Vancouver Coal Company
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*Please note that archival source materials are original historical documents that have not been censored, reviewed or otherwise altered by the Royal BC Museum.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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19 James Malpass recalled To Juryman The middle of my place was nine yards and the thickness of the pillars was nine yards or ten yards. Then was that thickness of coal between my stall and the vacant me. There was no gas in the vacant stall at the time of the explosion as the cross cut had been put through to tap the air at the face. There was no work done at the face until the cross cut was put through. The air had to go through that state before it reached us in the stall. The cross cut was close to the face. The [?] man put in the stoppings in the cross cuts. Taken upon oath and acknowledged this 25th day of May in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight seven before me } James Malpass [Whymm strathern?] Cormer
David. B. Lewis Miner Nanaimo being duly sworn south. To Mr Eberts. I was working down the diagonal slope on the third of May last. I was working in the counter slope. I never had any difficulty with the air down there. It was good. I sometimes met a little gas but I worked with a naked light. It was not dusty. I was working partly in coal and partly in [?]. I was working in coal the day of the explosion. I have worked as a miner thirty seven years. I have never encountered a “blower” in the mines out here. Have encountered in the Old Country. Explosions and loss of life have been caused by them. The height of the coal where I was working was two feet ten inches and there were five feet ten inches of [?], making eight feet in all the height of the counter slope. I wasn’t very particular about what I [?amped] with as long is it was wet. He used