A Chrome Mine Accident

5 December 1899 Evening News (Sydney) 

Claim for £2000.

Before Mr. justice Stephen and a jury of four, on Monday, in No. 2 Jury Court, an action was concluded, which arose out of an accident at Mount Helena Chrome Mine, at Cobbaralong, a few miles from Gundagai.

Plaintiff, Alfred Morton, a miner, sued the defendants, James Joseph Quilter, John Francis Quilter, Francis Oates, Edward Ernest Weekes, and John Barnard Eugelm, the possessors of the mine, claiming, in his declaration, that they had so negligently, improperly, and unskilfully maintained the timbering, machinery, and general appliances that the mine was unsafe; as to the management, the qualifications of the persons engaged in the mine were questioned.

Plaintiff's case was that he had received serious injuries, including the fracture of a leg, the result of the accident, which happened in January last, and which was alleged to have been caused by the collapse of timber, accompanied by a fall of earth and rock.

Plaintiff claimed £2000 compensation.

The defendants pleaded not guilty.

Evidence was called.

The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, damages £150. A stay of proceedings was granted