FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE CROWN PRINCE MINE.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1811, 12 May 1874, Page 3

FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE CROWN PRINCE MINE.

At about 6 o'clock yesterday morning a

fataL accident,- occurred in the Crown 01 Prince mine, which resulted in the suffo- ai cation by carbonic acid gas of a miner w named Edmund Trautmann, a German, It appears that Trautmann, feeling faint, Sl was pulled up by his mates out of the u winze on No. 2 reef in which he was, working, and' proceeded, through' the j level-to ascend the shaft. It'would ap- „ pear that either from pressing necessity Cl or some other cause, he did not go up the j.] shaft, ,but placing his' candle alongside a another which was burning inthecham : a ber, he jumped down on the lower plat, which is about six feet under the cham- j, ber, and is used as a place to which to jj tip quartz or load the buckets. It was c an unfortunate error that he did not take c his candle, with him, for this would have at once shown him that the lower cham- f ( ber was full of deadly carbonic acid gas, e but it would appear' that he did ] not discover his error'until he sat down. ■He > appears then to have c made a rash for the ladder way, j. but fell aoross the bucket, after which he r musthave Wt all consciousness, for half- rj an-hour after he was discovered by the j foreman of shift, Eichard Mitchelson, who t had gone in search of him in consequence s of having been told by his mate, Jtiobert McCormick, of the length of time he had ] beenaway. Mitchelson gave the alarm, ■ and he jumped into the shaft at.one side, while McCormick jumped down at the ( other. Both their candles went put, and j they climbed up the one on the ladder, ( and the other on the bucket chain, to get ( 'a breath'of pure air, for the gas had 1 reached their mouths and they were ] almost suffocated. Tliey made another ( plunge and reaohed the body, which, with ] assistance, they brought to _ the upper , plat. JLife was then quite extinct. How-, j ever, la messenger went for Dr. Leth- . bridge and* for the mine, manager, Mr Beeohe, both of whom arrived soon after, but poor.Trautmann was past, medical iid. The deceased was amongst the first who came to the Thames ; goldfield, and he has experienced strange vicissitudes. In the early' history 'of the field he was - o'ne' of the two shareholders in the Little Duffer claim, at the bottom of the Moanataiari creek, which is now included in theTookey. He was afterwards a shareholder in the Just-in-Time prior to its amalgamation with the Golden Calf. He leaves a wife, who is in very delicate health, and four young children to mourn his untimely end. ' CORONER'S INQUEST. An inquest was held at noon at the Brian Bom Hotel, Pollen-street, Grahamstown, before Dr. Kilgour,,Coroner, and a jury, of whom Mr Kobert Comer was chosen foreman; The jury having viewed the .body, the following evidence was taken. Dr. Lethbridge deposed: I was called about 7 o'clock this morning to an acci- , dent at the Crown' Prince claim. I ex,t amined the body of Edward Trautmann. He was quite dead. There were _ no marks upon the body except a slight bruise on the right temple, and there had been bleeding from the nose. Since then I have made a post-mortem examination of the body. I found the right lung healthy, the left lung, on the contrary, seemed considerably diseased. There s were pleural adhesions over the whole surface, and the lung substance was much engorged throughout. The bronchi were also much inflamed and filled with frothy mucus. The heart was small and deficient in muscular strength, but otherwise healthy; I could not detect anything wrong with; the other viscera of the body. I'also made a careful examination of the •i spine, but there \yas no fracture nor dislocation. The bruise on, the forehead, appears insignifioant. The other, lpg /■;' wsjoarcejy engorged at all, The, Qau.se

