The deceased was a labourer at the railway gravel pit. He died at the ballast pits camp, about eight and a half miles along the Laverton road. He apparently died while having tea. Constable Seaborn brought the body into the hospital morgue on Thursday morning. It was decided that an inquest should be held and a jury was subsequently empanelled with Mr A.E. Burt as Coroner.

During the day, the jury viewed the body and the Coronial Enquiry was opened at the Courthouse. John Delaney, restaurant keeper at the camp, said that the deceased was having tea on Wednesday evening and in the middle of the meal and shortly afterwards, fell to the floor, not saying a work after the onset of the seizure. An adjournment followed to await the arrival of the doctor. Dr Crutchley, resident medical officer at the Mount Morgans Hospital, gave evidence to the effect that he had made a postmortem examination of the body and found that the deceased died from natural causes. The jury, without retiring, returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.

Little Douglas' parents were married in 1904 in Perth. He was their firstborn child. A sister named Lorna Mary followed on 14 April 1907. The deceased child is buried in Section A, Plot 54 of the Mt Morgans Cemetery.

The deceased came to Australia at the age of 11 years with his parents and siblings. He lived in Victoria for 34 years, working in the Cumberland Gold Mine for 18 years before arriving in Western Australia. His parents were married on 26 April 1846 in Liverpool. HIs father died in Dimboola, Victoria, in 1883, and his mother in Bong Bong, Victoria, in 1896.

The funeral on Friday was well attended by his many friends from Morgans and Lancefield, where he had previously worked.  The Rifle Club members fired a volley over the grave.

At the Coronial Enquiry held Monday 12 April, Dr C. H. Hill stated he had examined the body and found a large gun shot wound in the left side of the neck. A great part of the neck on that side bad been shot away. The shot had come from in front at close range, as the powder marks on the face proved. The main artery had been shot away and death must have been practically instantaneous. He was quite satisfied that the gunshot caused the death.

The jury delivered the following verdict: "That the deceased, Patrick Dooley, met his death accidentally while driving in a sulky on the United-rd., the cause being by the explosion of a gun he had in his possession."

The jurors stated they would like to add that a gun of this description is very dangerous and that some power be given to the police to condemn firearms of the kind. The top lever of the gun had been broken off for some time and was in the same condition when Patrick Dooley borrowed it.

The deceased's father, Thomas Dooley, was born in 1840 at Kilcormac, Offaly, Ireland.  His wife was born 8 June 1843 at Jamberoo, New South Wales.  The couple married 19 September 1865 at Kiama (Marriage Registration 2314/1865, Kiama).  Patrick was the fifth of their fifteen children.  His siblings were: William G born 1864 in Berrima (Birth Registration 5880/1864, Berrima), died 1906; Marceilla born 1866 (Birth Registration 6071/1866, Berrima); Johannah born 5 July 1866 (Birth Registration 9548/1866, Kiama); James William born 1867 in Kiama (Birth Registration 10563/1867, Kiama); Margaret A born 11 July 1869 (Birth Registration 12273/1869, Kiama); Mary E born 1871 (Birth Registration 11613/1871, Kiama); Patrick born 1872; John Sylvester born 30 October 1873 (Birth Registration 12434/1873, Kiama); Catherine Eugene born 1876 (Birth Registration 13461/1876, Kiama); Grace L born and 1877 (Birth Registration 13923/1877, Kiama); Matilda Rose born 1880 (Birth Registration 16780/1880, Kiama), died 1882; Mary Agnes born 1882 (Birth Registration 20111/1882, Kiama); Grace E born 1884 (Birth Registration 23400/1884, Kiama); Thomas B born 1885 (Birth Registration 24311/1885, Kiama), died 1900; Jerome A born 1887 (Birth Registration 25693/1887, Kiama).

Also known as Doherty. The accident occurred in the No. 2 shaft. Three men named Felix Grogan, Patrick Doherty, and Michael Higgins were engaged in sinking the shaft. At about 5 a.m. an explosion was heard, and an engineer named Mellor pluckily descended in a broken bucket through the dense smoke, and found Doherty and Higgins dead, and Grogan nearly so. Grogan was brought to the top alive. The other two men were fearfully mutilated. The water at the bottom of the shaft was covered with pieces of floating brains and flesh, and highly coloured with blood. Grogan died about twenty minutes after he reached the surface. Higgins had been killed at once, and Doherty also in all probability. Grogan's injuries were mainly confined to the lower port of the body. Both legs and thighs were broken and the left foot was almost torn off, the bone protruding. The injuries generally were sufficient to cause death by shock. The hole had apparently been fired before and the charge partially exploded. The men had evidently been attempting to either re-drill or clean the hole out and the remainder of the old charge had exploded. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, exonerating the management from all blame. The coroner called the witness Mellor and made him a present of £5 from the jury and £2 from himself, for his promptitude in descending the shaft. His parents were married on 27 February 1867at Ennistymore, County Clare, Ireland. They had three children, Bridget born 21 February 1868, Patrick, then John, 12 April 1873, before Michael died in 1874. Mary then married John Murphy and produced five more children. The deceased left an estate valued at £136 to John Nicholson, attorney, under power of Austin Doorty. It is understood that Patrick's brother, John, had a son named Austin. He had spent 10 months in Queensland and 2 years in South Australia before arriving in Western Australia.

Ada and John were married in 1891 in Victoria (Marriage Registration 8362/1891) and also produced a daughter named Gertrude Adeline in 1894 (Birth Registration 18009/1894, Bendigo).

The body of the deceased was found underground at the end of the south drive of the 150ft level of No. 5 shaft of the Guests Mine with the head completely blown off.

The mine at that time was part of the Westralia G.M. Co.'s property, where two shifts only, day and afternoon, were being worked in that portion of the mine. Robert Arnoldi, one of the men working on the day shift at the 150ft level, proceeded to the magazine, which is situated at the end of the south drive, at about 9.30 am and was horrified to find the body of a man in a sitting position just at the entrance, with the head blown off and the body covered with dust. He immediately reported his gruesome find.

Constable Seaborn proceeded to the mine and took charge of the body which he had brought to the surface and conveyed to the morgue. According to the Corporal who also viewed the body, the head had been blown to atoms. The man was wearing a dark suit of clothes, covered in dust, apparently from an explosion, and was propped against two posts. The kneebone of the right leg was protruding from the flesh. At the feet were a box of matches, a piece of fuse, and a bit of candle. Although identification was difficult, Mr J Retallick eventually identified the clothes he was wearing as belonging to James Dower, one of his campmates.

Later in the day, Mr. William Dower viewed the body with the jury and recognised it as that of his brother. It appears that deceased spent the night at his camp and one of his mates, David Harris, states that he got up and went out at about 6 am. The deceased had been employed on the big mine up until that day and had been working at the level where the body was found. An inquest was held on Monday 24 October and it heard that the deceased had been drinking heavily for eight or nine days prior to his death. A full description of the body as ascertained by Cr Crutchley during postmortem, was given to the enquiry and concluded the evidence. The jury retired for a few moments, returning with a verdict that the deceased while temporarily insane, committed suicide by blowing his head off with dynamite.

The deceased was one of four boys and 6 girls born in Victoria to Mary and James Dower, who were married in Fryer's Creek, Victoria on 25 February 1857. Their children were: Mary Jane born 1857; William Henry born 1861; Elizabeth Ann born 1863; Phillipa born 1865; Martha born 1867; Ada born 1i869; Millicent Ellen born 1871; Samuel born 1873; Joseph Bastian born 1875. Interestingly, James Dower Senior, who was born in 1832 in Cornwall, England, was said to have emigrated to the USA in about 1852 and went to the Californian gold fields to mine for gold. He then decided to follow the rush to the Australian goldfields and travelled to New York where he boarded the ship Venice, bound for Australia. He arrived in Melbourne on 29 March 1854.

James went first to the goldmines at Creswick, then to Avoca. Three years later, he married. He died of gout and heart failure on 19 March 1906. His wife, Mary, was born 16 February 1837 and was 13 when she boarded the Ascendant with her parents, Henry Bastian and Jane (nee Jenkyn), and brothers and sisters. The Ascendant sailed from Plymouth on 2 October 1850 and arrived at Adelaide on 15 January 1851. Mary died in Victoria in 1850.

The deceased has been a resident of Morgans for several years and only lately had returned from a prospecting trip. He was a member of the Church of England and until recently, an active member of the choir.

The deceased spent 30 years in Victoria before moving to Western Australia. He had a brother, George Doyle, at Laverton. He is buried in Section A, Plot #2 of the Mt Morgans Cemetery.

The child's parents, Bridget Mary Storer and Henry Walter Dungey, were married at Kalgoorlie in 1904 (Marriage Registration 486/1904).  Bridget was born in Limerick, Ireland, her husband in Dunedin, New Zealand.

The couple had another son, Mark Henry, born in Kalgoorlie in 1910, who lived just 4 hours (Death Registration 1800141/1910, East Coolgardie).  No other children have been found for this couple.

Henry Dungey followed the occupation of a miner and had worked on the Golden Mile and other mining centres in the State.  In the search for gold, he had travelled abroad and could give an interesting account of his adventures in North and South America. He once made a good find in Nicaragua, but was compelled to leave it behind through a revolution breaking out.  Latterly in his life, he worked on the Golden Mile. 

Henry Walter died in Kalgoorlie in 1928 (Death Registration 1800132/1928, East Coolgardie), aged 63 years.  His wife died in Leederville in 1944 (Death Registration 100171/1944, Perth), aged 75 years.

Known as Sadie.

In compliance with the express wish of the deceased prior to her death, the body was removed to Morgans for interment near her brother, David Stewart, who died at Mt Morgans in 1906, aged 6 months (Death Registration 4300033/1906, Mt Margaret) and sister, Clara Florence, who died in January 1903 at Mt Morgans aged 14 years (Death Registration 1496/1903) and are both buried in the local cemetery.

The remains of Sarah Jane arrived at Morgans by the midday express from Kalgoorlie on Tuesday and were conveyed to the family residence in Watkins-street and afterwards removed to the Methodist Church, the pulpit and platform of which were heavily draped in black.

Mary Ann Baker married Thomas Booth in 1880 in Victoria (Marriage Registration 1047/1880).  Their family were: Thomina Elizabeth Poulton born 7 April 1882 at Lambton, New South Wales; Stella S born 1884 at Lambton, New South Wales; Thomas Lionel born 1886 at Lambton; Clara Florence born 1889 at Lambton, died in January 1903 at Mt Morgans aged 14 years (Death Registration 1496/1903); Leslie Leonard Bell born 15 April 1903 at Mt Morgans (Birth Registration 3597/1903); David Stewart born 1905 at Mt Morgans (Birth Registration 4058/1905) died at Mt Morgans in 1906, aged 6 months (Death Registration 4300033/1906, Mt Margaret).

The deceased's father, Thomas Booth, died in Lambton, New South Wales, in 1928, aged 73 years.  His wife, originally from Mount Gambier, South Australia, died in Newcastle, New South Wales, on 27 May 1947, aged 86 years. 

See Comments field for notes on the deceased's husband, Charles Seymour Ellis.

The deceased was admitted to hospital only 10 days prior to his death and was then in a very precarious condition.

The remains of the deceased were found in the bush near the lime kilns at Mt Morgans. Charles Fawcett had left Morgans a few days previously on a supposed prospecting expedition. The results of the inquest held subsequently were that the deceased died from exposure and exhaustion. On 16 September 1906, the deceased's widow, married August Wilfred Ferguson at Perth. She died in 1946 and is buried in Karrakatta.

Known as Annie.

The deceased's husband, Peer Flanders, was born 24 July 1842 in Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire, England.

Annie was residing with her son, Alfred, at Mt Morgans at the time of her death.  She passed away after a short illness.  She was one of the oldest residents of Mt Morgans and had spent 40 years living in New South Wales before moving to Western Australia.

Although Annie was listed as being a widow, curiously, her husband, Peer, died in Tamworth in 1912 (Death Registration 18093/1912, Tamworth), aged 71 years.

This little chap is buried in Section B plot number 4 of the Mount Morgans Cemetery.

The deceased lived in New South Wales for 25 years prior to his arrival in Western Australia. He was a prominent member of the old progress committee and was among the first who suggested the idea of forming a working men's club at Morgans. He also took a leading part in the formation of the town band. Indeed, he was one of the foremost to take part in any movement which had for its object, the welfare of the town and its people.

Thomas' wife, Sarah, was born 26 June 1870 at Tamworth, New South Wales.  She outlived her husband by some 21 years and died in Kalgoorlie on 4 July1923.  In 1913, she married William Edward Price but there were no children to this marriage.