Ah Hee
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.
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2nd Witness.
James Wilks having been duly sworn states, I was on the Cage with James Knight on the afternoon of Saturday the 30th May for the purpose of being hoisted up to the pit mouth, there is a standing regulation at the Mine that no greater number than four men shall get upon the Cage at one time, and I believe all the Chinamen employed are quite aware of this rule. There were two Chinamen on the Cage besides myself & James Knight and after the Cage was in motion upwards, James Knight having given the proper signal to the engineer, I saw the man Ah Hee make a spring & catch the cage with his hands, he hung for a few moments then he fell to the bottom of the pit a distance of 170 feet. James Knight & I went down immediately and found the man quite dead. I saw that his neck was broken & that he had other injuries.
James Wilks
Sworn before me at Nanaimo this 30th days of May 1874
James R Spalding Coroner
BC Archives, GR-0431 Box 1 File 5 / BRITISH COLUMBIA, ATTORNEY GENERAL. / Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia.