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1911, 2nd October
WILLIAM BLACK
FATAL ACCIDENT AT KIRKCONNEL PIT.
A sad mining fatality occurred at Fauldhead Pit, Kirkconnel, on Monday
forenoon between nine and ten o’clock. William Black, aged 25
years, and residing at 19 New Buildings, Main Street. Deceased was
engaged in conveying hutches up an incline, and it was there that
the accident occurred. On the incline are two sets of rails, one for
conveying the loaded hutches up the incline and the other for the
empty hutches going down. The hutches are moved by means of an endless
rope, and go in batches, the first being fastened to the rope by means
of a clutch, and the others coupled on to it. Black was in the act
of conveying two hutches up the brae, and in front of him were two
men taking five hutches up. When nearing the top, the clutch which
held the five slipped, and they rushed back down the brae. The men
at once shouted at Black to stand clear: and he, thinking that it
was empty hutches that had broken loose, stood in front of his own
two, with the result that he was crushed between the two sets of hutches.
He received severe internal injuries, and his right leg was broken
about the thigh. Medical assistance was at once secured, and the unfortunate
man was conveyed home; but he succumbed to his injuries about one
o’clock.
The sad occurrence cast quite a gloom over the district, and the miners
stopped work for the day as a token of respect for their unfortunate
comrade. Deceased was on the point of marriage, and the utmost sympathy
is felt for the bereaved relatives and friends.
Dumfries & Galloway Standard 04/10/1911 / W / 5 / A - MM07
NOVEMBER 1, 1911
PIT ACCIDENT ENQUIRY
An inquiry was held at Dumfries on Friday, by Sheriff Campion and
a jury, into the circumstances of the accident which occurred at Fauldhead
Pit, Kirkconnel, on 2d October, and resulted in the death of William
Black, miner, a young man of 25 years. The gentlemen balloted for
the jury were Messrs J. M. Glover, painter (who acted as chancellor);
John Lennox, merchant; John Robertson, spirit merchant, Loreburn Street;
James Rankin, joiner, Broom’s Road; William Byers, fruiterer;
Edward Cornet, motor car maker. Mr Phyn, P.-F. appeared for the crown;
Mr J. M. Inglis, solicitor, Kilmarnock, for the colliery company;
Mr Taylor, solicitor, Dalbeattie, for the deceased’s mother;
and Mr John Masterton, inspector of mines, Ayr, was also in attendance.
At half-past nine in the morning the deceased was in charge of two
hutches loaded with coal, which were being taken along the haulage
way from the working face to the pit bottom, the mode of haulage being
by means of an endless rope, to which the hutches are attached. Some
distance from the pit bottom, the rails are laid up an incline. Another
lot of five wagons, in charge of William Rennie and Robert Monteith,
were travelling in front of Black’s. When these were near the
top of the incline the clutch by which they were attached to the endless
rope slipped, and the wagons ran back down the incline, stuck against
those in charge of Black, which were then at the foot of the inline,
knocked him down and inflicted injuries from which he died at half-past
one the same day.
Samuel Rennie, who was the first witness, stated that they were about
a yard and a half from the top of the brae when the clutch slipped.
He tried to make it grip the rope again by hammering it with an iron
snib, but did not succeed. When going up the incline they were supposed
to have a "Jock" or trailer attached to the hutches. That
was a strong bar of iron with two prongs sticking out from it, and
curved round, one end of the bar being attached to the axle and the
other trailing on the ground, so that if the hutches ran back the
prongs caught in a sleeper and held them. But they had no "Jock"
with them on that occasion. Monteith and he shouted to give warning
to the person behind them; but when they ran back to the foot of the
incline they found Black lying in the space between the two lines
of rails — the "full road" and the "empty road,”
and their hindmost hutch was off the rails. He was able to speak,
and told them he had thought when he heard the shout that it was empty
wagons coming down the opposite line. Asked if it was not his duty
to see that a "Jock"' was attached to the hutches before
they proceeded to ascend the incline, witness replied — Yes.
I looked for a Jock, but I could not get one. —Q. Did you not
ask for one? A. I asked the man who was coming along with me, Monteith,
if he had one. — Q. Did you not know whom to apply to if you
wanted a Jock? A. I expect I would have applied to the under-manager.
That is Mr Wilcox. — Q. Did you do that? A. Yes. — Q.
What did he say? A. He said there were plenty of Jocks. — Q.
