Inquest - William QUICK 1863

INDEX TO INQUESTS VPRS 605/63
QUICK William, fell into a shaft, Happy Valley, miner, no age.

page 1 [605] 10 July 1863 Proceedings of Inquest held upon the body of William Quick at Happy Valley. Received at Crown Law Offices 14 July 1863. H. Crosser, Coroner.

page 2 PROCEEDINGS BEFORE CORONERS. INQUISITION Colony of Victoria TO WIT. An Inquisition for our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, taken at Roebuck Hotel Happy Valley in the Colony of Victoria aforesaid, the tenth day of July A.D. 1863, in the Twenty sixth year of the Reign of our said Lady the Queen before me Henry Crosser.
Gentlemen, a Coroner of our Lady the Queen for the Colony of Victoria aforesaid, upon the view of the body of William Quick then and there lying dead, upon the oaths of

Edward G. Milligan
Edmund Page Walters
Thomas Martin
John Foley
George Haywood
William Piper
Richard James
William Morgan
James Godbold
Alexander Mooney
Thomas Bellingham
James Rees

good and lawful men of Happy Valley in the said Colony who being duly sworn and charged to inquire, upon the part of our Lady the Queen, when, where, how, and by what means the said William Quick came by his death, do say upon their oath that the cause of his death was fracture of the skull produced by some substance accidentally falling down the shaft upon his head.

page 3 in witness whereof as well the aforesaid Coroner as the Jurors aforesaid, have to this Inquisition put their hands and seals, on the day and year, and at the place above mentioned. Henry Crosser (L.S.) Coroner
Here let each Juror sign his own name, or make his own mark, and affix or acknowledge his seal. E. Milligan (L.S.) Edmund Page Walters (L.S.) Thomas Bellingham (L.S.) John Fouli (L.S.) William Piper (L.S.) Alexr. Mooney William his x mark Morgan (L.S.) Thomas Martin (L.S.) James Rees (L.S.) Richard his x mark James (L.S.) James his x mark Godbold (L.S.) George his x mark Haywood (L.S.)

page 4 Coroner's Inquest. Deposition of Witness. Colony of Victoria To Wit. The examination of Gershom Evans of Happy Valley. Taken on oath this 10th day of July A.D. 1863 at Roebuck Hotel Before the undersigned a Coroner in the said Colony.
The deponent Gershom Evans on his oath saith as follows:
I am a Miner, I was at work in the British Gold Mining Company's claim last night, I was working with the deceased at the bottom of the shaft at eleven o'clock, We were picking stuff to put into the bucket, The bucket was resting in the bottom of the shaft, I was going to put water into it at one side and the deceased was going to put dirt into it at the other side. We were just going to fill the bucket when I heard something fall down, He did not speak nor move, I lifted his head, placed it on my arm and sung out for some person to come down the shaft that the man was killed, The braceman came down the shaft, We put the deceased into the bucket and took him up the shaft and after procuring assistance took him home. The Doctor was sent for, Ten minutes after the occurrence the deceased breathed heavily and continued to do so until the time we took him home, He never spoke, He bled fearfully from the head.

In continuation the Deponent Garshom Evans further saith as follows,
There were about eighteen inches deep of water where the deceased was standing in the shaft when the accident occurred, I did not hear anything fall into the water at the time, A bucket of water which we had filled had gone up the shaft two minutes before the accident, I am of opinion a sharp piece of quartz may have stuck to the bottom of the ascending bucket and have become detached when at the top of the shaft and have fallen upon the head of the deceased, This is the only way I can account for the accident, I have seen small pieces of quartz stick to the bucket and drop off in the way described, There was nothing else fell down the shaft at the time of the accident that I am aware of, I did not examine the bottom of the shaft very particularly to ascertain if there was anything, If there had been anything large I would have found it with the examination I made.
Gershom Evans
Taken and sworn before me the 10th day of July A.D. 1863 at Roebuck Hotel Happy Valley Henry Crosser Coroner

page 5 Coroner's Inquest. Deposition of Witness. Colony of Victoria To Wit. The examination of John Reid of Happy Valley. Taken on oath this 10th day of July A.D. 1863, at Roebuck Hotel Happy Valley, Before the undersigned a Coroner in the said Colony. The Deponent John Reid on his oath saith as follows,
I am a Miner. I was working at the British Company's Claim last night, and was on the brace at eleven o'clock, I was landing the buckets as they came up the shaft, After I had landed a bucket and was in the act of shovelling some dirt out of it while it lay on its side, I heard some person below sing out "what's that come down the shaft" a man's killed, I then called to the engine driver to send the stoker round that I wanted to go down the shaft and at the bottom saw Evans supporting the deceased, I asked Evans what had fallen, He said he could not tell, I then assisted in getting the deceased up the shaft, and put him into the little house at the brace and shortly after took him home. The deceased never spoke, none of the stuff which I shovelled out of the bucket could have fallen down as it was nearly five feet from the mouth of the shaft, I did not see anything fall from the bucket down the shaft nor did I hear anything until ...

page 6 In continuation the Deponent John Reid further saith as follows,
I heard the man call from below. The place where the buckets are landed is quite clean and the only way I can account for the accident is by supposing a piece of quartz to have stuck to or got fastened in the iron across the bottom of the bucket and fell down the shaft, I have never seen anything of the kind happen, I did not miss any tools nor anything else from the top of the shaft after or at the time of the occurrence, and had there been I would have missed them.
Taken and sworn before me the 10th day of July A.D. 1863 at Roebuck Hotel, Happy Valley, Henry Crosser Coroner.

page 7 Coroner's Inquest. Deposition of Witness. Colony of Victoria To Wit. The examination of Robert Armstrong on his oath saith as follows,
I am the Mining Manager of the British Gold Mining Company, I was on the brace at the Claim about nine o'clock last night, John Reid was then landing the buckets as they came up the shaft. I left everything in perfectly good working order, the place where the buckets landed was perfectly clear and clean, There were neither tools nor pieces of quartz there, I examined the shaft down to the water this morning. I found a recent mark on the dividing portion of the shaft at a depth of one hundred and eighty feet, as if made by a piece of sharp quartz, It could not have been caused by the bucket, In the bottom of the shaft there are pieces of loose quartz in the water, The shaft is slabbed the whole way down, I examined it carefully to see if a piece of rock could have fallen from behind the slabs, But there was no space where a piece could have escaped from.
Robt. Armstrong.

page 8 Taken and sworn before me the 10th day of July A.D. 1863 at Roebuck Hotel, Happy Valley. Henry Crosser, Coroner.

page 9 Coroner's Inquest. Deposition of Witness. Colony of Victoria To Wit. The examination of William Forbes of Lintons taken on his oath this 10th day of July A.D. at Roebuck Hotel Happy Valley. Before the undersigned a Coroner in the said Colony: The Deponent William Forbes on his oath saith as follows:
I am a legally qualified Medical practitioner, About twelve o'clock last night I was called upon and visited the deceased, I found him moribund and quite unconscious, He had stentorous breathing, I found his hair soaked with blood, and a compound & comminuted fracture of the skull at the vertex, the brain was oosing out of the wound, Some blood escaped from his mouth and he expired in about twenty minutes after I visited him, I am of the opinion the cause of the deceased's death was the injury to the brain from the fracture of the skull, the wound and fracture could have been produced by a piece of quartz stone falling upon his head from a height.
William Forbes, Surgeon.

page 10 Taken and sworn before me the 10th day of July A.D. 1863 at Roebuck Hotel, Happy Valley. Henry Crosser, Coroner.