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Details of Event: This accident occurred in longwall workings in the 1st West way of the Towneley district of the lower part of the Busty seam in the Mary Pit. The coal is 2 feet 2 inches thick and is separated from the upper part of the seam (which is to be worked separately) by 5 feet of band which is taken down in the gateways to make height. The lower 1 foot of this band is a soft stone full of joints and slips with a good parting above and requires careful timbering Deceased was working on the left side of the gateway where there was a loose side when a stone about 6 feet square and 1 foot thick fell away close to the coal at the loose side and he was covered by it. A hewer 12 yards off heard the fall and called assistance and he was released in a quarter of an hour but was then dead. The stone was relieved by a strangely marked joint running at right angles to two slips and canted out two props and a plank in its fall. The deputy had been in the place about half an hour before the accident and jowled the roof where the stone fell and found it heavy and set a prop and head near it and he thought another prop had been set after he left There was plenty of loose timber close at hand. The Local Inspectors reported ‘Find no fault with the officials or workman.’ Some time ago Mr. Nicholson suggested to the manager that as the main joints ran parallel to the face it would ho advisable to set the planks at right angles to them and this course was adopted in the place.