Single Record

Full Details

Surname

DONACHIE

Forename

James

Day

15

Month

05

Year

1931

Age

Occupation

Miner

Mine/Quarry Name

Glencraig, No.1 Pit

Mineral Worked

Coal

Owner

Wilson's & Clyde Coal Co. Ltd

Location

Lochgelly

County

Fifeshire

Details of Event

15 May 1931: Crushed By Descending Cage - The Court [FAI at Dunfermline Sheriff Court] then inquired into the case of James Donachie, miner, 37 Hall Street, Lochgelly, who died on 15th May in No 1 Pit, Glencraig, belonging to the Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co., from injuries sustained by him in the course of his employment as a bottomer, being crushed at the pit bottom by a descending cage. John Murdoch, assistant pit bottomer, 80 North Glencraig, said about 7am, deceased put four hutches on the cage on the high side and secured the cage and signalled the winding engineman to raise the cage. Deceased belled for his dip side hutches, and as he was crossing from the hammer he stumbled and the descending cage with the four hutches caught him. Witness got a glimpse of him falling under the descending cage. The safety bar was in position. He could not account for the accident. Mr J.M. Davidson on behalf of the owners, asked witness if he could give an explanation of how deceased got in the cage seat, and witness replied that he stumbled on the rails when he was walking. “is it not the case that this unfortunate man was crossing the cage seat at the time the accident happened!-No.” Mr James Potter on behalf of the relatives asked witness if it was not the simplest thing for a man to slip on the rails and his feet disappear just as the cage came down, and the reply was “Yes.” “He would not go over the bar; he would go under the bar, which is about three feet high, and you would see very little about it? - Yes.” John Sheridan, assistant pit bottomer, 19 Milton Row, Crosshill, who was about 10 yards away from the deceased when the accident happened, corroborated the previous witness's evidence. The safety bar was in between deceased and the seat of the cage. Witness had “chapped” the hammer and just caught a glimpse of the deceased falling. Mr Davidson - Can you give no reason why the deceased should be between these hutches and the fences in the shaft at the time he met with the accident? - He was standing waiting on his cage coming. Can you swear that the deceased was not crossing the cage seat when the accident happened? Yes. George Davies, miner, Main's Buildings, who was attending to the haulage engine, said he was called to the scene of the accident, and he found deceased lying in the sump on his right side on the high side of the pit. The body was altogether in the cage seat. Deceased's head was crushed. He was alive when found but died when being taken to the surface. Alexander Clark, 31 Glasgow Road, Denny, manager of the colliery, who made an investigation after the accident, said the pit bottom was well lighted, and there was nothing except the rails to trip a man up. The cage seat was protected by an iron safety bar 2ft 9in from the ground. It has always proved an efficient protection till the present case. Questioned about the deceased stumbling into the cage seat, witness said if he had stumbled the body would have been lying half in and half out of the cage seat. Have you come to the conclusion that if he stumbled he must have been in the cage seat at the time? - I don't know. Do you put forward the possibility that he was crossing the cage seat? - He might have stumbled outside, but if so, I don't see how he could roll in. Mr Potter - If he passed through the cage standing full up would he not have been more badly damaged about the head than he was? - I could not say. Addressing the jury, Sheriff Umpherston said if they knew exactly how Donachie got into the cage bottom there might be room to add something to a formal verdict, but without knowing that it seemed to him that it would be useless to say anything more. He did not think they need bother making up their minds whether Donachie slipped or went into the cage seat by another act. That was a matter that would be decided when the case was heard in another court. The jury accordingly returned a formal verdict. [Dunfermline Journal 13 June 1931]