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Full Details

Surname
BURDEN
Forename
Alexander Snr
Day
19
Month
08
Year
1925
Age
Occupation
Brusher
Mine/Quarry Name
Little Raith, Lochhead Pit
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Lochgelly Iron & Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Cowdenbeath
County
Fifeshire
Details of Event
19 August 1925: Heroism in Fife Mine - The circumstances of a particularly heroic act performed in the Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company's Lochhead Pit on 19th August, were disclosed in an inquiry under the Fatal Accidents Inquiry (Scotland) Act at Dunfermline yesterday. It was elicited that James Torrance, pit foreman, having failed to return from a search for an iron rail required by brushers in the Jewel dook, two men - Alexander Burden, sen., brusher, 65 Thistle Street, Cowdenbeath, and John Mathieson, colliery oversman, Gordon Cottage, Cowdenbeath - set out in search of their comrade, whose asphyxiated body they found in a section of the dook which had long been barricaded off in consequence of a large accumulation of carbonic acid gas (black damp.) Giving their evidence, the men stated that in the dark, since they knew that lights would not burn in the atmosphere, they penetrated a distance of thirty feet, found the body and carried it back to fresh air where attempts at artificial respiration proved unsuccessful. Both modestly admitted that they knew the risk they were running; and they stated that they experienced great difficulty in breathing during the time they were in the vitiated atmosphere. Mr E. H. Frazer, HM Inspector of Mines, at the conclusion of the. evidence, commented upon the heroism of Burden, and Mathieson, which, he said, deserved to be brought under the notice of the Carnegie Hero Fund Trustees. The jury added their commendation to that of HM Inspector of Mines. [The Scotsman 25 September 1925]