3rd Witness

John Dieh having been duly swon states. When I went down the mine at 11 o,clock on Tues- -day evening I found about 70 or 80 men in No. 10 level,a portion of them being in Martin's Stall which was full of smoke and there were some of the men carrying water & throwing it on the loose coal Around as they thought the fire was there, they worked at it for about an hour when they found out they were in error as the fire was discovered to be in Homes' heading & we could not approach it owing to the smoke & coal falling from the roof. I then went home & returned about 2o.clock and I staid about the slope until Mr Robert Dunsmuir arrived I went with him & had a look at the fire as by that time the air had cleared away the smoke, and he thought it would be advisable to start the steam pump, & he asked me to assist in getting the pipes ready which I did. While I was getting the pipes ready they had put up Curtain No. 3 & when I saw this Curtain I ex- pected gass would accumulate inside in No. 10 level. I got Dixon then to go inside this Curtain to see if

BC Archives GR-0431 BRITISH COLUMBIA. ATTORNEY GENERAL Box 2 File 6 Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia