1868-Sep-11: North Boig Pit

No.	Name	Age	Cause
1.	Adam Dickie	23	crushed by an engine

Adam Dickie was born on 16th May 1842 at Ayr the first child of Thomas Dickie, wright and Jessie Paton. The family later lived at Content Street, Ayr where father and son worked as cabinet-makers.

Adam moved to Connel Park, New Cumnock and found work at the North Boig pit, the minerals here now leased by the Lanemark Coal Company.

map_north_boig — Map 1 North Boig Coal Pit| Reproduced by Permission of the National Library of Scotland

On the 11th September 1868 the 23 year-old batchelor was found dead at the North Boig coal-pit‘. A brief report appeared in the newspaper and reads-

A few days ago a young man, named Adam Dickie, engineman at North Bog Pit, was found lying under the engine, with his thigh and leg broken, and the limb otherwise mangled. He was immediately takento his residence, where he died about three hours later. No one knows how the accident occurred.
Edinburgh Evening Courant 26 September 1868

In the extract of the accident taken from the Annual Reports of the Inspector of Mines and given in the Scottish Mining web-site, the Inspector explains that Adam Dickie was engaged as an assistant engineman and that half an hour into his shift his crushed body was found.

“It was imagined that he had been working about the valve of the “feed pump,” when by some overlook on his part his dress had got entangled with the crank of the engine, and he was drawn round with it and crushed against the sides of the recess formed in the floor, in which the crank revolved”.
Scottish Mining Website

At 9am on the 11th September 1868 the 23 year-old batchelor and died at his home in Connel Park from his injuries ‘by coming into contact with the crank of the engine at the North Boig coal-pit‘.