Durham Mining Museum - Newspaper Articles (original) (raw)

27th December 1900

The Fatality To A Lad At Wellington Pit

The Adjourned Inquest

The adjourned inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Edward Harrison Bradley, aged 14 years, who was run over and killed by a full sett at Wellington Pit, on the 19th inst., was conducted at the Infirmary, Whitehaven, on Saturday afternoon, by Mr. Gordon Falcon (coroner for West Cumberland) and a jury, of which Mr. Brownrigg was foreman. Mr. A. Sharp and Mr. T. H. Brockbank, were also present.

Arthur Pettigrew, surveyor, produced a plan showing the scene of the accident. There was about eighteen inches or two feet space between the travelling lines. It was a full sett which caught the deceased.

Benjamin Cowie, deputy at Wellington Pit, said the deceased was engaged as a greaser. He had been at the pit since March last, and had been on that job for a few mouths, on the same section of the road. He saw deceased on the road about half-an-hour before the accident. His duties were to grease the rollers. The accident took place about a quarter to eleven. Mr. Rimmer found the deceased. His lamp and grease tin were found at the place where he was supposed to have been caught. That was about 210 yards from the place where the body was found. There were no empties going in at the time. The first empties going in were three or four hundred yards from the out-bye side. The body put the sett off the road. Deceased might have had his back to the sett. The sett made a considerable noise, and they could be heard a long way off. The lamp was found in the centre of the full road.

By the Foreman: The boy was not hard of hearing. There were plenty of manholes at the place, and there was room to get between the props. It was a good wide road.

By Mr. Sharp: Witness met a full sett when he came back to see what was wrong. There was no sett rider or lamp with the sett.

Is there nothing to indicate that there is a sett coming? — No.

Is there not a lamp at either end? — No.

A Juryman said he was going to ask if there was no light, lamp, or alarm to show to the poor fellows when a sett was coming.

Mr. Sharp: Is it not the custom to run either lamps or bells when there is not a sett back rider? — Witness: No.

How long have they been running this way, without lights? — I don't remember them having any.

I think we have had some statements here before about lights? — Yes, in William Pit they had them.

Peter Rimmer said he was a roadman at Wellington Pit. He found the remains of the deceased. The sett had come off, and after putting it right he found the boy. He was lying across both roads. Witness saw no empties coming in. He went further in-bye and found his lamp and grease-tin. The road was all right and everything was in order. When he met the sett it was travelling at the rate of about two miles an hour. This was both a haulage and a travelling road.

By Mr. Ellwood (a juror): All the greasers are young lads like the deceased.

Do the setts make a noise when they are approaching? — There are times and places when they make a noise and other times when they go easily. It was a quiet place where the deceased was caught.

By Mr. Sharp: It was timbered about this place, and it was level just there.

James Henry, underground manager at Wellington Pit, said deceased had been on as a greaser for six months, and had always been in the same section.

Do you consider that a sett would be safer if there was a light to it? — We don't approve of them. Bells would be more regular than lights, and people are always carrying lamps. Lights would be a source of danger if the sett got off. Deceased was a particularly intelligent boy; a very fine boy.

By the Foreman: They used bells in William Pit, but they did not consider them necessary at Wellington, as they could hear the setts 20 or 30 yards away. They did commence using bells, but they were knocked off continually.

By a Juryman: It would be necessary to have someone riding a sett to keep a bell on.

By Mr. Cannell: Deceased had his grease tin beside a manhole — right opposite?

Do you not think that the boy is remarkably young to be on a main road? If he lost his light he would not have presence of mind to do anything? — Witness replied that the boys were as sharp as men when they got used to it. If they lost their lamp, it was their duty to get into a manhole until someone passed by.

By Mr. Sharp: They used bells in Mr. Ramsay's time, but they often jumped off the setts. The bells could not very well be attached to the clutch bogies. They could be made to screw and fix on. Timber deadened the sound of the setts considerably. Deceased's legs were in the middle of the two ways, between the full and empty lines.

The Coroner said it seemed quite clear that the boy was attending to his work when this happened and seemed to have been in the act of greasing the roller when he was caught. Very probably the lad might have had his back to the sett and not heard its approach. With regard to the suggestions that had been made, the occupation of a sett rider was a very dangerous one, and he was much more likely to be killed than any one else. There was also a danger in having lights; and if bells were used, and sometimes happened to be out of order, they might be a greater source of danger than if there were none, because persons would be relying on hearing the bell.

Many of the jury expressed the opinion that the boy was too young for the job.

Mr. Henry said they started boys of 12 and 13 years of age when they passed the standards.

Mr. Ellwood said he was greasing rollers at Wellington Pit when he was ten.

Mr. Henry: I was working when I was eight.

The verdict returned was one of "Accidental death."

Newspaper transcript kindly provided by
West Cumbria Mines Research.