MINING ACCIDENT.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXX, Issue 5113, 12 January 1874, Page 3

MINING ACCIDENT.

Tins (S ifiTil.iv ) afternoon, at about four o'clock, an jicndont oceuiml at the Bl.ick Angel mine to a unner, named Samuel Kaiittt, whoso L-»ciipo fioin iimtaut death is simply lnnaoulous. The man, with hia in\to, was wmking in tha now mam drive, wher- his shift and the fo'iner one had etnppcd a Ien o th of about 8ft. of the i\e£ up to three o'clock, lib was instructed by the manager to break down the lole, which ho proceeded to do, commencing from the inner end, where he picked away about 2ft. of it, and then drove two large eads at the bade of the lode. This, ofcuirse, loosened the qu.irtz off the wall, but it did not fall, it rcm unoil hanging from the loof. By tins time it was four o'clock, and the change of shifts waa taking place. Bairetr, iu stepping the lode, had found some specimens which ho was showin" to the boss of lho shift, anil pomhnj; out to him where they came from. He w a > then standing midway against tho hanging section of the leef, when suddenly, as ho w. is speaking, the mass fell. It w.*s about G 1 , feet arpre and 14 inches thick. It knocked him against the foot wall, and tho top of the hm>o slab leaned against tho wall over Ins htad, but crushed his bead somewhat against tho wall ; and, at the same tim ■, the boss of the shift to whom he was talk in,' was knocked back iulo the winze by the end of tho quartz mass. Providentially, indeed I might say miraculously, the quartz litld together. Had it collapsed the poor fellow would havo been ciushod into a shapeless nms. The manager aiid men at onoe went to his assistance, <vid their first care was to relieve bun as far as possible from the weight by placing long Blahs against the quaitz. Of course they dare not attempt to break tie inass to extricate him, but tho men acted promptly and widely in the matter. The manager took a Eefc of timbers out of the winze close by, and drove up under where Barrett was jammed, and after from one and a-half to two hour« work Id was allowed to drop u t>i the opening just made. Ho wai then insensible, »nrt was at once taken to the Hospital. Singular to say, his injaiks aro not very great, and there a-o no boues broken. H«a head is cut and his body qi-nerally bnmeii. His limbs al-o aro hruUo'i and cut — partiouJii 1\ the ri^'if arm, wh;Ji he is still unable to lift to his head, b.-t no doubt under the care aud titatmeut which he Will receive at the Hospital ho will 8)on be in a fuir way of recnviring frem the injuries he has sustained.— [Thames Corresnondc nr.]