Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 15 February 1889

Death by Suffocation at the Swinton Chemical Works.

Inquest.

Mr. Dossey Wightman, and a jury of which Mr. Wm. Ward was foreman, held an inquiry on Wednesday afternoon at the Station Inn, Swinton, touching the death of Daniel Child Roberts, aged 35, who lived at Swinton, and met with his death whilst pursuing his employment at Messrs. Ellison – and Mitchell’s chemical works, Swinton, on the previous Monday afternoon.

Annie Roberts, deceased’s wife, said her husband was 35 years of age, and was a labourer at Ellison and Mitchell’s chemical works , Swinton, where he had worked six months. He was brought home on Monday. She did not know anything about how it happened. (The witness was greatly affected during her evidence, and was carried cut of the room in a fainting condition.)

James Midgley, living at Kilnhurst, said he was a labourer at the chemical works, w where he had worked since a year last September. Witness was at the works when the accident happened, but not with deceased and Barlow. Roberts and Barlow were clearing a tar still, which was used for distilling coal tar to make pitch and oils out of. The two men had cleaned the still and a similar one 15 or 16 times. The still in which the accident happened was cleaned about every three weeks.

Mr. Mitchell, one of the partners of the firm, was the manager, and was on the premises at the time. He expected that Mr. Mitchell would set the men to work. Witness was employed at different work to them at the time, though he had cleaned the same still out many times. The object of cleaning them was to get the refuse out. About half-past two Mr. Mitchell shouted out and said there was something wrong in the still. Witness went and found Roberts and Barlow laid down in the still. They gut the deceased out without going in; they got a drag which they fastened in his belt, and pulled him out. He looked to be dead and was taken to the office. They heard Barlow snoring, and witness went in the still, and after fastening a rope round him, he was pulled out; he was now living. The dimensions of the still were 9 feet wide by 12 high. The men would begin in the still before breakfast time, between seven and eight, and when the accident happened it was halfpast two. There no fire under the still; the fire had been thrown and Saturday afternoon. The pitch was run out on Sunday morning first thing, and witness then pulled the dampers out, and took the lid off, so that the still would begin to cool by eight o’clock.

The Coroner: Had the still the ordinary time to cool before the men went in? Yes.—How do they get any air or atmosphere? I heard them say that it was very cool all the morning. When the men are in the still there was a fan by which cold air could be turned on. Both men said at dinner time that it was cool. No one to his knowledge had asked them whether it was hot. They could have had the air fan turned on at any time. It is never so hot but that men cannot work. To witness’s knowledge the fan was not turned on at all on Monday. Witness did not find the still hotter than usual when he went to get Barlow out, nor cooler. He did not stop in long, for he was afraid of the gas getting hold of him that had got hold of them. Witness could not reckon up where the gas came from; but he had no doubt that the gas must have overpowered them. He neither knew what kind a gas it was or where it came from. Barlow had been longer at the works than Roberts. Barlow could not talk when taken out, but witness believed that he knew what he was doing.

By the jury: The putting on of the fan depended on the weather; they could have the fan put on any time. Witness had cleaned the still out in the summer without the fan being put on. Witness never knew anybody who had had to come out because they could not stand it; the worst effect he had heard of was that it affected the eyes. He had been among stills for eleven years and had never known anything of the sort before.

By the Coroner : Before this happened he did not consider that the cleaning out of stills was a dangerous occupation, nor did he think it was necessary that anyone should watch the men that were in the still.

By the jury : He could not swear whether gas or the heat of the still had killed deceased.

