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Page 12

THE EVENING NEWS

SATURDAY, : : : : : JULY 1Y, 1880

THE JACKET ACCIDENT.

INQUEST LAST EVENING ON THE
BODY OF POLLARD.

Full Particulars of the Cause of
the Accident–The Testimony of
the Witnesses and the Verdict
of the Jury.

At 5 o'clock last evening Coroner Brodek held an inquest as to the death of Wm. S. Pollard and the cause of the Yellow Jacket accident night before last.

Captain G. G. Taylor, Superintendent, testified: The shaft of the mine has three compartments; the north is a pumping compartment, the center one a working compartment in which a skip runs and is where the accident happened, and the south a working compartment with a cage. At 11 o'clock last night I was called up and told the skip was inverted in the shaft near No. 7 bob–about 2400 feet down–and that they were afraid that Wm. Pollard had been thrown from it. The machinery was in good condition; is always kept so; the accident was no doubt occasioned by the breakage of No. 7 bob. There is a bonnet on the skip now and Pollard could not ride on the crossbar; if he had been riding on the crossbar, there would have been some chance for him to have been saved. As it was, when the skip upset he was thrown out. The bonnet is to protect men from things falling in the shaft. The skip hung in the shaft outside the guides.

James Kelly testified: Work at the Yellow Jacket; there were five of us working at the time of the accident–Felix Boyle, Phil McDavitt, Mike McCormick and Tom Keeley; were working in a drift from the south compartment at the bottom of the shaft; when we went to work nothing was out of the way; the cage ran smoothly; as we finished loading the skip some splinters came down the shaft and we remarked among ourselves that they were blasting on the 1200; but even that would not keep deceased from going up; he gave three bells, and just then something hit the bonnet of the skip, and I remarked for him to get under the bonnet, and he said: "That's where I am;" just then the skip went up; it was not more than two or three minutes, as I should judge, before a lot of rock and debris of all kinds came down the shaft, and we ran back into the drift; did not know what had happened; I thought something of the pump gave way; in a few minutes looked into the center shaft and saw somebody's clothes hanging on a wall plate; Phil McDevitt pulled them in, and I saw they were Pollard's; picked them up; came to the conclusion that there was an accident at the shaft; didn't know what; it was four or five minutes between the signal to hoist and the falling of the debris; did not think anything wrong when the splinters fell; thought blasts at the 1200 had knocked off the lagging; deceased had been working in the mine at least twenty months; have often seen chips, shavings and splinters fall when nothing was wrong; Pollard has laid off some since he has been working at the Jacket; had been on a week or ten days when the accident occurred.

Walter Cobb testified: Am undertaker in Gold Hill and took charge of Pollard's remains; deceased was aged 19 years, 10 months and 8 days; was born in California; he died of injuries received at the Jacket shaft last night.

T. H. Keeley testified: Was working at the Yellow Jacket shaft at the time of the accident; was south of the south compartment at the bottom; nothing was wrong with the machinery when deceased got on the skip that I could see; noticed after coming out from where I was working that four or five slivers of wood from one to six inches long came down and struck on the bonnet of the skip. I remarked that the boys at 1200 had blasted and bursted a lagging; then went back and helped fill a wheel-barrow, which finished our spell inside, and came out into the south Compartment of the shaft; sat down for probably two minutes, and some heavy body struck some 612 timbers about nine feet over my head; I then ran into the face of the drift as fast as I could and considerable rock fell into the shaft; the remark was made that something had "gone up" in the shaft–i. e., given away–and the probability was that Billy had "gone in"–i. e., got killed.

Philip McDeavitt testified" Was working in the Yellow Jacket at the time of the accident; have heard the testimony of the two preceding witnesses; can tell nothing more; can only corroborate their testimony.

On cross-examination by a juror, this witness testified that the deceased could have got off the skip after ringing the bells to hoist; it is not safe, but we do it often; I have frequently done it; we take our chances; I should not have got off on account of the falling of slivers.

