged 18 years.
  • William Hulme aged 40 years.

At the inquest which was held at the Crown and Anchor, Joseph Donkin, a collier, was working with Thomas Edwards at the pit, bottom when he heard something falling down the pit. Previously he had seen an iron bar on the scaffold, about nine feet long. It had been a wagon rail but was now used as a guide in the shaft. He supposed it had fallen down the shaft and he replaced it supposing the cage had hit it and displaced it. Joseph Edwards and Obidiah Rowley removed the scaffold and all went up the pit.

When they had gone up the pit, Thomas Edwards sent a message with the man in the corve stating that no men should come down until a wagon had been sent down to test the work. About five minutes later he was at an inset and saw a cage load of men go past down the shaft. He called that they had no right to go down until an empty corve had been down just as he heard a noise in the shaft. He called out to find what had happened and was told that Hulme had fallen down the shaft.

A collier, Joseph Edwards told of a conversation he had with Edwards the butty about an empty corve being sent down first and he requested the engineman to lower gently as he got to bottom as there could be a rail in shaft. He then went to the cabin and saw that the rope had slackened and George Edwards, the engineman stated that the cage was far from the bottom. Joseph Edwards went to the pit and heard moans coming from down it.

The jury found no fault with the management of colliery and there was not enough evidence to charge anyone with manslaughter.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1860 Mr. Thomas Wynne.
Staffordshire Advertiser.

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

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