Name Of Mine On Which Last Employed
South Kalgurli Consolidated Ltd, Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Place Of Burial
Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth. Western Australia

Submitted by
Admin - Moya Sharp and Amanda Hearn

Cause of Death
Mine Accidents

Other Information
Address - 32 Lewis Street, Kalgoorlie. Kalgoorlie Miner 29 March 1941, page 2 Crushed by Wood Truck Inquest on mine chemist's death How the love of cats indirectly caused the death of Charles William Brown, married, metallurgical chemist, of Lewis street, Kalgoorlie, was told SLt the inquest into Brown's death in the' Boulder Courthouse before a jury of three yesterday. Mr. W. F. Coath, J.P., was the acting coroner, Mr. H. D. S. Macoboy appeared for the South Kalgurli Consolidated, Ltd., and Mr. J. H. Verran for the Mines Department. Sergeant W. M. Carmody assisted the coroner. The jury returned a verdict that Brown came by his death accidentally. Brown suffered a fractured spine in the region of the neck when he was crushed between a wood truck and a post while working on the South Kalgurli Consolidated Gold Mine, Ltd., on January 17. He was treated at a doctor's surgery, removed to the Kalgoorlie District Hospital, and the next morning was .flown to Perth for treatment by a specialist. Brown died in the plane, in which his wife and the pilot were - the only other passengers. Brown was employed as an experimental chemist, and he had absolute freedom of the plant, said Clifford Holt, roaster fireman employed on the plant. Early on January 17, with Hamilton Anderson Harper, another fireman, he was pushing a truck loaded with wood, and when between the Nos. 5 and 6 roasters, a log projecting from the truck fouled a post. While he was releasing it Holt said, Harper, walked around and, putting his back to a stationary truck nearby, pushed it. When Holt looked up, the truck which Harper was pushing was almost on top of Brown, who was in a kneeling, s position stroking a cat. Holt called to Harper to stop the truck but it was too late and Brown was crushed between the truck and a post. When released, Brown was still in a kneeling position.1 1 When a projecting log fouled a post, he walked around the truck which he had been pushing and began to push another truck which had been standing on the same line, said Hamilton Anderson Harper. He| had pushed the truck a short distance when he met resistance as if someone were pushing against it. He stopped and walked around the .truck, and found Brown crushed against a post. The wood was stacked about six feet high on the truck, Harper said, and it would have been . . impossible to have seen anyone in front. Brown was in a critical condition. when he examined him in the ambulance outside his surgery, said Dr. Byrne. He ordered his removal to the Kalgoorlie District Hospital, where he saw him throughout the day and night. He was suffering from a fractured spine in the region of the neck, and both arms and legs were paralysed. His condition deteriorated during the night, and, to give him the one chance in 1000 which he had, he decided to send him to Perth for treatment by a specialist, Dr. Byrne said. As the goldfields flying doctor plane was out of the district on another case, a plane was chartered in Perth. It had been arranged that a nurse should accompany Brown on the flight, but in a plane totally inadequate for the purpose was provided. As he had been up most of the night on another case, Dr. Byrne said, he arranged with Dr. Webster to supervise the transportation of the patient from the hospital to the plane. A post mortem examination of the body was made by Dr. MacKenzie, of Perth, and his finding was that Brown had died from a fracture of the spine and compression of the spinal cord, which, Dr. Byrne said, would be identical with his diagnosis, and would be consistent with his having been crushed between a truck and a post. Mrs. Brown said that she accompanied her husband on the flight to Perth. His condition was very low when he left, and it became worse as the flight advanced. He had great difficulty in breathing soon after the plane left, and she believed he died about halfway between Kalgoorlie and Perth. Ambulance men who examined Brown when they arrived in Perth said that he was dead. because of the noise made by the plant, it would be unlikely Brown would have heard -the approach of the wood truck. The jury returned a verdict that Brown came by his death on January 18 in a chartered plane somewhere Between Kalgoorlie and Perth from a fractured spine and compression of the spinal cord caused by his being crushed between a truck and a post in the plant of the South Kalgurli Consolidated Ltd. while in the course of his ordinary duties. No blame was attachable to anyone.