Daniel McPherson testified: Was going on shift at the time of this accident; started down the south compartment as usual at changing of shifts; went down to the 3000 station; Frank Hammond, shiftboss, told Williams and me to stay there to see if we could find deceased; they would go up the shaft with the cage and if we found him to ring six bells for the cage; could not see anything on the 3000 and went to the bottom–into the sump–found deceased in about five or six feet of water; brought him out and put him on the center piece, and went to the 3000 level and rang six bells for the cage; the other men came down on the cage, and we went to the top with the body. If deceased had been standing on the crosshead of the skip he would have been, in my opinion, safer; men rode there before the bonnet was put on the skip; now they cannot ride there; I think it safer, however, to have the bonnet on; it protects persons in the skip from things falling down the shaft. Have been mining 9 years, and 4½ years on this lode; cannot think of anything which could have been provided by the company which would have prevented this accident.

J. H. Williams testified: Was with McPherson in the search for the body of deceased; have heard his testimony; have nothing to add thereto; can corroborate it.

Nicholas Williams testified: Am engineer at the Jacket; was on duty at the time of the accident; went on at 10:30; accident happened about 15 minutes later; had done no hoisting; double cage, south compartment, was on top; skip was on the bottom; got three bells on the skip; was hoisting very slow because I expected these men were about ready to go down the south compartment; nothing had happened to make me thing anything was wrong; soon as I got the three bells and the clutches were right I started up slowly; when the skip got about to the 2700 I stopped it till the men in the south compartment got ready to go down; we clutched in and started to run double, the skip up and the cage down, and when about 150 or 200 feet I felt the skip catch something; shut off my steam and applied the footbrake; stopped it as quick as I could, hung the skip there on the brake; unclutched from it and hoisted the men in the south compartment to the surface again; told them that the skip had struck between the 2300 and 2500 and for them to look out for it as they went down and see what was the matter; lowered them down about to the 2400 and stopped them; after a little I got two bells; lowered these men then to the 3000 level; when the men came up they said that the skip was bottom side up; have heard since that a pumpbob broke; this was not known at the time of the accident.

Thomas Howard, brakeman, confirmed the evidence of Mr. Williams.

Captain Taylor was recalled and testified that after he had been called he asked the pump engineer what was wrong with the pump; he said the engine had made a number of revolutions and then stopped on the half stroke; he supposed the lack of steam kept her from coming up and making a full stroke; he then turned on more steam and commenced to work her by hand; found he could not move her and stopped, thinking something was wrong; told Mr. Bent, the pumpman, who had just come up the shaft, that something was wrong; Bent said he had just come up and everything was all right; Bent had started down again before I got to the building; the pump cage stopped about 40 feet above No. 7 bob and that it in some way obstructed the skip shaft; in a short time Mr. Bent came up and said the nose of No. 7 bob was broken off and that the long connections between the rod and nose of the bob–the east one–had fallen over and torn out a dividing—a center piece in the shaft; that the skip was hanging in the shaft out of the guides and dumped; these connections are about eighteen feet long and an inch thick and six inches wide; the eye had broken of the east one and it had fallen over and pushed out the center piece as the pump hade the upstroke and broke the guide, and when the skip came up this break threw it over against the wallplate and dumped it.

Edward P. A. Pyne, pumpman of the mine, confirmed the superintendent's testimony as to the cause of the accident; the welding of one of the straps was defective; that caused it to break and that caused the accident; no one can be blamed for it, unless it is the man who welded the straps; the straps had all been tested by fire to see if any defect existed in them.

[This weld was made below–sort of jumped together and poorly done at that. It was a like defect which broke the bobs at the Union shaft when the pumps were started there.–REP.]

The jury on the foregoing evidence found that Pollard's death was accidental and that "said accident was caused by the breaking of one of the straps at bob No. 7 in the Yellow Jacket shaft, and we further find that no blame attaches to any of the officers or employees of said mine therefore."

