William Thomas Roberts

ACCIDENT NO. 10 - December 3, 1909 - William Thomas Roberts, No. 2 Hecla Branch, C. & H. Mine.

William Thomas Roberts, an Englishman, employed as a watchman by the C. & H. Company, came to his death on this date. An inquest over his body was held by Justice Fisher and the following witnesses examined:

Albert Louvinen: "I am a timberman, employed in No. 2 shaft. I knew the deceased. I saw him last this morning at 7 o'clock. He was then at the 26th level at his work. I do not know how it happened, but I found him in the shaft about 15 or 20 feet below the 27th level about half past 10 o'clock. I went to the ladder-road and climbed up and found Roberts lying across the shaft. He was living. He said, 'Help me up.' I went and got help and took him out. When we took him down in the level he said, 'My body is sore everywhere.' He said he did not know how he came to be in the shaft."

Dr. J. W. Clark: "I am a practicing physician and surgeon. I saw deceased at 12 o'clock today. As far as I could see the man was in deep and great pain, so much so as not to permit of a thorough examination. He had a collapsed chest on the right side, rupture of the lung with escape of air into the tissue around the chest. These injuries were sufficient to cause death. I was not with him when he died, but he died between 12 and one o'clock."

Verdict: "That the said William Thomas Roberts, came to his death on the 3rd day of December, 1909, by falling in No. 2 shaft, Hecla Branch of the Calumet & Hecla Mine."