FATAL ACCIDENT IN WYCHWOOD FOREST.

Dr. H.F. Galpin, the City Coroner, commenced an enquiry at the Radcliffe Infirmary, on Tuesday, into the circumstances attending the death of Henry Pratley, aged 30, a general labourer, of Finstock, who died in that institution on Saturday.

The coroner, in his opening remarks, said the jury would be able to proceed very little with the enquiry that day. The deceased man was 30 years old, and a general labourer, and he died in the Infirmary last Saturday from the result of an accident in a stone quarry in the neighbourhood of Churchill. There was a statutory obligation on him, as Coroner, to communicate the facts to the Home Office, and they sent down an inspector to assist them in the matter. He has communicated with the Inspector and the Home Office, and the former replied that he would be unable to read Oxford till to-morrow, and consequently he would have to adjourn the enquiry. It occurred to him that it was his duty to call them together formally to view the body, so that he could issue the burial certificate, and the body could be buried. He only proposed to call, that afternoon, evidence of identification.

Charles Pratley, brother of the deceased, of Finstock, said his brother met with an accident at a quarry in Wychwood Forest on Friday. He was brought to the Radcliffe Infirmary the next day and died there.

The inquest was then adjourned.

The enquiry was resumed on Wednesday afternoon, before Mr. R.H.J. Bartlett, deputy coroner, Mr. H.R. Hewitt, H.M. Inspector of Mines and Quarries for the Derby district, from the Home Office, was present, and Mr. Andrew Walsh represented the relatives of the deceased. Photographs of the part of the quarry where the accident occurred were handed to the jury, of whom Mr. Webb, of Summertown, was foreman.

The Deputy-Coroner told the jury they would have the advantage of the presence of Mr. Hewitt, a Home Office Inspector, who was present in consequence of the accident having taken place in a quarry which was more than 20 feet deep, and they also had the presence of Mr. Andrew Walsh, who was there on behalf of the relatives of the deceased man. He did not propose to go fully into the facts of the case but, briefly, deceased and his brother were working at a stone, and another large stone seemed to have become dislodged and fell. As a result deceased was crushed in the thigh between the stone which fell and the floor, which also was stone.

Charles Pratley, a brother of the deceased, labourer, of Finstock, said on Friday last he was working with the deceased in a stone quarry at Wychwood Forest. About three o'clock they were trying to bar down some stone. The quarry was about 56 feet deep where they were working, and the stone they were working at was 12 or 14 feet from the bottom. They were standing on stones, and using a bar. His brother was lower down than witness, and a stone slipped out from the back without any warning. As the stone was falling Harry James said, "Look up." The stone fell and pinched his brother on the left thigh against another stone. Witness shouted for some bars to get his brother out, but the deceased pull himself out; he was bleeding at the time. Dr. Crawley was sent for, and he advised that deceased should be taken to the Infirmary. The bottom stone of the quarry was the best; they had had stone shift before, but no one was injured. He and deceased had been working at the quarry about six months. About 50 men were engaged in the quarry. They used no system of props in the quarry.

You don't suggest that you are always working in a state of danger in working in the quarry?- Yes, I do. There is always danger in a quarry. The wall of the quarry is straight up, and places it overhangs.

By the Inspector: The face of the quarry where we were working was leaning away from us, but I consider it was dangerous; the reason we worked there was that we are obliged to go to get a bit of victuals. I have never called the attention of the foreman to the fact that it was dangerous. If we considered a piece of stone dangerous, we had the power to get it down or make it safe. James, the man who shouted "look up," had to step aside or the stone would have caught him. When the accident happened there was nothing on the floor of the quarry, but there is a great quantity of stuff now which the men pushed down from the top on Saturday. The stone which injured my brother has not been moved, but all the surroundings have been altered. The foreman is not in the habit of examining the face of the rock during the day. The stone which fell was standing on a joint of clay; in this position it was more liable to fall over. No explosives are used in the quarry.

By Mr. Walsh: I and my brother were working for Messrs. Hignett and Hammond, contractors, of Guildford, and were paid by them. We received orders each day from Bartlett, the foreman, and I and my brother had received orders on Friday to work in this particular place, the foreman pointing out where we were to work. He therefore knew the position of the stone where we were working. I have seen the foreman on the face of the quarry several times, but he has not been to us when we were at work on this particular place. Other men besides ourselves were working on the face of the quarry. Between Friday and Monday evening every man had to go and bar down the face of the quarry. I do not know by whose orders this was done, or for what purpose. The effect was to completely alter the appearance of the quarry where the accident happened. The contractors made a deduction of a penny a week from our wages, but I do not know for what purpose. I do not know whether they insure the men in the quarry.

By the coroner: The stone struck deceased first in the chest. There is no outlook man kept at the quarry

A representative of Mr. Vernon Watney, the owner of the quarry, asked permission to put a question, but on being asked by the Deputy-Coroner if he thought it wise to do so, he refrained.

By the Jury: I do not take work by the piece, and we were working day work. As far as I know, no special instructions had been given as to using care in the quarry. I have not seen a copy of any Act posted I the quarry. There are no special rules enforced for the proper working of the quarry. No water percolates through the stone except when it rains.

