In our last a brief notice was given of an accident which occurred on Wednesday week, at Caerphilly, by the falling of a skip, in which were seven men, down a shaft nearly 120 yards deep, causing instantaneous death to all of them. The Rhymney Railway Company are in the course of making a branch railway, called the Cardiff and Caerphilly Extension. On this branch there is a tunnel, one mile in length, passing under the Caerphilly mountains, at a place called Cefn-on. For the purpose of carrying on the excavation and works of this tunnel, five shafts have been sunk by the contractors, varying in depth from 34 to 111 yards. At each of these shafts powerful engines are fixed for working the pumps and winding gear. It was at the third shaft on the south side of the slope of Cefn-on mountain that the accident occurred on Wednesday week. The steam engine at this shaft is a horizontal high pressure engine, of about 50 horse power. The cylinder, 24 inches in diameter, has a four feet stroke. The fly wheel is 14 feet in diameter, and is fitted with a powerful break, the lever for working it being placed close to the engine driver, and worked by his foot. The engine has also a link motion for reversing, the handle of which being close to the break lever, gives the engine man perfect control when wind- ing. The winding drum is worked by a pinion in the fly wheel shaft, and makes one revolution to three of the engine. On the winding drum is a flat wire rope, 3t inches by |, the breaking strain of which was about 40 tons. A nine-inch pump is also worked by the same engine. As it is necessary that the pump should be nearly always kept at work, provision is made for dis- connecting the winding gear from the engine by sliding the drum shaft and plummer blocks back on the bed plate, and in order to do this four holding down bolts have to be slacked, and the piece between the jam on the bed plate removed, which occupies about two or three minutes, and is usually done after the last of the work- men have been hoisted for dinner the winding gear is then left at rest during the hour the men are at dinner, and the pump is kept at work. It is the duty of the engine man to do this, and he usually has the assistance of the stoker. This description of the work at the shaft will, with the evidence at the inquest, serve to show how the accident occurred. The inquiry into the death of Richard Beynor, one of the men killed by the falling of the skip on Wednesday week, was on Tuesday last formally opened at the Castle Hotel, Caerphilly, before E. B. Reece. Esq., deputy coroner. The first witness called was David Barry, who said I live at Caerphilly, and am one of the time keepers in the employ of Messrs. Logan and Hemmingway, the contractors for the excavation of the tunnel on the Caerphilly mountain. I know Robert Beynor and the six others who were killed. These men were all la- bourers employed in making the tunnel. On Wed- nesday last, about 3 o'clock, I was at No. 3 shaft, and took the number of the men as they descended the shaft.
At this time six men-got into the skip to go down the shaft. Robert Beynor, Charles Tucker, John Seymour, Thomas Coney, James Dogan, and Edward Hagan, were the six men who entered the skip.
Jabez Price was working about two or three yards down the shaft, cutting a piece of timber. Price wanted to get up to the top of the shaft, and called to the men as they were descending in the skip to stop and take him. They did so, and assisted him into the skip, and the banksman gave the order to reverse the engine to bring the skip back again to the top. The engine driver did so. The skip rose to within six inches of the top of the shaft, when it went down with the greatest rapidity, carrying the wire rope down with it. The men were above the level of the ground, but before any of them could get out, the skip went down and in a few seconds he heard it strike against the bottom of the shaft with a fearful crash. The rope broke off about two feet from the drum, and the whole of it with the exception of this two feet went down the shaft on the top of the skip. The bodies were brought up in about an hour. Solomon Webb, a banksman in the employment of Messrs. Logan and Co., said: My duty is to land the skip and see that it is clear of the lorry when it goes down. I give the orders to the engine-man to lower the skip or raise it. I did not consider that it was a fit place for Jabez Price to stand in while the skip was being lowered to the bottom, and when it reached him I called to him to get in, and to come up to the top. He did so; and the engine brought it up sufficiently near for Price to get out, but before he could do so the skip went down. In about four or five seconds the skip struck the bottom of the shaft. The wire rope broke off near the drum, and a small piece of it flew into the air. In a short time a ganger from the next shaft came and volunteered to go down. A rope was attached to a crab and block," and two men descended in a small mortar bucket. One of the dead bodies was then sent up, and soon after all the others were brought to the surface. It is customary for the engine-driver to throw the winding gear out when the men went to dinner, but on this occasion, knowing that there was a man work- ing in the pit, I told the driver not to do so, and the engine-driver went away, and did not do it. I am quite confident that he did not, as I saw him throw the bar away after I had told him not to throw her out of gear. Joseph Hawksworth, one of the gangers employed ic the same works, said: I was at my house on the Wednesday, and heard the rope break. It sounded like the report of a gun. I went to the shaft, and in a few minutes I was let down in a bucket, and found the whole of the seven men at the bottom quite dead. I did not hear a sound from them. Mr. John Llewellyn, surgeon, of Caerphilly, said: I was sent for after the accident, and on going up the hill I met four men carrying the body of James Beynor on a