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

Between six and seven o'clock on Friday morning last, an accident occurred in William Pit, near this town, which proved fatal to one of the workmen. It appeared that some small stones had fallen from the roof during the night, and James Boys (Boyce, aged 42, of New Houses) was engaged in removing the fallen materials from the passage, when suddenly a large flag fell upon him as he was stooping, and killed him on the stop. Another of the workmen named Peter Murphy was so near the spot at the time that he was dreadfully bruised by the falling of the flag, but he escaped with his life. An inquest was held upon the body the same day, before P. Hodgson, Esq., coroner, and the jury returned a verdict of accidental death. We understand that the unfortunate widow of the deceased had to lament a similar sudden bereavement in a former instance; her first husband, a smith named Bell, having been killed by an accident at the mouth of Saltom Pit ten years ago.

Newspaper transcript kindly provided by
West Cumbria Mines Research.