CASUALTIES.
John Harcus, whose death we announced yesterday, was employed in the Golden Bar Company’s quartz mine, Dunback. Harcus was about twenty-five years of age, and a single man. It seems that he was handling dynamite at the magazine, when it suddenly exploded. The parents of the deceased live at Macraes. -Evening Star, 25/11/1903.
An inquest touching the death of John Harcus, who was killed at the Golden Bar mine at Stoneburn, Macraes, on Tuesday last, was held at Macraes on Wednesday. Mr Cunningham, in giving evidence, stated that he was in a cross-cut at the time of the accident, and saw deceased a good distance away pass down the main tunnel. Shortly afterwards he heard a loud explosion, and found a lot of grit forced into his eyes. He proceeded to the main tunnel for the purpose of washing his eyes, when he found the deceased lying dead, his body being fearfully mangled. It was stated that the men in the mine work singly in different directions, and when they have a place prepared for a dynamite shot they proceed to the magazine and help themselves and fire off the dynamite. Shots go off at any time during the day, and the other men take no notice. It was thought that deceased went for a plug of dynamite, and was doing something to it when it went off, exploding the other plugs in the magazine. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased came to his death by an explosion of dynamite; that there was no evidence to show how the explosion occurred; and that no blame was attachable to anyone. -Otago Daily Times, 28/11/1903.
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