Chung Chi
As part of the Chinese Historical Wrongs Legacy Initiative, we’ve digitized a small selection of inquests and inquiries from 1872 to 1934, found in series GR-0431. These were chosen to reflect the experiences of early Chinese immigrants to B.C. – their living and working conditions, and their unfortunate accidental or unusual deaths. They range from a woman working in a brothel in Barkerville who died of natural causes to three sawmill workers who died from malnutrition. Learn more.
*All transcriptions are provided by volunteers, and the accuracy of the transcriptions is not guaranteed. Please be sure to verify the information by viewing the image record, or visiting the BC Archives in person.
*Please note that archival source materials are original historical documents that have not been censored, reviewed or otherwise altered by the Royal BC Museum. Some materials may contain content that is racist, sexist or otherwise offensive. The Royal BC Museum is only the custodian of archival materials; the content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Royal BC Museum.
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29.
Richard Henry Hodson. Sworn :-
BY Mr. Potts : - You live at Union?
A: Yes.
Q: And your occupation is a miner?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you assist in the rescue of the Chinese killed in No.6 on the evening of the 15th of July?
A: I was one of the party.
Q: What part did you take?
A: I helped to take out the bodies.
Q: Did you make an examination of the mine?
A: Not particularly.
Q: Did you notice anything there particularly?
A: I noticed some caves on the road; three or four little caves on the roads.
Q: Whereabouts?
A: There was one cave on the main level.
Q: Were you in the Second South Level?
A: I don't know whether it was in the Second South Level or not; it was the first time I was in. It was where the explosion was anyhow.
Q: There was a cave there?
A: Yes, in the 2nd South.
Q: Did you find any lamps?
A: I saw one or two laying around.
Q: Were they locked?
A: I never examined them.
Q: How was the ventilation?
A: When I first went in, it was not very good.
Q: What time did you go in?
A: I don't know exactly the time. I went in there and helped to take out one of them Chinamen that was alive. Took him to the top and then went back. and in the meantime the curtains had been put up.
Q: Did you look around for any evidence of anything shewing the cause of the explosion?
A: No.
Q: You didn't see any matches or anything?
A: It would have been impossible to see any matches unless you searched the bodies.
Q: Did you find any pit lamps?
A: I believe I did see a pit lamp on the level somewhere.
Q: How far away from the explosion?
A: I should judge about 70 years, but it is hard to say.
Q: Was it in the return airway?
A: No, it was right on the level. The air was coming in the level at that time.
Q: Were you able to form any opinion as to the cause of the explo- sion?
A: Well no; from all that I saw it was my opinion that it was a gas explosion, but how it was cause I could not say.
By a Juror: - Explosions are liable to occur to both whitemen and Chinamen. Do you think it possible that the same explosion would have occurred if there had been nothing but whitemen in there?
A: Well, that is a pretty hard question to answer.
Q: Do you think that Chinamen take the same precautions for safety as whitemen?
A: I don't know; some may and some may not. Some whitemen do not take all necessary precautions. The Chinamen, I don't think are a class of men fitted for this class of work. I don't think they take all necessary precautions, for this reason: they don't know the danger there is; but then I've known lots of whitemen that really didn't understand the danger, and I think there should be a very heavy penalty for breaking the law.
BC Archives GR-0431 BRITISH COLUMBIA. ATTORNEY GENERAL. Box 6 File 3 Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia.