The Chute That Killed Black Diamond's Mine Superintendent
John Pritchard Sr., superintendent of the Denny Clay Company mine, died instantly when he was caught between a car and a chute underground.
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.
John Pritchard, Sr., superintendent of the Denny Clay Company's mine near Black Diamond, was instantly killed yesterday morning while riding through a gangway in the mine. He was on a car, and as it passed under a chute he lifted his hand and was caught between the car and the chute. His skull was fractured under the right ear, and death was instantaneous. Dr. D. K. Sloan, who was called, decided that death was purely accidental, and wired Coroner Horton to that effect. No inquest will be held.
John Pritchard was nearly 50 years old, and met death on the day his wife was 40 years old. He was born in England and came to Pennsylvania when a young man. At the age of ten he commenced work picking coal. He had the reputation of keeping his mine in the best possible condition at all times. He came to Seattle with his family about seven years ago, and was well known in Seattle as a well driver before the opening of the Denny mine, of which he was superintendent in full charge.
He leaves a widow and three sons, John, Joseph and Dick, and one daughter, Mrs. Mary McReady, of Black Diamond. Dick Pritchard used to run the steam track before the fire. The remains may be buried in Seattle, as Dick Pritchard has a lot in Lake View cemetery.
“He had the reputation of keeping his mine in the best possible condition at all times.”
Washington's coal mines were dangerous workplaces, and Pritchard's death was the kind of sudden industrial loss that could leave a family and a company town reeling. The Denny Clay Company mine is gone, but the region's extractive industries still carry the same human risks.
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