Terrible Accident At Denaby Main.

April 1902

Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 25 April 1902

Terrible Accident At Denaby Main.

A terrible accident occurred at the Denaby Main Colliery on Thursday afternoon in last week, which resulted in the death, later in the day, of Walter Godfrey, formerly a police-constable stationed at Mexborough. He was thirty years of age, and for some months past had been employed as a labourer by the Denaby & Cadeby Colliery Co. Ltd.

An inquest was held on Saturday afternoon at the Montagu Cottage Hospital, where the injured man had died a few hours after admission, by Mr. B. Bagshaw,( the deputy district coroner ), Mr. W.J. Pickering, His Majesty´s Inspector of Mines was present, as was also Mr. C. Bury, the manager of the Denaby mine, Mr. I.W. Chipp, from the offices of Messrs. J.W. and A.E. Hattersley, solicitors, watched the proceedings on behalf of the widow, who was too ill to attend.

The jury was composed of the following :-

Mr. G.H. Bayes (foreman), Messrs. O. Ayrton, S. Bennett, T. Venables, W. Melton, I Blunt, H. Ellard, G. Marshall, E. Wragg, J. Allsopp, J. Venables, A.Hayes, and J. Shaw.

John Newbert, of 116 Church Street, Mexborough, identified the body of the deceased as that of his cousin. He was thirty years of age, and at the time of his death was employed as a labourer at Denaby Main Colliery. He last saw him alive three weeks ago.

Albert Cusworth, of Conisbrough, an engine-fitter, said he was working with the deceased at the time of the accident. On Thursday afternoon they were engaged in removing a boiler, the witness being in charge of the operation. The dimensions of the boiler were 30 ft. by 7 ft. the floor of the engine bed would be about 9 ft. below the surface. The deceased was acting as a labourer. They elevated the back end of the boiler by means of two screw-jacks, and they then proceeded to lift the front end by the same method. They had only raised the front end about a foot, and deceased, by witness´s instruction, was getting some loose bricks from underneath the boiler when skidded uphill.

The Coroner : Skidded uphill ! What was the weight of the boiler ?

The Witness : The Weight would be from ten to fifteen tons.

The Coroner : It seems impossible for that weight to skid uphill. How do you account for it ?

The witness said the jacks were underneath the boiler so as to allow it to rest on the surface of the pit, and it skidded in an uphill direction. The deceased was crushed by the side of the boiler and one of the long timbers they were using.

The Coroner : Then this is the position ; you had raised the boiler to a certain extent, and the deceased was underneath getting some bricks. What was it that gave way ?

The Witness : The boiler skidded backwards.

The Coroner : Then was the whole of the deceased´s body pinned between the boiler and the timber ?

The Witness : No sir, his head was fast between the boiler and the timber.

In answer to a further question, the witness said the boiler skidded uphill and stayed there. They got the deceased out in five minutes ; he was not dead. He was sensible, and asked witness not to hurt him, and also requested him to ask the men not to swear. He was brought to the hospital. The deceased did not blame anybody in connection with the accident. It was the witness´s opinion no one was to blame.

The Coroner : Supposing anyone was to blame, who would it be ?

The Witness : That person would be myself.

The Coroner : Did you take any reasonable precautions to guard against this accident ? The Witness : Yes sir.

The Coroner : Have you ever raised boilers from beds before ?

The Witness : Yes sir.

The Coroner : More than one ? The Witness : Yes, several.

The Coroner : Have you ever had an accident before ?

The Witness : No sir, I thought it impossible for this one to skid.

The Coroner : You had all the appliances and material you wished for ?

The Witness : Every appliance necessary, sir. It is really such a mysterious thing that I can´t form an opinion on the subject.

The Foreman ( Mr. G.H. Bayes ) : Was it absolutely necessary to send the man underneath the boiler whilst in that position ? The Witness : Yes sir.

The Coroner : Why ? The Witness : Because these bricks prevented me getting my long timbers in.

The Coroner : If you had to do that work over again, would you take any additional precautions ?

The Witness : I should certainly take precautions to prevent the skidding of that end of the boiler, but any further precautions it would be impossible for me to take.

The Coroner : Were you engaged personally in the work ?

The Witness : No sir, I was supervising.

In answer to the Inspector the witness said he was also under the supervision of the colliery engineer, who had seen the work a quarter of an hour before the accident, and had given no further directions or ordered any alteration whatever. He had a large pitch-pine pack and a lot of cross-timbers at the top end.

The Matron of the Hospital said the deceased was admitted at 12 noon, and died about 1-55 p.m. When admitted he was conscious enough to know that he was in pain.

The jury expressed themselves as perfectly satisfied with the straightforward evidence of Cusworth, and returned a verdict of ” Accidental Death.”