of death appears to me to be asphyxia, which possibly was accompanied or preceded by syncope, to which the condition of his left lung would contribute considerably. At this stage Captain Goldsmith produced a plan of the workings, upon which he pointed out the workings and t the position of the body when found.. 'Boberfc McCormick deposed: lama miner working in the Crown Prince. I went to work at 12 o'clock last night. Deceased was working with me on No. 2 reef in No. 3 winze. After having supper about 6 o'clock this morning, deceased asked me to heave him up the winze. I 'did • so, and - he went out. I don't know where. Another man named Ashby came along about half an hour after to where I was blowing the fan. I asked him if he had seen my mate, and he said no. He and another were timber down the new shaft. I asked the other man, but he had not seen him. I got rather uneasy, and was about to go in search of him when Richard Mitchekon came along. I told him then, I continued at the fan, and he went along the level to. look for the deceased. Mitchelson came back running, and called me out to the chamber.. We called all the men around to help to get deceased up. I jumped down at the south, end of the shaft, and Mitchelson in the other. I jußt got. a glimpse of the body lying across the bucket with his trowsers loosed down., ,My. light then went out. I went through'" under the centre. The gas was level with the. chamber.' I kept my head up as well as I could, and reached down I caught the leg of his trousers, which I did not let go until the body was brought up on the platform.- I could do no more on account of the gas, which reached to my chin, level with the platform. I was quite weakened by the gas, and had as much as I could do to get out of it. In fact had I not kept my toad above it I should have been lying where deceased is. I got to the top, and at the request of Mr Mitchelson went for Dr Lethbridge aud Mr Beeche. I went back into the chamber again. The gas was then three feet lower. I, then saw that deceased had obeyed a call of nature in the chamber.

By the jury: I don't know of anything having been thrown down the shaft from the time I went • until I returned. I never felt any gas in the chamber before. I was only in the chamber on Friday , night. I was then there, five times, but felt none. I have heard that : there was occasionally a little in it. Bichard Mitchelson deposed: I work as miner in the Crown Prince, and was there this morning. I came out of the' No. 3 level for a oandle atabout between five, and sir o'clock. I saw McCormick turning a fan on No. 2 level. He asked me if,l had seen anything of his mate. I said no, and asked where he had gone to.. He said he had been gone about half-an-hour; that he went away from the winze, and said he was going to ease himself, and he (McCormick) thought of looking in some of the old winzes to see if he had fallen down. I went at once to the shaft where I saw the deceased lying down in the lower plat across the bucket. I called the men at once. McCormick jumped down one side of the shaft, and I the other. My candle went out, and I called to McCormick that there was gas in the chamber to look out for himself. I held on to the ladder and caught McCormick, who 'I thought was failing, but he caught the bucket chain and lifted himself above the gas. We then got a breath of fresh air, and eot down into the gas again and picked

up the deceased, and with the help of Ashby we got him into the top chamber. Deceased was then quite dead the body was warm, but the arms were getting cold. The gas would be three feet over the deceased sitting as he was to obey a call of nature. I sent for the doctor and the manager. .. By the Jury: Deceased had a candle, but did not take it into the lower cham-

ber. He apparently left it in the upper chamber. There was no out on deceased's forehead that I could see when he was taken'up out of the mine. The fanners from their position would have no effect at all on the gas in the chamber. They only bear on the winzes. William Ashby corroborated the preceding testimony, so far as it came under his own observation. He assisted in raising, deceased to the higher plat. There is a closet on the top. He never knew any person to go into this ohamber to''ease himself. They usually went to the surface to the closet. ■

John B. Beeche, manager of the Crow n Prince mine, was sworn: He said they drew the stuff out of the lower chamber on Saturday, and emptied it on Saturday, and the gas must have accumulated between that and Monday. He had frequently known gas to be there on Monday mornings, and he cautioned the men very often about going into any place without keeping the candle under them as a safeguard against gas. Deceased has been platman in the mine, but wi> ness could not say whether he was careful or otherwise; he had not been long working under him. He was sure if deceased had taken a candle with him into the lower chamber it would have protected him against this fatal accident. He must have gone down in the dark so as not to be seen. The jury returned a verdict " That deceased was accidentally killed by'inhaling gas in the lower chamber of the Crown Prince mine."