Editing .MTA1.MTQ2NTE

40.

The foreman reported it to me and I went down in the mines and dismissed him myself; sent him home.

Q: Do you know of any prosecutions for this kind ofthing in this Province?

A: Yes. They have prosecuted quite a number in the Fernie.

Q: For opening lamps?

A: For carrying matches, tobacco, and pipes. They will do it.

Q: Do you know anything at all about the mule driver?

A: No, I don't know anything about him.

By a Juror:-Where was the lamp found marked "A"?

A: In No.6 near the face, very near the seat of the explosion; I would say about nine or ten yards from the face.

Q: The Chinaman a few minutes ago said that the lamp was handed to him unlocked by his boss. Was that boss a Chinaman?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you suppose a whiteminer woud do the same thing?

A: Yes.

Q: Hand a lamp to a Chinaman, unlocked?

A: Yes, he would do the same. That man Law may have handed the lamp to his helper unocked after he opened it himself.

Q: It is not against the Rules of the Coal mines Regulation Act to have those lamps down the mines unlocked?

A: No, not along the shaft except gas is expected. It is all open lamps used along there.

Q: Can these lamps be unlcoked with a nail or a piece of wood?

A: Yes. I think so; two nails if you press them tightly.

By Mr. Hall:- About that open lamp. Mr. Matthews, to whom do you suppose that would belong?

A: I couldn't tell.

Q: The driver wouldn't have an open lamp?

A: Oh yes, the open lamp belonged to the driver .

Q: I suppose you know the driver?

A: No, I didn't know him.

Q: I suppose you know that he died between two and three o'clock that morning after leaving the mine?

A: He died the next day, I think.

Q: Are you aware that his hand and face were burnt?

A: No, I saw them come up, but didn't know one from the other.

Q: If his hands and face were burnt, which I think can be proven, how do you account for his being out of the area in which the law says a person must not be with a naked light?

A: That is easily explained.

Q: Of course I am a greenhorn and would like to know. I am simply seeking for information and these things may be easily explained?

A: Well, I'll tell you and I think you will be satisfied. The flame travels some distance, for half a mile in some mines. Now, that mule was standing evidently at the bottom of No.6 or No.5, and the level is say five and a half feet high, leading off from the level. The mule was standing there just as I say. I examined him next day, and I found he is burnt a certain height, which is the very height of the entrance from the main level. He has a mark from about six inches above his nose all along down the back part showing that the flame came down the stall and all along that side where the mule was standing heading outwards as the mules all are. You will see that the flame came down the level and burnt the mule on the level, for for it is impossible for a mule to go into the stalls. It is an absolute certainty that the man and the mule got burnt there, This man was likely sitting on a board there, a nice comfortable seat, I can assure you, and it is because he was sitting there that he got burnt. He was sitting down, must have been sitting down, because the mule was not burnt at the top of his head. just own place along the side, like a high water mark. If that man had been standing his face would not have been burnt probably.