John Marshall et al
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*Please note that archival source materials are original historical documents that have not been censored, reviewed or otherwise altered by the Royal BC Museum.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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a barn on the right hand side of the road and a large frame house on the left hand side of the road, and on the left hand side of the house, there is two empty houses, and there we made a stop. Well, in this case the driver stopped the car, and took on a man called "Jim". Now, of course, the machine was all closed in, covered in. The driver reached back his hand to my door to open it, but the man told him he was all right, he was on the footboard, or got his head and shoulders in. Though I didn't see this man, I know he was standing on the foot board of the auto. He was standing on the footboard of the lefthand side of the machine coming towards Vancouver. We started up. When we were a short distance, threw her in high gear again. Now this piece of road, from the end of the plank road to the approach of the bridge, is very rough, fill of holes, just feels as though you had started, little jabs on your engine when you are hitting her.. He had the throttle down, on high gear, just scraping along slow. I could have jumped off. I could have jumped off that jitney in any part of that road. She went along that way until hitting the incline of the bridge. Went over that first bridge, about the same speed the jitneys run in the city, probably ten miles an hour or better. Then we hit the piece of road between the two bridges. Going over that piece of road he was very hit every bit cautious. He was also careful when he was approaching the second bridge. He just changed the gear of the engine. He didn't change his transmission, threw her in high gear to make the grade. That was the first time I spoke to Mr Smith in,- about the engine, I didn't think he was going to make it. I thought he would have to throw her into the second gear. I said "Is she going to make it George?" He says, "Sure". That was the only words spoken that I heard. Naturally when we got to the top of the grade, the engine then started to pick up speed, not so very quick, but it gradually got faster and faster. She was in high gear and the throttle open.