Page 12

THE EVENING NEWS

SATURDAY, : : : : : JULY 1Y, 1880

THE JACKET ACCIDENT.

INQUEST LAST EVENING ON THE
BODY OF POLLARD.

Full Particulars of the Cause of
the Accident–The Testimony of
the Witnesses and the Verdict
of the Jury.

At 5 o'clock last evening Coroner Brodek held an inquest as to the death of Wm. S. Pollard and the cause of the Yellow Jacket accident night before last.

Captain G. G. Taylor, Superintendent, testified: The shaft of the mine has three compartments; the north is a pumping compartment, the center one a working compartment in which a skip runs and is where the accident happened, and the south a working compartment with a cage. At 11 o'clock last night I was called up and told the skip was inverted in the shaft near No. 7 bob–about 2400 feet down–and that they were afraid that Wm. Pollard had been thrown from it. The machinery was in good condition; is always kept so; the accident was no doubt occasioned by the breakage of No. 7 bob. There is a bonnet on the skip now and Pollard could not ride on the crossbar; if he had been riding on the crossbar, there would have been some chance for him to have been saved. As it was, when the skip upset he was thrown out. The bonnet is to protect men from things falling in the shaft. The skip hung in the shaft outside the guides.

James Kelly testified: Work at the Yellow Jacket; there were five of us working at the time of the accident–Felix Boyle, Phil McDavitt, Mike McCormick and Tom Keeley; were working in a drift from the south compartment at the bottom of the shaft; when we went to work nothing was out of the way; the cage ran smoothly; as we finished loading the skip some splinters came down the shaft and we remarked among ourselves that they were blasting on the 1200; but even that would not keep deceased from going up; he gave three bells, and just then something hit the bonnet of the skip, and I remarked for him to get under the bonnet, and he said: "That's where I am;" just then the skip went up; it was not more than two or three minutes, as I should judge, before a lot of rock and debris of all kinds came down the shaft, and we ran back into the drift; did not know what had happened; I thought something of the pump gave way; in a few minutes looked into the center shaft and saw somebody's clothes hanging on a wall plate; Phil McDevitt pulled them in, and I saw they were Pollard's; picked them up; came to the conclusion that there was an accident at the shaft; didn't know what; it was four or five minutes between the signal to hoist and the falling of the debris; did not think anything wrong when the splinters fell; thought blasts at the 1200 had knocked off the lagging; deceased had been working in the mine at least twenty months; have often seen chips, shavings and splinters fall when nothing was wrong; Pollard has laid off some since he has been working at the Jacket; had been on a week or ten days when the accident occurred.

Walter Cobb testified: Am undertaker in Gold Hill and took charge of Pollard's remains; deceased was aged 19 years, 10 months and 8 days; was born in California; he died of injuries received at the Jacket shaft last night.

T. H. Keeley testified: Was working at the Yellow Jacket shaft at the time of the accident; was south of the south compartment at the bottom; nothing was wrong with the machinery when deceased got on the skip that I could see; noticed after coming out from where I was working that four or five slivers of wood from one to six inches long came down and struck on the bonnet of the skip. I remarked that the boys at 1200 had blasted and bursted a lagging; then went back and helped fill a wheel-barrow, which finished our spell inside, and came out into the south Compartment of the shaft; sat down for probably two minutes, and some heavy body struck some 612 timbers about nine feet over my head; I then ran into the face of the drift as fast as I could and considerable rock fell into the shaft; the remark was made that something had "gone up" in the shaft–i. e., given away–and the probability was that Billy had "gone in"–i. e., got killed.

Philip McDeavitt testified" Was working in the Yellow Jacket at the time of the accident; have heard the testimony of the two preceding witnesses; can tell nothing more; can only corroborate their testimony.

On cross-examination by a juror, this witness testified that the deceased could have got off the skip after ringing the bells to hoist; it is not safe, but we do it often; I have frequently done it; we take our chances; I should not have got off on account of the falling of slivers.

