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Full Details

Surname
DUDGEON
Forename
Peter
Day
11
Month
08
Year
1935
Age
Occupation
Packman
Mine/Quarry Name
Newcraighall
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Newcraighall
County
Edinburghshire
Details of Event
11 August 1935: Lothians Pit Fatality - Newcraighall Man Killed by Falling Roof - Mate's Narrow Escape - Newcraighall Pit, within the boundary of the city of Edinburgh, and owned by the Niddrie and Benhar Coal Co. (Ltd.), was the scene of a fatality yesterday forenoon, when Peter Dudgeon, a packman, who resided at 37 Whitehill Street, Newcraighall, was pinned underneath a fall of coal and debris and killed. Dudgeon and another packman, William Anderson, were engaged in drawing wood from the coal face in a section of the Jewel seam of the pit, when, without warning, a part of the roof fell in and completely buried Dudgeon. Anderson, who was only fifteen feet away from his workmate at the time, had a narrow escape. When seen by a representative of The Scotsman in the afternoon, Anderson, who is 59 years of age, was obviously still suffering from the effects of the shock he had received. He has been in several pit accidents, but, he said, with a seriousness which there was no mistaking, "I have never had such a fright in my life as I got to-day." Dudgeon and he began work yesterday morning at 6.30, and the fatality occurred about eleven o'clock. It was only the second time he had worked on a Sunday. They were engaged on a piece of work that had to be done specially yesterday. They went about their job with the usual care. An Awful Crash - The first indication he had of the impending tragedy was the moment before it occurred, when Dudgeon let out a warning shout. Immediately afterwards, Anderson said, he heard an awful crash, and saw part of the roof fall in. He knew instinctively that something serious had happened to Dudgeon, who had been on the spot where the fall took place. Without loss of time Anderson gave the alarm. He called to William Mooney, who was working some distance away, and Mooney went for assistance. Soon a party of six or seven men from other sections of the pit were on the scene, and began the difficult work of extricating the unfortunate Dudgeon from the enormous mass on top of him. About fifteen minutes elapsed before Dudgeon was got out. He was then apparently dead. Mooney, who is an ambulance man, tried assiduously to bring him to life, but all efforts at artificial respiration were in vain. Dudgeon, who was about fifty years of age, is survived by a widow and a grown-up family. News of the tragedy quickly spread through Newcraighall, and cast a gloom over the community. [Scotsman 12 August 1935]