Henry Inch

Houghton County Mine Inspectors Report

Accident No. 3 - November 10. - An accident occurred at the 53rd level in No. 8 shaft, South Hecla branch of the Calumet & Hecla, by which Henry Thomas Inch lost his life by a fall of rock from the hanging side of the shaft. Inch with three others was employed to cut a plat. They had drilled and charged several holes and were waiting for the trammers to fill the car. Two of the party went up to the 52nd level leaving Inch and Thomas Osborn to set fire to the fuse. While waiting for the trammers to get out of the shaft Inch went to sit down. He had not been sitting but a short time before the rock fell. An inquest was held before Justice Fisher.

Thomas Osborn was the first witness and he testified as follows: "I am a miner and was working in the No.8 shaft South Hecla branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, at the 53rd level. I know the deceased; I had been working with him. I was standing near him at the time the accident happened. The deceased and his partner, Allen Cameron had been working with machines. Inch was sitting down waiting for the trammers to take away the dirt in order that we might complete the blasting, when a piece of rock weighing six or seven hundred pounds broke loose from behind and above where he was sitting and fell on him doubling him up. Deceased and his partner, Allen Cameron, and William Floyd and myself had been working around the plat all morning and we all felt perfectly safe and had no suspicion that there was any loose rock in the shaft."

Witness was under the impression that had deceased been sitting with his back up against the rock instead of about ten inches or a foot away from it he could have held it in place when he first felt it move. Witness and his partner removed the rock from Inch, but life was extinct. He never spoke after the rock fell. William Floyd and Allen Cameron corroborated the testimony of the above witness.

Dr. Pomeroy testified: "I have made a post mortem examination of the body of Henry Thomas Inch and find that death was caused by a fracture of the spinal column and rupture of the aorta. That the abdominal and chest cavities were filled with blood from the aforesaid blood vessel that had been ruptured."

Verdict of the jury: "We, the jury, find that Henry Thomas Inch came to his death on the 10th day of November, 1900, at the 53rd level of No. 8 shaft, South Hecla branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, by the accidental falling of rock from the hanging fracturing the spinal column and rupturing a blood vessel. This caused his death."