Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 23 November 1912
Special Rule Four – Drawing Timber
Two miners, employed at Cadeby, Thomas Burgoyne and George Freeman, were summoned for a breach of special rule four. They both work in the same stall, and the effect of the charge was for not drawing timber properly. Due observance of the rules, said Mr Allen, in opening the case, was absolutely vital and essential to the safety of the pit. It was a matter of common knowledge that one of the most fertile sources of “gob fires” was the leaving of props in the waste. The two defendants were seen to be drawing a middle row of props, and also to cut a bar. The back props ought certainly to have been drawn first.
The defendants appeared and pleaded guilty. They were fined 10/– and the costs each.
A Denaby filler, John Henry Smitherman was summoned for a breach of special rule 86 at Cadeby for going into a part of the mine other than that in which he was appointed to work.
Mr Allen said men must go where they were sent, or if an explosion occurred, it was only by careful booking that it was known by the men were.
The defendant pleaded guilty, and he was fined 20/–
A Mexborough pony driver, named Ernest Bell, was ordered to pay 20/– for assaulting Arthur Midgley, a Corporal in the Denaby pit.
The complainant ordered him to do something, but he refused and kicked and struck him.
The defendant alleged that neither was it the aggressor and that he only hit him in self defence.