Franklin miner is instantly killed

Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 22, 1904

Boulder drops on Cuna Puhakka in coal mine and crushes him

Cuna Puhakka, a Finnish miner, was killed by a falling boulder in the Franklin coal mine Wednesday afternoon. Coroner Hoye was at Black Diamond at the time and went from there to investigate the case.

Puhakka and two other miners had been working in a breast of the mine and the fire boss had set off two shots. The shots tore away a couple of upright posts in the drift and while repairing these, the boulder dropped from the ceiling. Puhakka was crushed and instantly killed and the other two miners narrowly escaped injury.

Coroner Hoye says that the miner died as a result of his own carelessness, as he should have sounded the walls before putting in the new posts.

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