board. I examined the deceased and found that the back bone had been broken and the lower extremities smashed to pieces. I afterwards examined the others and found that they had died from similar injuries. In all cases he considered that death had been instantaneous. All the bodies were dreadfully mutilated. Edward Elliott, engineer at the works, deposed: I have charge of all the engines at the tunnel works under Mr. Dawson. I inspect the engines every day and see that they are all right. I inspected the engine at No. 3 shaft early on the morning of the accident. It was then in perfect working order. I examined it again about an hour after the accident, and found the winding drum out of gear. The two wedges used to keep the drum in gear were lying by the side, and the screws which fastened them down had been removed. I asked the engine man if before he lowered the skip" he looked to see whether the wedges were all right, when he shook his head and said he did not. Before the winding drum can be put out of gear, the wedges must be removed, and the plummer block on which the drum rested pushed back by means of an iron bar. It was the duty of the engine man to put the drum out of gear, and also to put it into gear. A piece of timber was also o used to put between the spokes of the wheel attached to the drum to prevent its being pulled round by the weight of the "skip." It would have been quite impossible for the skip to have descended the shaft then. I am of opinion that at the time the men got into the skip, the drum was in gear, but the wedges had not been placed so as to keep it in gear, and that the reversing of the engine to bring Price to the top, threw the drum out of gear, and the engine having no power over it after, it rolled round with the weight of the skip and the men in it till the skip reached the bottom. I asked the engine man if he had touched the blocks, and he said that he had not, and that they were in the same place then as at the time he was letting the men down. By the Foreman I am of opinion that the weight of the skip" and men when descending would have tended to have kept the drum in gear, and that without the blocks being in their proper places, the men would have descended in safety if the engine had not been reversed to bring up Price. George Pearse, a lad about 17 years of age, said I am the stoker to the engine at No. 3 shaft. When the drum is put out of gear, I and the engine man do it; he knocks out the blocks on one side and I on the other. I have been at No. 3 shaft about six months, and every day I have helped him to put the engine out and in gear. I never do it on both sides, but the engine man on Wednesday told me to go and slacken the bolts. He did not tell me to take the wedges out, but I took them out. It was the only time that I have slackened them on both sides. This was about two o'clock in the afternoon. Although I removed the wedges, I did not push the plummer block" back, but left it with the wedges on the ride. At two o'clock, when the men came up to dinner, I did not hear Solomon Webb say to the engine man, Don't put her put of gear, as there is a man working iu the shaft." Very soon after Beanland, the engine man, told me to go and unloose the screws. He saw me go to the place to unloose the screws, and that could not be more than two or three minutes after the last skip came up with the men. I did not tell him what I had done, as he could see me. I was near the pit's mouth when the men were being sent down after dinner, but I had entirely forgotten that I had taken out the wedges. I heard the fall of the bucket. Mr. W. Adams, C. and M.E., of Cardiff, said he had examined the engine and winding drum, and everything connected with the machinery he found in the most excellent order. The breaking of the rope was caused by the immense impetus of the skip descend- ing the shaft at the time of the accident. The rope was quite strong enough for all purposes required there. The impetus gained in the descent would have been sufficient to have snapped any rope. There was nothing wrong in the machinery. It was an unfortunate mistake to leave the blocks out. If there had been a break on the drum it could have been of little use unless the person applied it immediately. Mr. Adams subsequently mentioned that in his opinion the mere removal of screws was not conducive to the accident. It was the removal of the wedges which caused the drum to go round. Benjamin Beanland, the engine driver, stated he raised the men together to their dinner, and left four men below to fire the shots. After this he told the boy to unloose the wedges. Subsequently he took the bar to throw the drum out of gear, when the banksman told him not to do so. When the men came back from dinner he knew that the screws were loosened, but they had worked the skip up and down with the screws loose frequently before. He wanted to run the empty skip up and down to get water for the boiler, but the ganger" wanted the men down, and they got into the bucket to go down. They went down a short distance, then up again, when the drum ran out and the skip went to the bottom. This was the whole of the evidence, and the Coroner read over the principal portions. After commenting upon it, he said that the only question for the jury to consider was whether the engine man, Beanland, was guilty of any culpable neglect in not looking to see that the blocks were in their places before he started the engine. On this point the evidence of Mr. Adams had to a great extent released him from any blame, as had the boy only done what he was directed to do by him the accident would not have happened, and the boy in removing the blocks had no evil intention, but wished to assist the engine driver and get the work over quicker.
The jury consulted for about half an hour, and then returned a verdict of "Accidental Death," considering that neither the engine driver nor the stoker had been culpably negligent.
Source: Welsh Newspapers Online