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

20th May 1920

The Sudden Death In Wellington Pit, Whitehaven

On Thursday afternoon, Mr. H. Braithwaite, Deputy Coroner for West Cumberland, held an inquest at the Whitehaven YMCA Rooms, touching the death of Martin Harvey, a single man, 29 years of age, who resided with his sister at 28, Ribton Lane, Whitehaven, and who died in Wellington Pit, Whitehaven, on Tuesday afternoon.

There were present: Mr. G. Cook, H.M. Inspector of Mines; Mr. O. F. Ormrod (for the Whitehaven Colliery Co. Ltd.); Mr. R. Steel (works manager), Mr. A. Kirkpatrick (manager of the pit), and Mr. E. H. Evans, miners' agent (for the relatives). Mr. R. Wilson was foreman of the jury.

The Late Mr. Atter

After viewing the body, the Foreman, on behalf of the jury and himself, referred in feeling terms to the late Coroner (Mr. E. Atter), who, he said, was a gentleman in every sense of the word, and his kindness to anyone in trouble in or about Whitehaven would be very much missed.

Mr. Ormrod said he joined with the Foreman and jury in the expressions of regret at the loss of their friend, Mr. Atter, who had been so long amongst them. He spoke not only on behalf of the legal profession but as a member who probably attended most of the inquests in Whitehaven on behalf of the Whitehaven Colliery Company, whom he represented that day. They had always found Mr. Atter most particular and careful, and no one could say that any death could have been more thoroughly investigated than was done by their late lamented friend. His loss would be long felt in Whitehaven, not only in the small circle in which they were met today but in every sphere of life.

Mr. Cook, (H.M. Inspector) also associated himself with the remarks. As a Coroner Mr. Atter had kept his oath to enquire without fear or favour into any case which came before him — that was really his motto.

Mr. Evans (miners' agent), on behalf of the miners of Whitehaven, endorsed what had been said. He was quite certain that Mr. Atter had been absolutely impartial in dealing with the cases which came before him as Coroner.

The Foreman moved that a vote of condolence be forwarded by Mr. Braithwaite to Mrs. Atter, which the Coroner said he would undertake to do.

The vote was silently agreed to, by all rising from their seats.

Evidence was then given by Mary Ann Duggan, deceased's sister, who stated that deceased had lived with her for 12 years, and had never ailed anything in his life. On Tuesday morning she saw him at 9.30, and he was then all right. He left home for his work at 10.30.

By Mr. Ormrod: Her brother had served in the Army. He was wounded, but not gassed. He was discharged through his wounds. She had never heard him complain about his heart.

By the Foreman: He had a shrapnel wound on his arm.

Mr. Johnston, surveyor, produced and explained a plan, and gave a description of the work deceased was engaged at. The gradient at the place was 1 in 18.

By Mr. Ormrod: Nothing more than ordinary exertion was needed to do the work.

William Vale, 65, High Scotch Street, Whitehaven, a coal hewer, gave evidence to the effect that he was at the coal face, and the windlass where deceased was working was about 30 yards away. About five minutes before the occurrence deceased came down the incline to hang a tub on the rope, and he joked with witness and another man. The next witness heard was deceased shouting, "Oh, Billy; look sharp." When he got to where deceased was he saw him lying in a crouched position, partly on his right side. Deceased never spoke, but he tried to vomit. Part of the deceased's body was beneath the handle of the windlass. Deceased would start his job about 12.30, and he found him lying about four in the afternoon. Deceased's job was to fasten the tubs on to the rope and wind them up with the windlass. Deceased had never complained of being unwell, and was always a strong man, and witness had never heard him complain about his work. The work was heavy for one man, and rather light for two men.

By the Inspector: He knew that deceased used a "spur" on every shift, but he could not say if there was one on the last tub. He could not say if deceased shouted before he landed the tub. The pawl was on the windlass, the handle of which was towards the bottom.

By Mr. Evans: He could not say as regards the last tub, but deceased had used "spurs" on other tubs.

By the Foreman: The jackroll was in perfect order.

James Fitzsimmons, 20, Windmill Brow, a coal hewer; and Samuel Askew, 54, New Arrowthwaite, a deputy at the pit, both gave evidence, and the latter, in reply to the Coroner, said it would take deceased five minutes to wind up a tub.

Dr. Harris stated that when he got to the pit top the man had been brought up. His face was blue, and there were small portions of food at the back of the throat, and no evidence of blood. At the time he did not discover any bruising. He examined deceased at his home, and found a small bruise three inches in length on the lower part of the chest on the right side. Speaking with regard to the post-mortem, the doctor said the deceased was a well-nourished, muscular man. There were traces of food in the nose, the tongue was somewhat protruding, the windpipe was reddened, and the lungs were engorged with blood, and frothy in some cases. The heart was enlarged, and rather an unusual amount of fat deposited upon it. The valves on the left side of the heart were diseased. The heart muscle was reddened a deeper colour than usual, and the right side of the heart was somewhat thinner than usual. The kidneys were very much congested and enlarged, and the same applied to the liver. He should say deceased was a man capable of doing ordinary work; there were many men with worse hearts doing harder work. The cause of death was asphyxia, caused by regurgitation of food into the larynx; the regurgitation of food was produced by a heart attack, and the heart attack, in his opinion, was produced by excessive strain and over exertion while working. The mark on deceased's side had nothing to do with it; the bruise hardly penetrated the skin.

The Coroner: If this man had not been working and turning the handle this would not have happened?

Witness: He would have been alive today.

By Mr. Ormrod: Deceased had no organic disease except the heart disease. There must have been some strain and over-exertion to have produced the collapse.

Dr. Harper, who attended the post mortem for the Company, agreed with witness.

Mr. Alexander Kirkpatrick, manager of the pit, also gave evidence, stating that after deceased's death he gave instructions for the place to be fenced off until the Inspector examined it. He went with the Inspector and saw a "spur" lying on the side of the road about four feet from the tub. There was roughly a strain of 20lbs on the handle of the windlass when the tub was being wound up. When the pawl was on the man could rest as long as he cared. It was all according to the gradient whether one or two men worked the jackroll.

By Mr. Ormrod: It took 120 turns of the handle to wind a tub to the top into the flatsheets.

The jury retired, and on their return the Foreman announced that they had brought in a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence, that deceased had died from asphyxia, which was accelerated by the work he was doing.

Mr. Ormrod expressed the Whitehaven Colliery Co.'s deep sympathy to the deceased's sister at the sad loss she had sustained, and the Foreman associated the jury and himself with these remarks.

Mr. Evans also expressed the sympathy of the Whitehaven miners, and the Coroner conveyed these to the sister.

Newspaper transcript kindly provided by
West Cumbria Mines Research.