Mr. J.O. Cuthbertson, B.M., senior house surgeon at the Infirmary, stated that he saw deceased on his arrival at 7.45 on Friday. He was suffering from a compound fracture of the right thigh with extensive laceration of all the muscles from the hip to the knee and on the front of his hip. They were such injuries as would be caused by the accident described by the last witness. The cause of death which took place at 5 o'clock on Saturday morning, was shock following the injuries.

By the Inspector: The limb was amputated at the hip joint on the arrival of deceased.

John Steptoe, Leafield, who was examined by the Inspector, said on Friday last he was working with the deceased in getting out a stone, and Henry James was behind them working at another stone. Another stone rolled out and caught deceased, knocking him down. The stone bumped and he got his thigh out. James shouted "Look out," and deceased turned round to escape; if he had not turned round he must have fallen into the pit about twelve feet below. The day before the accident witness and another man tried the stone which fell, and they also tried it on the morning of the accident, but they could not shift it. They thought it was very safe, and had no thought it was coming out. Every attempt to get a stone down had a tendency to weaken it. After the accident some stones were let off at the top; this was on Saturday morning. Nine or ten men were working at this, but the work did not interfere with the place which the accident occurred, but the stone which fell on deceased was knocked a little bit closer to the face of the quarry by another stone which fell.

By Mr. Walsh: About 40 men were working in the quarry on Friday, and on Saturday Bartlett told some of them to go to the top of the quarry.

By the Foreman: They were lowering a stone about a foot below the one which fell. The foreman had told them to be careful in removing the stones.

Walter Bartlett, of Charlbury, labourer and foreman to Messrs. Hignett and Hammond, was also examined by the Inspector, and said he he never been foreman before he was employed in this particular quarry, but he was a practical quarryman. Steptoe and James made an attempt by his orders the day before to get down the stone which killed deceased, and they also made another attempt on the day of the accident, but they could not shift it. Witness stood at the bottom to see that nothing fell on the men below. After the second attempt to get the stone down witness did not examine it, as his attention was directed elsewhere. He told the men to get the stone down, because it looked very dangerous where he was standing, but he had no idea it would topple over. The attempt to get the stone down might have weakened it, but he could not see that it had. They did not use a sprag or prop to the stone, because they did not think it would fall. Witness did not admit that he had made a mistake in any way. He considered it his duty to look after the safety of the men, and he would have examined it again had it not fallen.

By Mr. Walsh: The men were sent to another part of the quarry, but they happened to pass this spot, and were bent on getting the stone down. He was directing the operations when the stone fell. He considered the men were safe where they were working. On Saturday he took about a dozen men to work directly above the place where the accident happened. Their general foreman told them to leave the particular spot alone. Witness was called a navvy ganger. A penny a week was deducted from his own and the other men's wages, but he had no idea what it was deducted for.

By the Foreman: There was a hailstorm after the attempt had been made to shift the stone, and he believed it was that which caused it to fall. He had after told the men to be careful, and had himself removed overhanging stones.

By the Inspector: There was clay at the bank and under the stone. This was the only vertical clay joint in the quarry, and although there had been a hailstorm he did not consider it necessary to try again or to put timber under the stone.

John Loverick, Charlbury, general foreman to Messrs. Hignett and Hammond, in reply to the Inspector, said he was manager to the contractors and of the repairs and alterations going on at Cornbury Park. He had the general supervision of the work going on in the quarry, and visited it about once a day. His attention had not been called to the stone which caused the accident. The depth of the quarry was about 60 feet, and they had been working at it about eight months. They had no abstract of the Quarries Act on the works. It was a private job, and he did not think it was necessary. He did not know that because the quarry was more than 20 feet deep it came under the Quarries Act. He did not send notice of the accident to the Inspector but sent it to his employers at Guildford. He was at the quarry about half an hour after the accident, and gave instructions that the place should be left alone. Since Friday nothing material had been altered in the quarry, but the men had been at work in another part. He was not aware it was his duty to leave a place entirely alone for three days after a fatal or serious accident happened.

By Mr. Walsh: The deduction of a penny a week was for the Country Hospital at Guildford, and every man was told this when he was engaged. All the builders in Guildford did this. The workmen at Guildford were insured, but he could not say whether the quarrymen were insured.

By the Foreman: There were no special rules enforced for the proper working of the quarry. He had occasionally seen water percolating between the stones.

This concluded the evidence, and the Deputy-Coroner said that after the exhaustive enquiry the jury had full knowledge of all the facts laid before them, and they had also had photographs of the part of the quarry where the accident happened. He might remind them that all their duty was to find the cause of death of the deceased man. As to whether it should become necessary in their judgment to add a rider to their verdict that was as they pleased, but he thought he could promise them this, as no doubt they had formed an opinion themselves from the examination made by the Inspector and by Mr. Walsh, that that was not the last Court where the circumstances of this case would be enquired into.

The jury consulted for some minutes, and returned a verdict that the cause of death was shock, and they added a rider that they considered it quite accidental, but that more care should have been taken in the quarry for the safety of the men.