POISONED BY GAS.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18661, 13 June 1932, Page 8

POISONED BY GAS.

TWO MEN DEAD. IV UNDERGROUND MINE MANAGERS. I FATALITY ON WEST COAST. (Bj Telegraph.—Pres? Association.) WESTPORT, Sunday. Two underground managers at the Westport Coal Company’s Millerton mine were poisoned by gas behind a stopping in a fire area in the mine yesterday. The victims are:— Mr William Lowden, aged 41, married. Mr Joseph Edward Pfeffer, aged 43, married. Mr Lowden went in first and was gassed, and Mr Pfeffer, who went to his resuce, -suffered a similar fate. Later gas masks were obtained and the bodies of both men were recovered. Reports from Millerton disclose that Mr Pfeffer went to the mine with the intention of inserting a plug In a waterpipe behind a stopping erected with a view to holding in check or extinguishing a fire in that section of the mine. The stopping 1-s about 25fthigh. Mr Lowden then went through a manhole over the stopping, but apparently was quickly overcome by gas. Mr Pfeffer was sent for and. believing Mr Lowden was still alive, he went over to resuce him. Mr Pfeffer was affected by gas, and, deciding to return, signalled to the men on top. However, be was completely overcome by gas, released his hold on the rope, and fell to the bottom. A number of ment with gas masks later arrived on the scene and Mr James McArthur, mine manager from the Westport Coal Company’s Coa-1-brookdale mine descended to where the bodies of the two underground managers were lying and brought , them out. A gloom was cast over the mining townships, where both men were well known and held in high esteem. Mr Lowden was born in Durham, England, and arrived at Millerton 2? years -ago. He -leaves a wife and two 1 daughters. His parents and four brothers and five sisters still live in j England. Mr Pfeffer was a native of New South Wales, and came from there to the West Coast about four years ago. He is survived by a family of four boys and two girls.