The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-05 00:00:00

THE DEATH OF 7EN PI7MEN.

Mr. Favell, the coroner for North Durham, held
an incitteJ on Monday 'afternoon at Washington-
on-the Wear, upon 'he bo:lies of the ten pitmen
killed on Friday :;ft.-noon by being precipitated
down the shaft at the colliery through the engineman
haying failed to stop the engine at the moment that
the cage containing the unfortunate men reached
the flat sheets at the mouth of the pit. The colliery
is wrought in two seams—the Hutton and the
Maudlin. A longer rope is used for drawing out
the men from the Hutton than the Maudlin. The
deceased men were employed in the Maudlin seam,
and had been detained below some hours after the
men belonging to their shaft had got to bank by a
fall of coal in the pit, which had obliged them to go
round by the waste. The men work in the Hutton
seam in the night shift, and it seems that at the time
that the men were being drawn out of the pit a loco-
motive was passing the engine-house, and Taylor, the
engineman, stated at the inquest that in consequence
of the locomotive passing at the moment the bel
rang from the bottom of the pit to " set away," he
took his sight from the pit mouth and fixed it on the
indicator in the engine-house, which shows when the
cage is at bank. But upon this slide in the indi-
cator there are two marks, one for the long rope,
the. other for the short one. The deceased men
were travelling by the short oue. But as the
miners working in the Maudlin seams are gene-
rally out of the pit long before the time that the
men were coming to bank, Taylor unfortunately
fixed his eyes upon the mark used for the longer
rope which fetches ten men to bank from the
Hutton seam, which mark is nine inches above the
day mark, and as nine inches on the slide represent
11 fathoms of rope, there was enough excess of
rope to carry the cage up to the woodwork and
cause the catastrophe. Two or three pitmen had
been standing at leank. when the cage, with the
shouting and screaming men, flew past them ; but
they said that they were " knocked blind" by the
frightful spectacle, and could hardly give the
alarm. The banksman had not been at his post at
the pit mouth at the time of the accident. Taylor
informed the coroner that he had nothing to say
against the engine. The coroner summed up the
evidence, tracing the accident to the winding up of
the cage beyond the proper place, and asking whe-
ther Taylor, the breaksman, omitted to stop the
engine through carelessness or by accident. The
jurymen retired, and on returning into court, after
an absence of about a quarter of an hour, gave a
verdict of " Accidental Death," coupled with the
recommendation that a signal should be given to
the breaksman to prevent him claiming men from
the pit until locomotives were clear of the engine-
house ; they also considered Coulson, the banks-
man, censurable for leaving his work when the
men were being drawn up the shaft. They trusted
further that if anything could be devised to pre-
vent such accidents occurring in future it would
be done, and drew particular attention to the danger
of mistaking the two letters B on the slide, referring
to the long and short ropes, and suggested the
covering up of one while the other was being nsed.
Mr. Willis, the manager, said that the latter repre-
sentation had been anticipated. Thy inquiry occu-
pied between six and seven hours, and Taylor, who
was in custody, would be brought before the Gates-
head magistrates yesterday. Mr. Atkinson, the
Government inspector of mines, was present at the
invest.