The Gas Tester and the Widow: A Franklin Mine Death Goes to Trial
Elizabeth Pugh sued the Oregon Improvement Company for damages after her husband died in the Franklin mine. The defense spent a full day examining witnesses, including the mine's gas tester and a district inspector.
The suit of Elizabeth Pugh vs. the Oregon Improvement Company for damages for the death of her husband in the Franklin mine is being vigorously fought. Yesterday the defense consumed the entire day with the examination of six witnesses, one of whom, John Morgan, the gas tester, was in the box most of the time. David Edmunds, district inspector, was on the stand when the court adjourned. The other witnesses were Charles C. Todd, B. U. Hawkins, August Peterson and T. H. Corey. A large number of other witnesses were subpoenaed.
“The suit of Elizabeth Pugh vs. the Oregon Improvement Company for damages for the death of her husband in the Franklin mine is being vigorously fought.”
In the 1890s, a coal-mine death was often answered by a private lawsuit rather than a public safety investigation. The Pugh case—turning on the testimony of a gas tester and a district inspector—shows how workplace safety was fought out in courtrooms before modern regulators existed.
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