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Full Details

Surname
LACEY
Forename
Samuel
Day
01
Month
04
Year
1905
Age
52
Occupation
Hewer
Mine/Quarry Name
South Medomsley
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
South Medomsley Colliery Ltd
Location
Dipton
County
Durham
Details of Event
Deceased worked in a headway another hewer worked in a bord 6 yards back which had gone 5 yards they both had powder shots fitted with fuse at the face of their places and in addition deceased had prepared a shot in a stone roll in the roof of his place 3 yards from the face. This hole was 20 inches deep and drilled from the outbye side of the roll; it was charged with 1 cartridge of gelignite and fitted with detonator and 3 feet of gutta percha fuse. They lit the face shots together and deceased attempted to light the shot in the roll but the other hewer warned him it was time to retire, and he left it apparently under the impression that the fuse had not kindled. They retired together some 13 yards outbye to another bord and both the face shots exploded and deceased remarked he had failed to light the shot in the roll to which he returned in three or four minutes when it exploded on him. The Local Inspectors reported ‘In our opinion it is a pure accident.'