William Henry Mitchell said he was in part ownership with Henry Ellison, of, Cleckheaton, as tar distillers at Swinton. Deceased had been fully employed at the works since last September. Witness ordered Roberts and Barlow to clean the still; they begun at seven o’clock on Monday morning, when he told them to do the work. No trial or test of the still was made. No examination was ever made as to whether the still was fit to be cleaned. It was left to the men to decide for themselves; if it was disagreeable they came out. Witness saw the men at work twice before the accident happened ; He asked them if the place was agreeable and if he should put on any fresh air; that would be about half-past nine. Barlow answered, and so did Roberts, and both said it was pleasant and comfortable, he went up again about an hour afterwards, at eleven o’clock, when they were going on in the ordinary manner. He saw them again at three o’ clock, when he visited the still casually ; he saw one man, Roberts, on the bottom, and at once called for assistance. Roberts was got out, and witness thought that he was then dead. Witness said the cause of death was a mystery to him. It must have been gas; it could not be heat, because the still naturally grew colder. He believed that the gas was sulphur rated hydrogen, which either must have lodged in the pipe and burst out suddenly, or been blown about from the other still. He had never experienced anything of the sort before. They could have had the fan put on if they liked; they could have put the fan on themselves at any time. If the accident had not happened, the work would have finished in half an hour. He had never known gas to have accumulated in these stills before, and it might have been him who was in the still, bemuse he had done this work. The still, when the men were working in it, was not so hot as usual. He did not think the operation at all dangerous. Now this had happened there would have to be something done. He intended in the future to insist upon them having the fan whether they liked it or not; they would not be consulted on the subject. If the fan had been on this occasion the accident could not have happened. Witness had been overpowered by gas himself, four years ago, when the gas on that occasion came from the ammonia still, similar gas in its effects.

The Coroner said that was as far as they could go. The only thing that he was not quite sure about was where the gas came from; that it was sulphurreted hydrogen he had no doubt. Mr. Mitchell said he had that day seen Barlow, who said that he saw Roberts drop and went to his assistance. He tried to lift him out of the place, failed, and was then overcome himself. He (Mr. Mitchell) asked him why he did not at once go out of the place and call for assistance, and he said that he had not the presence of mind. Roberts had been away ill for three weeks, and was weak, and that had something very likely to do with his succumbing.

In answer to the jury Mr. Mitchell said there was no connection with the still and any other still by which gas might have come in. It looked a strange thing to him how the gas could have come. If Barlow had nipped up the ladder and warned the other men working near, he believed both would have been got out safe. He felt deeply indeed for Roberts’ fate, as he was a man whom he very much respected; it was a thousand pities that it had ever happened. He had never known such a thing to have happened before, and the plant had been working two years. The fan was worked when the men requested it.

The Coroner: Suppose they cleaned the still out a thousand times, how often would they have the fan working?—Witness said it depended on the men’s feelings and the weather.

The Coroner: Do they oftener have it on or not ?—Witness : More oftener off than on.

Witness, in answer to the Coroner said it was his impression that the gas could not have come from the other stills, which were not connected, and offered the jury an opportunity of viewing the works.

The Foreman of the Jury said he had been talking to a man who had worked in these stills, who said that something might have become corroded in the stills, and the gas remained behind it.

The Coroner said even if there as some gas left in the still he did not think it was possible to say that there had been any gross misconduct on anybody’s part. It appeared that this sort of thing had been done for years without anything happening, and from that it would appear as if the men were justified in saying that they did not consider it a dangerous proceeding. He thought it would be better if the manager would take care that the fan be used in the future, whether the men wanted it or not, but then that was lacking the stable after the horse had gone. (Hear, hear.) It was all very well to be clever after these things had happened, but he was not prepared say that on the evidence there had been any misconduct on anybody’s part. The men were not new beginners, they knew what they were doing, and he could not make any more than an accident of it. If this sort of thing had been done years and years without anything happening, the men might reasonably think that there was nothing dangerous in the operation. It was of no interest to Mr. Mitchell or anybody else that these poor fellows should be injured, nor did he think that the man themselves had any suspicion of danger. But as to where the gas came from he was not quite clear. If the gas from the adjoining still once got the atmosphere, it would get polluted to a great extent by the atmosphere, and he did not think that it could have forced itself into the still. He believed that the gas must have been latent in some shape or another in the still itself where the men were working, and that somehow it got at liberty. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Mitchell had given his evidence very fairly, and had said that with the exception of being once, overpowered he did not see any danger in it. In the future, however, he thought it would be a wise precaution to insist upon the fan being worked.

The foreman said he thought the fan should either be worked or there should be someone watching outside.

The Coroner said he thought the fan would meet all requirements, and the expense of working the fan, if any, was trifling when a man’s life was at stake. (Hear, hear ) The Coroner recalled Mr. Mitchell, who had left the room, and informed him the jury thought it was an accident, but that he ought in the future to that the fan was kept working.

Mr. Mitchell said he would most certainly insist upon this, and mentioned that on the Saturday previous to the accident the fan had been thoroughly overhauled and cleaned in case it should be required.

The jury then returned a verdict of “Accidental death.”

The remains of deceased were interred at Swinton yesterday. The deceased, who was 35 years of age, leaves a wife and six children.