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Full Details

Surname
MARLEY
Forename
Peter
Day
06
Month
02
Year
1906
Age
35
Occupation
Hewer
Mine/Quarry Name
Washington
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Washington Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Washington
County
Durham
Details of Event
Deceased and another hewer were working together in the fore shift in a longwall place in the Main Coal seam of the Polka district of the F pit, when a blue metal stone 13 feet by 7 feet and 1 foot thick, weighing about 3 tons, fell upon him close to the coal face at the right side of the place. It was relieved farthest from the face by a 4-inch rise hitch and came away from a good parting above. In falling it canted several props and headtrees. Deceased was covered up and killed instantly. The deputy had inspected the place before the hewers started work, when it appeared safe and he had been occupied in the place for about a quarter hour, about 8 am, or an hour before the accident, when he set two props some distance from the face. There were plenty of loose props close at hand. Probably the props under the stone would have supported it if they had not been canted. The Local Inspectors reported, ‘In our opinion any experienced miner could have been misled. We cannot find any fault or blame attached to any person’ but after the inquest, the workmen wrote to the manager saying that in their opinion if chock, had been used the accident would not have happened.