On October 9, 1894, four miners die in an explosion in the Oregon Improvement Company coal mine at Newcastle. The following day, coroner's jury rules that the explosion was "caused by a charge of giant powder being set off" and was "entirely accidental and quite beyond the reach of ordinary human forethought to foresee." The Oregon Improvement Company was "entirely exonerated from any blame on or negligence in the matter" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
The dead were identified as follows:
| Name |
Age |
Nationality |
Occupation |
Married/Single |
Family |
| George Parrish |
19 |
English |
Driver |
Single |
|
| George Dobson |
21 |
English |
Starter |
Single |
|
| Charles Giles |
16 |
Negro |
Trapper/
Switch Boy |
Single |
|
| David J. Lloyd |
30 |
Welch |
Miner |
Married |
Wife & 2
children |
Oregon Improvement Co. superintendent Theron B. Corey (1846-1909) traveled from Seattle by train to supervise the recovery of bodies. The company paid for all the burials.
Sources:
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 10, 1894, pp. 1-2; Ibid., October 11, 1894, p. 2; Ibid., October 13, 1894, p. 1.
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