Tragedy Strikes the Newcastle Coal Mine
A collapse of rock at the Newcastle mine resulted in the death of one miner and left another injured, just months after the victim's marriage.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A serious accident occurred in the Newcastle mine near Coal Creek yesterday, resulting in the death of one man and painful injuries to another. While F. Fournier and William Hann were working to timber the entrance to a newly opened fifth level, a large block of rock weighing approximately fifteen tons fell, trapping them beneath the debris. Fournier was crushed against an open keg of spikes, suffering a broken neck, leg, and wrist, and died shortly after being removed. Hann suffered a broken leg but is expected to recover. Fournier was a popular figure in the camp, having lived there for over a decade and recently married. Deputy Coroner Carroll conducted an inquest into the accident last night.
“A large block of rock, probably fifteen tons, fell with a crash, burying the unfortunate men.”
Mining fatalities were a frequent, tragic cost of the region's industrial growth. Today, this location is the site of Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, masking the dangerous, heavy-industrial history that defined the lives of early coal miners in the area.
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