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Full Details

Surname
MARTIN
Forename
James
Day
18
Month
02
Year
1930
Age
Occupation
Miner
Mine/Quarry Name
Valleyfield, No.1 Pit
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Fife Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Newmills
County
Fifeshire
Details of Event
18 February 1930: Fife Pit Fatalities - Jury's Comment in Two Inquiries. - Unusual circumstances were disclosed in two inquiries in Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday with regard to fatal accidents which had occurred recently in West Fife pits. Comment was made on the method of erecting haulage props in course of an inquiry regarding the death of James Martin, coal miner, 9 Beaumont Street, Low Valleyfield, who received fatal injuries by being struck by a runaway hutch in No 1 Pit of Valleyfield Colliery. It was stated that immediately after the haulage prop was erected, a loaded hutch was sent down an incline. It had only travelled about four yards when the haulage tree became displaced, with the result that the hutch ran down the incline arid injured Martin. The jury added to their formal verdict a rider to the effect that Martin ought not to have been on the haulage road at the time the haulage was running;.and that, if a safety tree had been used in front of the haulage tree, the accident would not have happened. [Scotsman 21 March 1930]