The Anaconda standard., 1899-05-30
PURELY AN ACCIDENT
Investigating the Explosion ir
the Diamond Mine
THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE
Some Powder Probably Left in One
OF the Holes Into Which the
Unfortunate Miners
Drilled

At an inquest held at Duggan's un-
dertaking rooms last evening, Coroner
Julien made his official inquiry into
the explosion of powder in the Dia-
mond mine SUNDAY morning, which
killed Angus Mcleod and Anton Pa
senda, two miners, who were drilling
a set of holes in the breast of the drift
on the 1500-foot level. The evidence
all pointed to the explosion having been
purely accidental, and the jury so
found.
Matt Donahue, the carman, who was
the nearest man to the scene Of the
accident at the time OF its occurrence,
said he was about 20 feet away from
Mcleod and Pasenda when an explo-
sion occurred which knocked him
down. He was not hit by flying rock,
but was knocked down by the concus-
sion. He got up as soon as he could
and gave the alarm. He helped to re-
move the bodies of the two men, who
| were dead when found.
Charles Andrews said he and his
partner put in set Of holes and blast
| ed on Friday at the breast of the drift
| where the men were killed. In count
! ing the shots as they went off he no.
| ticed one less report than there were
holes, and concluded one hole had
missed, which was reported to the fore
| man, who gave Instructions later to
| fire it, Witness went in to do so and
| found one hole had missed and part of
| another. These Were both fired and
| there We're two reports, so there was
| not supposed to be any holes left that
had not been fired, but it was possible
| and possibly true that some powder
had been left in the bottom of one hole,
which the men probably drilled into.
| He could not account in any other way
| for the explosion which killed the two
| men. 1t was frequent thing for some
| powder to be left in the bottom of ma
| chane drilled holes. Witness said it
| was the duty of miners to examine the
bottoms of any holes found, and if
| powder remained in them to fire them.
| Joseph Styer worked as the partner
of the preceding witness and gave the
same testimony. He added that he had
examined the breast since the accident
and did not think more than a car of
| ground was broken by the blast which
killed the men, which indicated that
there could not have been but a small
amount of powder in the hole drilled
into.
Joseph McGinniss. foreman of the
Diamond. said Styer reported Friday
evening that hole had missed in the
| breast OF the drlft where the accident
occurred. He gave orders the next day
to fire the hole, which was done. Oc-
casionally a hole would be blasted
when all the powder would not burn
and this was doubtless what happened
The men must have drilled into the
powder remaining in one of the holes
Mcleod and Pasenda We're told abou
the hole that had been missed, and il
was their duty to have taken the pre-.
caution of seeing there was no hole
with powder left in it.
T. H. Collins, shift boss at the Dia.
mond, said he told Pasenda about the
missed hole and to look for it. He re-
ported that he did not find it. He was
in at the breast a few minutes before
the accident and saw the men at work
There was nothing to be seen at thai
time to indicate there was any danger
He left and went to the station. anC
while waiting fer the cage heard the
explosion. A moment or so later Don
ahue came staggering out and said ht
thought the men had been hurt. He
Immediately went in and found Tho
men dead. In his opinion some pow