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Full Details

Surname
ARMSTRONG
Forename
John James
Day
06
Month
09
Year
1906
Age
35
Occupation
Stoneman
Mine/Quarry Name
Ashington
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Ashington Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Ashington
County
Northumberland
Details of Event
He was working in the cut driven forward, alongside a 6 feet dip hitch by picks on the right side of a coal cutter face in longwall workings in the 4th south way of the Bothal pit Yard seam. A 3 feet top canch had been taken down in the cut to within a foot of the coal, and pairs of gears were set to the new roof l.5 to 2.5 feet apart. He was ridding stone between two planks 2.5 feet apart when an irregularly bedded post stone 3 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches and varying in thickness up to 11 inches fell from the roof partly over both planks, displacing a prop under the end of one of them. It was relieved by a natural joint, by feather edges and a new break. A small piece of this stone 15 inches by 10 inches by 2.5 inches is supposed to have fallen separately and fractured his skull. The chargeman had left him an hour before when everything seemed safe and there was no lack of loose timber. The Local Inspectors in their report simply described the nature of the accident and remarked, ‘there was plenty of timber of various sizes in the place.’