Major Accident
On 20 September 1893 a party of miners were strengthening a large stull at the 412 level (nearly half a mile underground). The stull consisted of about 22 pieces of 18-inch-square (460 mm) by 33-foot-long (10 m) timbers of Pitch Pine set about 2 ft (0.61 m) apart. It was holding up some 600 feet (180 m) in height of waste rock. The day before, the mine captain, Josiah Thomas, and Captain James Johns, the chief underground agent, had visited the level and expressed concern at the safety of the stull because one of the pieces was bending. Men were immediately instructed to strengthen it. Repair work proceeded through the morning until at 1 pm after a small fall of rock, the whole stull suddenly gave way, killing seven of the men working underneath. One man, Richard Davies, was rescued unhurt after 37 hours. In around 1898 the then mine captain, Arthur Thomas, reported that "he went to America some time after, and is now working in South Africa."
At the subsequent inquest, Captain Josiah Thomas said that the working party must have removed some of the old props before putting in the new ones, but this was contradicted by one of the survivors who reported that the men were doing nothing at the time to cause the fall.
Read more about this topic: Dolcoath Mine
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