John Prijanovich

ACCIDENT No. 3 — October 10. John Prijanvich was struck by a piece of timber falling through No. 6 Shaft, Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, and was knocked down the shaft. He died in the 50th level plat soon after being taken up there.

An inquest was held before Coroner Fisher.

Stephen Vauss testified as follows: “My work is to fix the rollers in No. 6 Shaft, Hecla Mine. I saw the timber falling down, and saw the deceased falling down the shaft after the piece of timber went down, and stopped on the roller just below the 51st level. When I saw the man falling down, I called my partner to come and help to take him out of the shaft.”

John Nipp testified as follows: "My business is to send down timber at No. 6 Shaft, Hecla Mine. I was sending down timber yesterday as I always do. We load the car to within four inches of the top of the sideboards. The stakes were all properly set, and everything was all right when it left my hands. The stakes on the car go to within two feet of the end of the car. The timber sent down was 14, 16 and 20 feet long, the car was loaded with eight pieces of flat timber. I do not know if the car was stopped on the way down."

Verdict — "We, the jury, find that John Prijanvich came to his death on the roth day of October, 1902, by being struck by a piece of timber falling from the car in the No. 6 Shaft of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, in some manner unknown to the jury, and find that death was accidental.”

(Mich.), H. C. (n.d.). Mine Inspector’s report for Houghton County, Michigan.  1903. HathiTrust. Retrieved July 31, 2022, from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015074974166&view=...

"Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHJN-3XZ : 23 February 2021), John Pryanovich, 1902.