Edward Lutey

ACCIDENT NO. 27 — April 12, 1904. - - Occurred at the No. 2 shaft of the Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, causing the death of Edwin Lutey, employed as underground watchman and sprinkler. He was either struck by the descending skip or fell down the shaft from the 18th to the 27th level. An inquest was held before Coroner Fisher.

Anton Cesaro, being duly sworn, testified as follows: “I work in No. 2 shaft, Calumet Mine, as sprinkler. My beat is from the 12th to the 18th level. I know the deceased, saw him last night at the 18th level. His beat is from the 6th to the 12th level. He is a sprinkler in the same shaft as I. He came down to the 18th level a little after 9 o'clock last night, and we sat there on a plank until about eleven o'clock. He got up and went toward the shaft. I did not watch him. I was not facing the shaft. I glanced toward the shaft a moment after he left me, and saw him take a step and then disappear. Could not see his light, got up and went to the shaft, but could not see him. I went down the shaft and found his skull cap, knew then he must have fallen down the shaft. The skip came down just after he had left me. I went down the shaft and had the skip stopped. His skull cap was just below the 18th level; found his boots further down. There was blood on them. I found his body fifteen or twenty feet below the 27th level, with his head down and feet up. The skip was right above when he left me go to the shaft. The plank we were sitting on was on the south side of the shaft. The ladder road is south of the skip track. It was not necessary for him to cross the skip road to get to the ladders. I do not know whether the skip struck him and knocked him in the shaft or whether he fell in.”

Charles E. Bastrom, being duly sworn, testified as follows: “I work for the Calumet & Hecla Company at No. 2 shaft, as sprinkler. I worked there last night. My beat is from the 19th to 24th level. Anton Cesaro came down to where I was, to the 23rd level, and told me to stop the skip as one of our partners was down the shaft. I rang the bell to stop the skip and then went down the shaft. Cesaro went down the skip road and I went down the ladder road. He got to the body first about twenty feet below the 27th level. The body was between the two rails, with the head down and feet up. We then brought the body to surface."

Verdict of the Jury: “We, the jury, upon our oaths do say, we find the said Edwin Lutey came to his death on the 12th day of April, 1904, in No. 2 shaft, Calumet Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, probably at the 18th level, either by falling in the shaft and being run over by the skip, or being struck by the skip."

Edward Lutey U.S. City Directories Residence 1898 - Bds 262 Rockland, Calumet, Michigan, USA Occupation Sprinkler

Excerpt from: 'Calumet Copper and People'--
In 1904, when they buried thirty-two-year-old Edwin Lutey, who had come to Calumet in 1892 from Pennsylvania, and died in an accident at No. 2 Calumet shaft, leaving a wife and six children, a Cornish choir, directed by Richard Liddicoat, sang funeral hymns as family and friends followed pallbearers carrying the corpse to the church.