3th Witness James Gillespie, having been duly sworn states, I am the Superintendent of the Mine on Newcastle Island. I was going to work on the morning of the 15th September about 10 minutes past 6 o’clock. I met George McPherson before I got to the mouth of the mine and he told me the mine had fried. I went down as quick as I could & met some of the men bring up Andrew Miller. I asked what was the matter & they replied that he had got burned & that there were some more men down below. I went on about 400 yards & met John Frame, Thos. [illegible] & William Egan. I then went farther down & found Thos. White & Alex Clarkson sitting on the slope who told me there were some more men down below. I asked them if they would go down with me to see where they were & they replied that they did not think we could go down. I then checked the air to find out if there was sufficient to enable us to go below & found that there was a good current of air. We three then proceeded

BC Archives, GR-0431 Box 1 File 7 / BRITISH COLUMBIA. ATTORNEY GENERAL. / Inquisitions / inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia.