The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-27 00:00:00

COAL-PIT ACCIDENTS, NEAR WIGAN.

On Tuesday last. an inquest was held at Ince, near Wigan,
upon the body of Thomas Lawrence, who came to his death
under the circumstances detailed in the following evidence,
taken by the coroner, Mr. Heyes
James Sharrock, being sworn, stated—l am browman at a
colliery at Wigan, belonging to Mr. Ashall ; and the de-
ceased, a boy between twelve and thirteen years old, worked
in the same colliery as a drawer. On Saturday last, the 17th
instant, about four o'clock in the afternoon, I and another
man were at work as browmen. We sent an empty basket
down, and I particularly noticed that it was firmly and pro-
perly hooked by the chain to the hook-holes of the basket.
When it had got to the bottom, three knocks were given at
the conducting rod, being the signal that somebody was
coming up. The engine was started, and when the basket
had got about half way up the pit, which is about 120 yards
deep, I heard something fall to the bottom, and there was a
cry and a call to let down. The engineer did so, but before
the basket had got many yards down I heard another call of
" Coming up." I called to the engineer to reverse the en-
gine; he did so, and the basket was hoisted up to the top.
I then found that one side of the chain was unhooked, and a
boy and a girl were hanging to the other side of the chains,
and partly in the basket. When they were taken out they
said that two others had fallen to the bottom. I noticed
that the twigs were drawn in on one side of the basket, from
which I infer that when the basket had got to the bottom,
the rope slackened, and the hook came out of the hole, and
caught in the twigs of the basket ; and that when the drawers
had got part of the way up, their weight drew the twigs, and
the basket fell on one side, by which two of them were pre-
cipitated to the bottom. Of those who fell, the girl, named
Porter, was killed on the spot; the boy, Lawrence, was car-
ried home, and lived about two hours and a quarter.
James Barker.—l work as a drawer at the said colliery.
Deceased was a drawer in the same pit. We had done work
on Saturday last, and were waiting to go up the pit, when
presently a basket came down. We knocked as a signal for
the engineer to lower the basket, which he did, and deceased
and I, together with Mary Porter and Margaret Yates, got
into it. I looked at the hook on my side, and the hooker-on
was standing at the same side. Some one asked the hooker-
on if all was right, and he said it was. The hooker-on then
knocked three times, and the engine started, and drew us
about half way up, when one side of the basket gave way,
and the deceased and Mary Porter fell out of the basket to
the bottom of the pit. I called to the engineer to stop, and
he did so ; 1 afterwards called out for him to pull us up, and
he then wound us to the top, and we got out. We held by
the chain, with our feet in the basket. When we got into
the basket the chains were slack, and I tightened my side,
but do not know who tightened the other chain. Sometimes
when the basket strikes against the bottom of the pit, the
hook comes out of the ear, and catches the twigs of the bas-
ket; and I am of opinion that that was the case in this in-
stance. The hooker-on is not always there when we get
into the basket.

Margaret Yates.—l am one of the four who got into the
basket, at Mr. Ashall's colliery, on Saturday last, to come
up from our work. Before we got in, the hooker-on asked
us to mind the hooks, and.l said we would. I did examine
my hook, which was next to the middle rods, and it was
right. When we got half way up, the hook on the opposite
side to me came loose, and Mary Porter and the deceased
fell to the bottom of the pit. I and Sharrock got up safe.
I had asked the others to hold fast by the chains before I
got in. lam of opinion that when the basket struck the
bottom of the pit, the hook came out of the ear; and when
the ropes stretched, the hook caught and held by the twigs
of which the basket is made. It must have been so, as the,
twigs were partially drawn.
As there appeared to be no blame that could attach to any
one connected with the colliery, the jury returned a verdict
of " Accidental death."

Another inquest was held on the same day, also at Ince
and before the same coroner, on view of the bodies of Richd
Hilton and John Green.

It appeared in evidence that the deceased worked at the
colliery of Messrs. Nuttall and Caldwell, in Ince. Hilton
was 57, and Green 22 years of age. The previous evening
(Monday), about eight o'clock, they got into a tub for the
purpose of descending the pit, to commence their work of
sinking. They work only in the night, as the engine is used
for winding coals in the daytime from an upper mine. They
called to the engineer to let them down, which he did, and
before they had got more than eight yards down, the rope
broke, and the tub and the men fell to the bottom, a distance
of about forty-two yards. Green was killed upon the spot,
but Hilton lived abuut half an hour.

The browman stated that the rope was a good one, and
had not been in use so long as they invariably last. There
was not the slightest suspicion that there was a bad place in
the rope. There were no splicings in it. The rope had been
used all day in winding tubs of coal, each of which would
weigh from 4 to 5 cwt., a much heavier weight than the two
men. The rope never broke before.
William Ashurst, the engineer, corroborated the above
evidence of the browman.
Verdict—" Accidental death."