Didn't you make an effort to get one? A. Yes. I looked. I looked on
the braehead, where they should be, so that a man could get them when
he wanted them. — Q. But you were going up, weren't you? A.
Yes. — Q. So you would have required them before you got to
the braehead? A. Yes; but I should have had one when I was going down
with my empties, so that I could put it on when I was coming up with
the full ones.
Examined by Mr Masterton, the witness stated that he brought his hutches
out of the working place to the haulage road some twenty minutes before
Monteith came along with his hutches from a place further in, because
he had not been able to get a clip that morning and he had to wait
for somebody who bad one. He got a Williamson clip from Monteith,
and the rake of five hutches (Monteith's and his own) was attached
to the endless rope by that clutch. There were usually plenty of Jocks
lying about. He could not say why there were none on this occasion.
— Q. A Jock's a thing you can't take away in your pocket. A.
No. — Q. They were bound to be lying somewhere between the head
of the brae and the bottom of it? A. Yes, they were bound to be; but
they might have been put in such a place that you could not have found
them in going past. — Q. It's dark in the pit, and you won't
find them by just running past. — A. Yes. The clip was attached
to a thin part of the rope. He did not notice that it was a thin part
until the clutch slipped. He could not tell that it was thin until
the clutch began to slip. — Q. Because the clutch began to slip
you imagined that it was a thin part of the rope? A. Yes. A clutch
might also slip because it had not been sufficiently tightened. He
tightened it before the hutches started and hammered it on with an
iron swivel. When they came to Black he told them that if he had known
that it was the full hutches coming clown the brae he would have cleared
himself. Witness understood that he stepped in front of his hutches
in order to avoid the empty ones which he thought were coming down
the other rails.
Replying to Mr Lennox, witness said there was plenty of space between
the two sets of rails for empty and full hutch to pass each other.
— Mr Lennox: But if he was on the middle way and the hutches
projected slightly over the rails, he might be knocked down by them,
and still be clear of the rails? — Witness: He might be gripped
by the corner of his hutch.
Mr Turner: Is the rope examined every day? — Witness: I cannot
say whether or not.
By Mr Inglis: The Williamson clip is tightened on the rope by a screw.
You can screw it on with your two hands. — Q. Either before
or after the accident, did you see anything wrong either with the
clip or with the rope? A. No. — Q. There's no question of either
the rope or the clip having been broken? A. No. When you met empties
you had either to step in front of your full rake or to fall in behind
it.
Mr Rankine asked if the Williamson screw would not tighten on to the
rope even if it was thin at the particular part? — Witness:
It would get -tight on the other jaw, but not on to the rope. Q. That
means that there is a cavity in the jaws where there is a thin row?
A. Yes.
By the Inspector of Mines: He never heard of any rule that no second
rake of hutches was to be brought up the steep part till the first
one was over the top.
Robert Monteith gave corroborative evidence. He stated that there
was just one clutch for the five loaded hutches, and Rennie was in
charge of it going up the brae. Rennie saw that the clutch was not
taking effect and tried to tighten it by striking it with an iron
bar, but this had no effect. The clutch worked with a screw. He had
no explanation to make as to why it slipped. With regard to the Jock,
he said it was usual to have one on the hindmost hutch, not on every
hutch; but he could not get one that day at all. There was not one
to be seen on the road as they came up. He did not ask anybody about
one. He knew that it was the duty of the sub-manager to see that they
got such a thing, if they wanted it, but he did not apply to him.
Mr Masterton: Where did you look for the Jocks? — Witness: We
looked as we were coming up the brae, to right and to left. —
Q. I suppose that was where they were usually lying? A. I had never
seen a Jock for some time past at that brae. — Q Had they not
been using Jocks for some time past on the brae? A. No. — Q.
Do you mean that every drawer was going up there without any Jocks
behind his hutches at all? A. Yes. — Q. Have they been working
for some time without jocks? A. Yes. — Q. Did any of the officials
see you working without Jocks? A. I could not say. — Q. The
foreman Black, or the roadman Reilly. A. Yes; I would consider they
would see us going up without Jocks.
Replying to Mr Inglis, witness said their hutches would run back about
fifty yards before they struck Black’s. Black's clutch did not
give way when his waggons were struck by the others.
Mr Cornet: Did you use the Jocks every day? — Witness: No, sometimes.
