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Full Details

Surname
WILSON
Forename
Thomas
Day
10
Month
08
Year
1939
Age
Occupation
Mine/Quarry Name
Minto
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Lochgelly Iron & Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Lochgelly
County
Fifeshire
Details of Event
The Glasgow Herald - Aug 11, 1939 p11, column 4. Haulage Accident killed 3. 10 August 1939: Thomas Wilson of North St and Andrew Neilson of Hunter St, Lochgelly, Fife were fatally injured in Minto Colliery, Lochgelly last night by a runaway hutch. James Kerr of Cardenden was removed to hospital in a critical condition. Another man escaped with slight injuries. [Scotsman August 11 1939] Pit Fatality - Two Fife Men Killed - Workmate Injured – Haulage Rope Breaks - Two men were killed and another seriously injured in a haulage accident which occurred last night at the Minto Colliery, Lochgelly owned by Lochgelly Iron and Coal Co., Ltd. The dead men are Andrew Neilson, Hunter Street, Lochgelly, and Thomas Wilson, North Street, Lochgelly. The injured man, James Kerr, Lochore, formerly of Jamphlars, was taken in a critical condition to Dunfermline and West Fife Hospital. The men had been working in the five-foot section of the pit in No.1 dook, it appears, and the accident occurred while they were travelling up the dook after finishing their work. They were near the top, at No.2 manhole, when the haulage rope broke, and about 60 loaded hutches raced downhill and crashed into them. Neilson and Wilson were killed instantaneously, and Kerr received multiple injuries. Two other men who were in the dook at the time, William Dickson, 8 Thirteenth Street, Bowhill, and a workmate named T. Miller had a narrow escape. Dickson managed to jump clear into a manhole, and pulled Miller in beside him in the nick of time, his presence of mind saving the latter's life. Mrs Wilson, the wife of one of the dead men is a sister of Mrs William Scott, Landale Street, Lochgelly, whose husband was killed in the same part of the pit only a few months ago. As a result of the accident, the pit was idle last night as a mark of sympathy, and will be idle again to-day. [Scotsman 11 August 1939] Fife Pit Accident – Third Death - A third death has occurred as a result of the haulage accident in the Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company's Minto Colliery, Lochgelly, on Thursday night. Two of the men, Andrew Neilson, Hunter Street, Lochgelly, and Thomas Wilson, North Street, Lochgelly were killed instantaneously. A third man, James Kerr, Waverley Street, Lochore, who received multiple injuries and was conveyed to Dunfermline and West Fife Hospital, died at nine o'clock last night. [Scotsman 12 August 1939]