THE SHOCKING ACCIDENT AT LINDAL MOOR

On Monday morning, at 11.30, John Kinrade, miner, a married man, residing at No. 1, Devonshire-street, Dalton, succumbed at the Ulverston Cottage Hospital to the fearful injuries he received whilst following his employment at the Lindal Moor Mines over a fortnight since. It may be remembered that on the 10th inst., the deceased was working in No. 30 pit, when he was buried under a sudden fall of rock and metal in the working. He was extricated as speedily as possible, and conveyed in the ambulance to the Ulverston Cottage Hospital, where he has since been lying under the treatment of Dr. Bowman. He was suffering from a fractured back and paralysis. From the first, his case seemed to be hopeless, and he had lingered very much longer than the doctor or the nursing staff expected.

THE INQUEST

The inquest was held at Ulverston Cottage Hospital on Wednesday afternoon, before Mr. Coroner Poole and a jury of whom Mr. W. M. Maitland was foreman. Messrs. Harrison, Ainslie and Company were represented by Mr. C. E. Ray, the deputy manager, and Mr. Thos. Lindow, surveyor; and Mr. J. Leck, Inspector of Mines for this district, was also present.

John Thomas Kinrade, of 1, Devonshire-street, Dalton, stated that the deceased, John Joseph Kinrade, was his father. He was an iron ore miner, 50 years of age, and worked at Lindal Moor, for Messrs Harrison, Ainslie and Company. Witness and deceased worked together in No. 30 pit. They usually worked from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but on the 10th January they went to work at 4 a.m. because his father wanted to attend a funeral in the afternoon. The place where they were working was about five feet five inches high, and about six feet six inches wide. Before starting, his father took a pick and sounded the place, saying it was safe. Between seven and eight o’clock one shot was put in the forebreast, and then they proceeded to take the ore out at the bottom.

The Coroner: Did your father sound the place after firing the shot? – Yes, sir.

Where did he sound it? – He generally sounded it all over.

But did you see him do it on this occasion? – No. I was at the back of the tip.

And can’t say whether he sounded it or not? – No.

How were you working – by the ton? – Yes, sir.

Now how did the accident happen? – About ten o’clock I was down filling a bogie and knocked to my father, who was up in the breast to come down and help me with it. I heard him shout ‘hello’ and on going up I found him with a lump of limestone. It had fallen from the roof of the forebreast, off a metal “back”. The last time they had put timber in was the day but one before, and it was timbered as near up as they could get it. I had seen my father test the stone in question the previous day. My father had been working at these mines for about 30 years. Directly the accident occurred assistance was procured to get the deceased out, and he was removed to the Cottage Hospital, where he died owing to the severe injuries to his back on Monday morning in the witness’s presence. Deceased had not said anything to witness whilst in hospital about the accident.

By Mr. Leck: The place was regularly timbered. No timber was broken by the lumps of rock that fell. In the ordinary course of working the stone would eventually have had to be taken down. Spiles were put in, and they came right up to the edge of the rock. The bottom of the lump came just below the head-tree. I actually saw my father sound the rock in question on the morning of the accident, and he said it was safe. The lump was bared the previous day. I had no suspicion it was unsafe. It was about 12 yards from our working place to the tip, and I was running out the metal at the time of the accident. About 20 minutes past nine the underground captain, John Jackson, came into the working as I was coming out. It is usual for one of the officials to come into the working every shift. I knew my father was badly injured at the time. (This is how the paper reported the exchange. It is not clear where Mr Leck morphs into John Thomas Kinrade)

Are there any ambulance men in the pit? – Yes, sir.

Are you one? – Yes.

Did you help to bandage and treat the deceased? – Yes, sir.

Joseph Jackson, mining captain at Lindal, stated that he visited the place in which the deceased and last witness were working about 20 minutes to nine on the morning of the accident. He sounded the place with a hammer, and the stone in question appeared to be all right. He did not consider it suspicious, and he had no fear of it.

The Coroner: How far was the wood from it at that time? – Three feet four inches.

Was that not a long way? – No sir, not in shooting ground.

Was this piece of rock that fell one that would have to come down in carrying on the drift? – No.

According to the plan produced the stone appears to be below the timber? – It was in front of the timber.

It is projecting below it here? – Well, it is very little.

What had the stone fallen from? – It had come away from a “back”.

And you tell the jury you actually sounded this piece of rock? – Well, we generally sound all round.

But did you sound this? – Yes.

You believed you sounded it? – I am sure I did.

By Mr. Leck: The stone that fell was three feet four inches long, four feet four inches at the broadest end of it, and seven inches in thickness.

Are you sure you sounded it? – Yes.

Putting your hand on it and and sounding it with the hammer? – No. Just with the hammer.

The lump came away more than half across the working? – Yes.

And in proceeding with the work you would have timbered the lump up? – Yes.

The previous witness said that it was intended to take the lump down? – I don’t think it was.

Did you give the deceased any instructions about it? – No.

How long had he worked under you? – Eleven years.

Was he a man in whom you had every confidence? – O yes.

Did you think he would know what to do as well as you would yourself? – Well, I would have given him
instructions if I had seen anything wrong.

How do you account for this lump falling so suddenly? – It was from a ‘back’.

And there were no indications of this ‘back’ before the accident? – No.

This is a class of ground that ‘backs’ are not uncommon in? – Yes.

That means you have to be extra careful? – Yes.

I would have expected a lump only seven inches thick if carefully sounded would have given some indication of being unsafe? – A ‘back’ often gives way a little in a short time. It is sometimes affected by dampness.

How long had this particular lump been exposed? – Since the day before.

Did you sound it the day before? – No.

Did you ask the deceased whether he had sounded it? – Yes and he said he had.

John Thomas Kinrade, recalled, stated that about three bogies of ore had been taken during the morning from the forebreast, after the shot had been fired. It had been taken from the bottom, and not from the top, and so far as he knew it had not taken any support from the stone. Before the shot was fired, he saw his father put his hand on the stone, and test it with the pick.

By Mr. Leck: It was my opinion that, in the ordinary way of working, the stone would eventually have to come down instead of being timbered. My father said nothing to that effect, and it is only my own opinion.

The Coroner, in summing up, said it appeared to him, the mining captain trusted a good deal to the deceased, and of course, the son entirely trusted the father, who was a man of considerable experience. There was no doubt the two men were anxious to get away as soon as possible after they had put as good a day’s work in as they could under the circumstances, and he had no doubt whatever, notwithstanding the evidence, that if the stone had been properly tested it would have shown indications that it was not safe and sound. He thought that after the last shot was fired, and a certain quantity of ore taken out, there could be little doubt that this had, to some extent, loosened the stone. Under the circumstances the jury would have to find that the stone accidentally fell, and the deceased so received the injuries from which he had died. There was one thing he wished to emphasise, and that was, when they saw a piece of stone sticking out like this in the workings, it was the duty of the men themselves and the mining captains to test it properly and thoroughly to see that there was no danger attached to it.

The jury returned a verdict of ‘Accidental death’.

Barrow News, 2 February 1901