sentences:  Keir Hardie, then Secretary of the Scottish Miners' Federation, denounced the deaths as murder a few days later.The Udston Colliery, owned by the Udston Coal Company, was situated at the top of Hillhouse, Hamilton behind where Townhill Road now runs.Opened in 1875, it was a small pit employing approximately 200 men and boys working in three coal seams at depths of up to underground.