CRUSHED TO DEATH.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 305, 18 September 1908, Page 8

CRUSHED TO DEATH.

THE FATE OF SEVEN MINERS. A MOUNT MORGAN TRAGEDY. (from our stecial correspondent.) Sydney, September 9. Tho first big .tragedy in the history of the Mount Morgan Mine, in Queensland, occurred on Saturday evening last, when seven men were killed by a fall of rock in one of tho copper ore chambers at the 850 ft. level, up to that timo regarded as one of tho safest places in tho mine. Tho men who lost their lives wore: —James Guthrie, better known as Jameson, machino man; Joseph Leishmann, platelayer; Henry Hillyard, machino man; Samuel Jory, machine man; Thomas Ryan, trucker; Sydney Sheppard, platelayer; W. Gierke, trucker. Tho accident happened about 6.30 p.m., during the afternoon shift, which begins at 3.30 o'clock, and ends at 11 o'clock. About 30 men were working in the No. 4 drive. Leishmann and an assistant were laying plates to make a way for trucks, and tho machines wore closo to the face. Shortly before five o'clock, one of the contractors, James Sutherland, was struck on the forehead with a hammer while tightening a block of a machine; and was so severely injured that he had to be assisted to the surface and taken home. Another man, Higgins, stopped work in order to help him away in the cage, and Guthrie accordingly descended to take Higgins's place, and was thus amongst tho killed. As a matter of fact, Guthrie did not belong to the afternoon shift at all, but agreed to take the place of a man who was engaged in a boxing contest that night. Just prior to the accident, three of tho men had taken a rock-drill steel to where the shovellers, or truckers, were standing, waiting at the trucks. In' the next moment the great mass of rock fell, and forced out the air so suddenly that the candles were extinguished. Tho men working in the other parts of the level were startled by a sudden sharp rumbling, and, turning, wore just in time to see, to their horror, the huge mass, estimated at about 3000 tons weight, falling on their comrades. With terrible suddenness, and with tho completeness of an avalanche, the rock swept down, crushing the lives out of the unfortunate men, and closing in on the dead wall, so that if anyone of them had chanced to escape so far, he could not hare | gono any further in that direction. There were several narrow escapes. One man/ William Chardon, having como in with the rockdrill steel, was moving away again at the time of the fall, and was just clear of tho falling rock. The shock prostrated him. Rescue operations were begun as soon as possible, and continued through the night. It was amply evident, however, from ono glance at the heap of rock, that none of tho seven men could possibly have escaped death. About half-past three o'clock on Sunday morning, after a great quantity of debris and rocks had been cleared away, Sheppard's body was found, and near it those of Leishmann and Guthrie. Two hours and a half later, three other bodies, those of Jory, Hillyard, and Gierke, were recovered. It was about six o'clock on Sunday evening, when the last body, that of Ryan, was found. Death was apparently instantaneous in each case. The bodies were terribly battered about. Two-had to be brought to the surfaco in bags, for they had been literally cut to pieces. Leishmann's head and face were so disfigured that it was only possible to identify him by a pieco of his moustache and his hat. f

Five of the seven men wero married. These wore Hillyard, who leaves a widow and two children; Guthrie, who also loaves a widow and two children; Leishmann, a widow and ono child; and Jory and Gierko, who leave no family. Leishmann ;was a member of the Rockhampton Contingent, which went to South Africa. Tho news of- the , .accident: ca"used the greatest oxcitement in Mount Morgan. All tho hotels closed their doors, and crowds thronged the streets. The newspaper offices at Rockhampton wero besieged by people anxious to learn the latest details. Upon the recovery of tho seventh body, the mine was closed. Thousands of persons visited the place on Sunday; but the mine officials declined to allow anyono near the scone of the accident. Tho fall was really a slide, the wall and roof above being left as smooth as glass. Its cause can only be surmised, but one reasonable theory attributes it to the constant blasting operations, which have loosened the rock. This ground has been worked "upon what is known as the chamber system, which consists in taking out tho ore in long chambers, in panels 00ft. wide, and then making what arc termed "pigstyes" to hold tho mullock that is put in position to replace tho depleted ore. On the 850 ft. level there arc three of these chambers, about 400 ft. in length. Although the. place .where the ore has been taken out looks' like a huge cavern, the system, whore the ground is sure and solid, has always been considered perfectly safe under ordinary conditions. The men were working 011 what is called the second cut in the chamber when tho rock slipped. The pigstye had t been carried almost up to the face, and in a few days would have been completed, when the accident could not have occurred. Already about 120,000 tons of ore havo been removed from this level without any fall having taken place. There wore plenty of volunteers for the reseuo work. Tho men wore employed in relays, and the ore passed out | from hand to hand, this being a quicker method than trucking it. Pieces had to bk broken with hammers; and some were so huge that they had to be shattered by dynamite before they could be removed. This was dono by pasting the dynamite on to the rock with pieces of clay and exploding it. Tile first body seen, that of Sheppard, was visible for an hour or two before the great mass of rock resting upon it could 'be completely dislodged. At the funeral of the victims, on Monday, hundreds of people formed a procession froni the hospital morgue to tho railway station, through the streets of Mount' Morgan. All the business places were closed till after midday. The coffins containing tho remains of Ryan, Hillyard, Gierke, and Sheppard wore placed on a train and taken to Gympie for interment. The remains of Guthrie, Jory, and Leishmann were interred in the Mount Morgan cemetery. The cortege was headed by the Mount Morgan Brass Band, playing "Tho Dead March," and the boys of the local school were lined up in the playground, and stood with heads uncovered as the procession passed. There was a lorryload of flowers, including wreaths from the Minister for Mines, the Mines Department, tho directors and officers of the mine, and leading citizens. ■ Sheppard, one of the men killed, attended his father's funeral at Gympie only about a week ago, and left work at Mount Morgan for that purpose, returning to his duties at tho mine only on tho Sunday before 110 himself met death. Ho was about 31 years of ago, and son of tho late Mr. S. Sheppard, a well-known sharebroker at Gympie. Hillyard, who was a native of Gympie, was about 33 years of age. His children, two boys, are only four and two years old respectively. Samuel Jory, who was born in Cornwall, had been for about 12 years at Gympie before he wpnt to Mount Morgan last Christmas. Gierke, a well-known minor was only about two months at Mount Morgan. Ryan, the youngest of the victims, was only 20 years old and left Gympio last month for Mount Morgan.