Thomas Riley, roadman in the pit, said he was on the spot about half-an-hour
after it occurred, examined the clip, and found nothing wrong with
it. He found no Jocks among the wreckage, but there were three lying
at the side of the full road, ten or fifteen yards away. He examined
the haulage ropes every morning, and if a clutch was reported to him
as defective he sent it to the blacksmith’s shop to be repaired.
The same clip that had been attached to the runaways was afterwards
used, on the same day, to take the hutch up the incline, and it worked
all right. He did not notice any thin part of the haulage rope.
By Mr Inglis: He examined the rope on the morning of the accident.
They were working the same rope yet. — Q. Have you ever heard
of one part of it being thinner than another? A. Yes; only once since
this accident, and it has been repaired. — Q. If you have a
part of the rope. wearing thin, of course, that might affect the catch
of the clutch? A. Yes. — Q. But Would the effect be that if
the clutch slipped it would immediately tighten on the thick part
of the rope? A. We have seen that repeatedly done. He was satisfied
that both the rope and the clutch were all right.
By Mr Rankine: At the place where the accident occurred there was
a space of two feet one inch between the two sets of rails. The clutch
projected six inches over the rails. — Q. That takes a foot
off, and leaves only thirteen inches of a space between the trucks?
A. Yes.
John Black, foreman in the pit, stated that after the accident he
saw some Jocks lying on the opposite side of the wreckage a yard or
two distant from it. There were three lying handy, and more than that
if they were required. They were quite available to any driver who
wanted them.
Archibald Wilson, manager of the pit, said the haulage road was undulating
from the pit bottom right in. There was one portion where it was level;
another where the inclination was in favour of the load; and another
where the inclination was against the load. It was at a highly inclined
part that the accident occurred. The space between the two lines of
rails varied from eighteen inches to two feet, and the hutches projected
over the rails about four inches. There was a rule that there were
only to be two set of hutches on that incline at the same time; that
is, one near the top and the other just beginning the ascent. According
to the evidence, that was the condition of things at the time of the
accident. If the clutch had been tight enough screwed on to the rope
it would not have slipped. — The P.-F.: May the tightness not
depend upon two causes, say the thinness of the rope or the efficiency
of the clip? Witness: Well the clip is made in such a way that it
can accommodate itself to any thickness of rope that is likely to
be caused by any wear on that three-quarter-inch rope. I have known
as many as fifteen hutches being brought up that part of the incline
with those clutches that we have in use. It altogether depends on
how the screw is applied. The rope is a three-quarter-inch diameter,
and is made of plough steel, the best of steel. If the clip had not
slipped, the accident could not have happened. — Q. If there
had been a Jock attached to the rake being taken up by Rennie and
Monteith, could it have happened? A. Well, provided the Jock did the
duty it is intended to do, it could not have happened. The clip was
slightly worn. It had quite sufficient gripping power. That was the
clip that took up the hutch after the accident happened. After I supplied
the Jocks for the further safety of the men, in the first instance
it was the duty of the man who was bringing along the hutches to attach
the Jock. Secondly, it is the duty of the foreman, roadsman, and under
manager to see that the Jocks are being used. Any time that I have
been there, with one exception, they have been in use. In that particular
case I caught the man coming up the incline without a Jock, and on
severely reprimanding him I got the excuse that there were none there.
I immediately returned to the foot of the incline or "dook,"
and got the Jocks lying at the side of the road. If a drawer or miner
cannot find a Jock, he ought to let his hutch remain at the foot of
this incline until he finds one. That is my orders. He can apply to
the first official in the mine that he can get — either the
roadsman, foreman, under manager, or myself if I happen to be in that
part of the mine.
Mr Masterton: Do you think it is advisable that ordinary drawers should
he allowed to clip their hutches and go up the incline? Witness: Well,
that has been the practice since that part of the mine was opened
out, and it is found to have worked always very satisfactorily. Since
the accident I have changed the system. I saw then that, no matter
what provision you make, there was a possibility of a man from misjudgment
causing an accident. And to obviate that I have changed the system.
