Single Record

Full Details

Surname

ADAMS

Forename

Samuel

Day

05

Month

01

Year

1925

Age

Occupation

Mine/Quarry Name

Newcraighall, Klondyke Pit

Mineral Worked

Coal

Owner

Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co. Ltd

Location

Newcraighall

County

Edinburghshire

Details of Event

5 January 1925: Midlothian Pit Accident – 14 Men Injured – Cage-Winding Mishap - An accident, which might have been fraught with more serious consequences, occurred yesterday morning at the Klondyke pit, New Craighall, of the Niddrie and Benhar Coal Company (Ltd), situated about two miles from Musselburgh. Fourteen miners were injured. By a winding accident, the descending cage, a two-deck structure of iron, loaded with fifteen men, dropped a distance of about thirty feet. A safety clutch device, which by the automatic cutting of a copper band, throws out lateral spikes operated effectively, and so prevented the up-going cage, also loaded with men, from being involved. The shaft is a perpendicular one of 140 fathoms. The following were injured:— William Barnes, North Square, New Craighall; George Lowe, Musselburgh; and John Davidson, Whitehill Street, New Craighall, who had legs broken; Joseph Connolly, North Square, New Craighall, who had both ankles dislocated; John Easton, Musselburgh; James Glen, Whitehill Street, New Craighall; John Kennedy, Musselburgh; James Mathers, Third Avenue, New Craighall; John Archibald, Third Avenue, New Craighall; Samuel Adams, Main Avenue, New Craighall; William Mitchell, Market Street, Musselburgh; John Dignan, Second Avenue, New Craighall; Andrew Rae, Second Avenue, Now Craighall; and Andrew Fairnie, Fisherrow, Musselburgh, who all suffered from bruises and shock. The cages were not wrecked, and the men, who had been thrown in a heap, were got out easily enough, but the pit shaft was not available to bring them to bank, and those who could not walk had to be carried to another shaft of the Niddrie Colliery group. Immediately the accident occurred the management summoned ambulances, and in these the injured were rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Parish Councillor's Escape - Two points of interest in the accident are that John Davidson, who, then in his teens, went off to serve in the Great War and lost a leg, now replaced by an artificial limb, had his sound limb broken; and the only man in the cage who escaped, and was able to walk home, was Parish Councillor George Sneddon, Third Avenue, New Craighall. Mr Sneddon is a Miners' Federation official, and a member for New Craighall district in Edinburgh Parish Council. In the early forenoon Mr John Masterton, H.M. Inspector of Mines, arrived at the pithead, and made a preliminary inquiry into the cause of the accident. He was conducted by Mr Gilbert Morrison, general manager of the Company. At The Infirmary - At Edinburgh Royal Infirmary it was reported that the outcome of the accident had not been so serious as was first anticipated. The injured were immediately placed under X-ray examination, and the resulting photographs indicated that the majority of the injuries were connected with knee and thigh bones. The most serious case was a spinal injury. Four men whose injuries were of a minor nature were allowed home, and ten were detained. Last night it was reported that the injured men were all progressing as well as could be expected. [Scotsman 6 January 1925]