Giacomo Romano

ACCIDENT No. 35. — June 22. Occurred at the 39th level in No. 2 Shaft, Hecla branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine. James Romano was killed by rock falling on him.

An inquest was held before Coroner Fisher.

Joseph Terenahia testified as follows: "I am a timberman employed by the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co., at No. 2 Shaft. I know James Romano, have worked with him six or seven months and was with him when the accident occurred at the 39th level Saturday night. The first thing we did when we went to work was to cover over the north side of the Shaft and then we went to see what the south side looked like. There was a piece of timber 6x12 supporting some rock and we sent Richard Jacka for an axe to chop the timber out before blasting. While he was gone James Curto and myself examined the rock and sounded it and decided it would be safer to blast the whole thing out without cutting out the 6x12 timber. We got some planks to protect the air pipe and were putting them in place; had one plank up and Romano went to spike the end to keep it in place. While he was doing this the rock fell; the whole thing, timber and all, came away without any warning whatsoever and he had no chance to get away. The rock when we examined it did not sound very good but we thought the timber would hold it up until we covered the pipes to get ready for the blast. We had drilled a hole in the rock and the hole came away with the rock that fell.”

Richard Jacka testified as follows: "I was working with the timber gang at No. 2 Shaft in the 39th level Hecla Mine. When the accident happened, I was sent to get an axe to cut out the 6x12 timber and was on my way back when I saw the rock fall. I saw the rock before then and examined it and it seemed safe enough for us to blast. The timber was up against it; the hole was drilled in it about a foot. I had no idea it was going to fall; it came without any warning."

John Bennetts and James Curto testified as follows: "We worked Saturday night at the same place with the other witnesses and corroborate their testimony.”

Verdict — “ We, the jury, find that James Romano came to his death on the 22nd day of June, 1902, in No. 2 Shaft, at the 39th level, Hecla branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine by the accidental falling of vein rock. Can lay no blame to anyone.”