The Union Democrat

Two Men Killed in the Soulsby Mine

On Wednesday last, Stephen Tonkin and Peter Lean, who were working in the Soulsby Mine, in bottom of level No. 5; three hundred and forty feet below the surface, were crushed to death, by a slide of rock and dirt. The slide occurred in a narrow stope, and extended along the foot wall, eighteen feet high, for a distance of twenty feet. The unfortunate men were about eight feet apart. Tonkin was crushed down with body forward, as if he was in a sitting posture at the time he was struck. The bones of his body and limbs were entirely crushed and broken. Lean was struck in the waist by a piece of rock that slid out solid, eight feet along the wall, and fifteen feet high. It took six hours to extricate the body of Tonkin, and eight hours for that of Lean, who was gotten out by working the quartz vein from under the body, and securing the huge rock that rested on it. Morgan Carkeek, who was within eight feet of Tonkin, heard the dirt and rock falling, says: "it seemed as if the whole mine was filled with fire," soon as the noise ceased, he saw Tonkin's and Lean's lights were gone. he called them, received no answer, then went to the surface and gave the alarm. This mine has been in continuous operation for the past twelve years, and this is the first serious accident that has occurred in it.

Stephen Tonkin was thirty four years of age, he leaves a widow and two young children to mourn his sudden death. He was a native of Cornwall England and had worked in the mine about two years. Peter Lean was also from Cornwall, aged twenty years, and had worked in the mine about nine months.

They were highly esteemed among their friends who are filled with sorrow by their untimely taking off. The bodies were brought to Sonora on Thursday, attended by a large concourse of friends who performed the last tribute of the living to the dead.