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Full Details

Surname
DONOHUE
Forename
William
Day
01
Month
11
Year
1907
Age
17
Occupation
Pony Driver
Mine/Quarry Name
Wearmouth
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Wearmouth Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Sunderland
County
Durham
Details of Event
Deceased was driving five loaded tubs out-bye to the top on an incline in the B pit and was last seen alive sitting on the limbers. When near the out-bye end of a siding in which he was not going to stop, the pony appears to have stumbled on the point of one of the wooden shafts of the limbers caught a prop; about a foot of the shaft was broken off, the bow of the limbers bent and the first tub overturned sideways and its contents scattered, the second tub was derailed. Deceased was found dead under the first tub. The gradient out-bye was in favour of the load although not sufficient to make drags necessary, up to within a few yards of where the accident happened when it was against the load. The pony deceased was driving was described as not good at ‘holding on’ or checking the speed of the tubs, and probably it had come rather it and stumbled in consequence. The prop caught was marked by the blow it was about 7.5 inches from the rail and the points of the limbers were well within the rails when in a normal position. The Local Inspectors, after describing the cause of the accident in the report, said ‘We find that it is a pure accident.’