Transcribed from the Sheffield Daily Independant, Thursday 1st April 1909
COLLIERY DISASTER
Three Men Killed at Maltby. Fall of 300 yards.
Extraordinary Accident at New Pit.
In Maltby Wood, near Rotherham, where a colliery is being sunk by the Maltby Main Colliery Co. Ltd; a shocking disaster occurred yesterday, which resulted in the deaths of three men.
Two shafts are being sunk, and it is probable that they will have to reach a depth of 800 yards before coal is reached. No. 1 shaft has been sunk to a depth of 100 yards, and No. 2 shaft to 387 yards.
It was in the No. 2 shaft that at about 10.45 o'clock yesterday morning the accident occurred. Work was being carried on in the usual way, and all the machinery, so far as can be ascertained, was in proper working order. Three men were riding in the hoppit, steadied from the bottom, when from some reason, which at present is shrouded in mystery, the hoppit caught at the pump landing, situated about 70 yards from the surface.
Two of the men, Samuel Saunders, 38, of Balby, and Arthur Orton (Horton), 36, of Elmsall, near South Kirkby, were hurled out of the hoppit, and fell a distance of over 300 yards to the bottom of the shaft. Their bodies were smashed to pieces. The third man, Charles Simons, 37, of Balby, was, remarkable to state, found in the hoppit when it reached the surface. One of his hands had been taken off, and his skull had been knocked in through coming in contact with something. He was dead.
Eleven Men at Shaft Bottom.
At the time of the accident there were eleven men working at the bottom of the shaft, and they escaped injury. A fearful sight however, presented itself to them, for the body of one of their comrades, Orton, had been cut in two, and the other, that of Saunders, was also in an awful condition. The remains were placed in the joiner's shop which has been utilised as a temporary mortuary until after the inquest.
The manager of the colliery, Mr. W. Dyson, resides on the premises, and immediately the accident happened he communicated with Mr. W. H. Pickering (H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines for the district), and also with Mr. A. Thompson, of Todwick (the agent of the company), both of whom were speedily on the spot. Apprehensions were at first felt for the safety of the eleven men at the bottom of the shaft, and the work of releasing them from their unfortunate position was promptly undertaken. They were fortunately got to the surface uninjured.
The hoppit in which the three men who were killed had been ascending the shaft had been damaged, and had to be removed and replaced with a new one. That having been done, the men were drawn to the surface, and the bodies were recovered.
An examination of the machinery – the winding rope, cappel, and engines – proved that it had withstood the strain to which it was subjected, and was sound. At the time of the accident James Hines was in charge of the engines.
As to the cause of the accident, that will form the subject of the enquiry by Mr. Nicholson, the coroner for the Doncaster district, which is expected to take place to-morrow.
Various theories might be suggested as to what caused the hoppit to come in contact with the pump landing, but on these points no definite explanation could be furnished or had apparently been arrived at by the officials.
After Two Years' Work.
It is some three hundred yards from the highway between Maltby and Tickhill – which runs through Maltby Wood – that the sinkings of the new colliery are situated.
The colliery company was formed in July, 1907, and have acquired the right to work coal underneath certain portions of the estate of Lord Scarbrough. The preparatory work of the colliery undertaking was commenced in September, 1907, by the cutting down of the timber, clearing away the undergrowth, and the making of a private road. Engine houses have been built, headgear erected, and all the necessary machinery for the carrying on of the sinking of a new and extensive colliery put down. Four Lancashire boilers supply the motive power for the winding engine, electricity the illumination, and there are temporary workshops and a permanent chimney. A new winding engine house is in course of construction. The new South Yorkshire joint railway intersects the locality, and has sidings to the new colliery. Huts have been built for the accomodation of the workmen and their families, a council school has been opened for the education of the children, and also a canteen. New houses are being rapidly built in the neighbourhood.
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From the Sheffield Daily Telegraph-Friday 20 August 1909
A MALTBY SMASH
PIT HEAD WRECKED
One Death and Marvellous Escapes
Maltby Colliery, No. 2 Pit, the scene of a shaft fatality in which three pit sinkers lost their lives some five months ago, was, in the small hours of yesterday morning, the scene of another accident attended by the loss of one life.
It was just after midnight when it happened. It appears that the workmen had been removing a pump from the bottom of the shaft, about 450 yards below the surface. A locomotive on the top was attached to about 175 yards of piping, which had been utilised in connection with the pump, and which was now being removed from the shaft. The work was proceeding smoothly, when through some unexplained reason, a large and powerful steel wire rope, used as a stay to the machinery, broke, with the result that the heavy tackling, with the piping, wood, and ropes, fell down the shaft, crashing into the water at the bottom with tremendous force.
It carried with it a pit sinker named Henry Goodgrove (51), who must have been instantly killed. Up to last night his body had not been recovered. An especially sad feature of the fatality lies in the fact that Goodgrove, who lived in one of the Colliery huts, had a wife and 13 children, nine of the latter being dependant upon him.
This man was on the top at the time when he was swept down to death. Others were working about, and it is said that it was “the biggest miracle in the world” that there were not a dozen lives lost. The pit top is practically wrecked.
A man in an engine house close by had a narrow escape from being killed, and another in the winding engine house was also extremely fortunate in not losing his life.