Daniel McPherson testified: Was going on shift at the time of this accident; started down the south compartment as usual at changing of shifts; went down to the 3000 station; Frank Hammond, shiftboss, told Williams and me to stay there to see if we could find deceased; they would go up the shaft with the cage and if we found him to ring six bells for the cage; could not see anything on the 3000 and went to the bottom–into the sump–found deceased in about five or six feet of water; brought him out and put him on the center piece, and went to the 3000 level and rang six bells for the cage; the other men came down on the cage, and we went to the top with the body. If deceased had been standing on the crosshead of the skip he would have been, in my opinion, safer; men rode there before the bonnet was put on the skip; now they cannot ride there; I think it safer, however, to have the bonnet on; it protects persons in the skip from things falling down the shaft. Have been mining 9 years, and 4½ years on this lode; cannot think of anything which could have been provided by the company which would have prevented this accident.

J. H. Williams testified: Was with McPherson in the search for the body of deceased; have heard his testimony; have nothing to add thereto; can corroborate it.

Nicholas Williams testified: Am engineer at the Jacket; was on duty at the time of the accident; went on at 10:30; accident happened about 15 minutes later; had done no hoisting; double cage, south compartment, was on top; skip was on the bottom; got three bells on the skip; was hoisting very slow because I expected these men were about ready to go down the south compartment; nothing had happened to make me thing anything was wrong; soon as I got the three bells and the clutches were right I started up slowly; when the skip got about to the 2700 I stopped it till the men in the south compartment got ready to go down; we clutched in and started to run double, the skip up and the cage down, and when about 150 or 200 feet I felt the skip catch something; shut off my steam and applied the footbrake; stopped it as quick as I could, hung the skip there on the brake; unclutched from it and hoisted the men in the south compartment to the surface again; told them that the skip had struck between the 2300 and 2500 and for them to look out for it as they went down and see what was the matter; lowered them down about to the 2400 and stopped them; after a little I got two bells; lowered these men then to the 3000 level; when the men came up they said that the skip was bottom side up; have heard since that a pumpbob broke; this was not known at the time of the accident.

Thomas Howard, brakeman, confirmed the evidence of Mr. Williams.

Captain Taylor was recalled and testified that after he had been called he asked the pump engineer what was wrong with the pump; he said the engine had made a number of revolutions and then stopped on the half stroke; he supposed the lack of steam kept her from coming up and making a full stroke; he then turned on more steam and commenced to work her by hand; found he could not move her and stopped, thinking something was wrong; told Mr. Bent, the pumpman, who had just come up the shaft, that something was wrong; Bent said he had just come up and everything was all right; Bent had started down again before I got to the building; the pump cage stopped about 40 feet above No. 7 bob and that it in some way obstructed the skip shaft; in a short time Mr. Bent came up and said the nose of No. 7 bob was broken off and that the long connections between the rod and nose of the bob–the east one–had fallen over and torn out a dividing—a center piece in the shaft; that the skip was hanging in the shaft out of the guides and dumped; these connections are about eighteen feet long and an inch thick and six inches wide; the eye had broken of the east one and it had fallen over and pushed out the center piece as the pump hade the upstroke and broke the guide, and when the skip came up this break threw it over against the wallplate and dumped it.

Edward P. A. Pyne, pumpman of the mine, confirmed the superintendent's testimony as to the cause of the accident; the welding of one of the straps was defective; that caused it to break and that caused the accident; no one can be blamed for it, unless it is the man who welded the straps; the straps had all been tested by fire to see if any defect existed in them.

[This weld was made below–sort of jumped together and poorly done at that. It was a like defect which broke the bobs at the Union shaft when the pumps were started there.–REP.]

The jury on the foregoing evidence found that Pollard's death was accidental and that "said accident was caused by the breaking of one of the straps at bob No. 7 in the Yellow Jacket shaft, and we further find that no blame attaches to any of the officers or employees of said mine therefore."