Mr Inglis: It. amounts to this, that prior to the accident the drawers
brought out their hutches to the haulage road, attached them to the
rope, and saw them to the top of the brae, each drawer being responsible
for his own hutches; but, since the accident, you have provided men
on the brae to take the hutches from the drawers and bring them up
the brae? A. Yes. — Q. These are, of course, ordinary workmen,
just the same as the drawers were? A. Just the same. But they have
no other duty to perform than to see that the hutches are properly
attached to the rope. This haulage system has been in use approximately
for about five years and nine months. There have been no accidents,
but there is the usual amount of trouble that is attached to haulage
roads of that system. The men have been supplied with Jocks all that
time. There is no provision for that in the Coal Mines Regulations.
They are supplied as an extra protection. — Have you ever had
any complaint about the scarcity of Jocks? — A. I have had no
complaints personally, unless that when I found a man coming without
a Jock he said he could not find one; and I went down at once and
found there was a Jock there and it was his own carelessness, in not
putting it on. The rope is examined every day.
Mr Lennox: If one part of the rope got thin, the clip might slip on
the thin part, I suppose, and be caught. on the thick part afterwards?
— Witness: There is a possibility of that.
Mr Rankine: The defect has been caused apparently by the workman not
screwing the clip sufficiently tight. It seems strange, if the clip
was screwed firmly onto the rope, although it was a thin part, that
it should hold good until it got within a yard and a half of the top
of the incline. Wouldn't you naturally think that it would have slipped
at the start? It has been a defect in the clip. It has not been close
enough to the wire rope. — Witness: No; from the measurements
we took, it was quite impossible for the rope to slip through that
clip. — Mr Rankine: Do the jaws of the clip screw further than
the thickness of the rope? Witness: Yes, they screw close up. There
is a little hollow between the jaws, and you have always a gripping
power of these two jaws until they come together. In taking, the measurements
we put the jaws close together, and took the measurements of the opening
between. That hollow between the jaws was much less than the thickness
of the rope. There was no part of the rope thin enough to slip through
that hole. It might be able to take the hutches up to that part and
an extra jerk might then come upon the rope. The road is undulating;
the undulation is sometimes in favour of the full load and sometimes
against it. It may have been that another rake was going over the
pit bottom, and there might be a sudden jerk caused by that load going
down the incline where the incline was in favour of the load.
Replying to Mr Lennox, witness said there was no defect in the screw
that tightened up the clip.
Mr Masterton, inspector of mines, said he took measurements of the
clip which had been in use. He got the jaws closed together and measured
the opening at each end and also in the middle. At the end the opening
was eleven-sixteenths of an inch; at the other end, nine-sixteenths;
and in the centre, seventeen-thirty-seconds. The rope was twelve-sixteenths
when it was new. Of course a rope wore a bit, and it would probably
be a little thinner than the twelve-sixteenths. There was room for
a grip, to the extent of the difference between twenty-four-thirty-seconds
of an inch and seventeen-thirty-seconds.
Mr Inglis: May I take it that you found this clip in perfect order?
— Witness: It was wearing a little more at one and than the
other; but it was in working order. I thought that the clip might
have been tight enough to begin with on the rope when they left the
bottom of the brae. It’s rather steeper just at the top. They
might have just been coming up on to that part, and at the same time
some jerk may have occurred such as the manager speaks of, owing to
something happening at another part of the road, happening just at
that time and causing it to slip. This concluded the evidence.
Sheriff Campion said he was afraid this just illustrated two things
— the dangers of the miner’s life, and also, what they
had often -had to notice in these fatal accidents, that familiarity
rather breeds contempt of the danger. How the accident happened, of
course, was very clear. Owing to the slipping of these trucks on the
full line, and running back, the deceased was caught, when he imagined
that, instead of being full trucks, they were just the usual empty
ones coming down the, opposite line. That was a very natural mistake
for him to make. As to the state of the clip and the rope, I must
just leave that to you, gentlemen of the jury. But there is no doubt.,
according to the manager's account, and also according to the inspector's
measurements and examination that everything was apparently, in good
working order. And in addition to the clips and the endless rope,
they were provided, we have been told, with these Jocks. Apparently
they were there that day, plenty of them; but they may not have been
just at hand when they started to go up this incline; and while those
who started the trucks might have put them on, and perhaps would have
put them on if they had been there to their hand, I cannot say that
they seem to have gone much out of their way to supply the deficiency
of them.
The jury, after conferring for several minutes, returned a formal
verdict narrating the circumstances of the accident, expressing no
opinion with regard to its cause.
Dumfries & Galloway Standard 01/11/1911 / W / 2 / E - MM07A
- MM07B - MM07C
- MM07D
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