Fatal Accident – 14 Year Old Pony Driver – John Sheldon

1887

Sheffield Evening Telegraph, June 17, 1887.

The Fatal Accident at Denaby Main.

An i nquest was held at the Reresby Arms, Denaby Main, this morning, before Mr D Wightman, touching the death of a pony driver named John Sheldon, age 14, who was killed on Wednesday whilst following his employment in the colliery.

The only witness who threw light on the action was John Higgins, a corporal, who found the deceased a short time after the accident. He was lying under one of the corves, which had come to a standstill; he was not dead then.

Just previously witness had put four lockers into the corves, as they were going down an incline, which was 1 in 18. Witness heard the corves go a little bit faster than usual.

The only way he could account for the accident was that the deceased, like other pony driver’s, was walking in front of the pony, when all at once it went a little bit faster, from what reason he could not tell, and deceased was knocked down.

Witness took him out of the pit through the cupola shaft.

Mr Chambers said the copola shaft was almost as much used as the other.

A verdict of “accidental death” was returned.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.