Page 48 By Gregory Reynolds Sixteen men died when the hoisting rope broke on a double-deck cage lowering them at the No. 5 shaft of the Paymaster Mine at 7.55 a.m. on Feb. 2, 1945. The safety dogs (claws) engaged the guides immediately , but they were torn out. They then worked inef fec - tively as the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft, a distance of more than 1,700 feet. The cage stopped in the spill pocket about 19 feet above the shaft bottom. The impact resulted in instant death to all but two men. Only one man was reached while still alive, and he was unconscious when removed. He died en route to Porcupine Gen - eral Hospital in South Porcupine. An inquest was held and the jury found that two things contri buted to the deaths, the hoist rope broke and the safety dogs failed to prevent the cage from falling. No fault was found to any individual or company . The injuries sustained by the vari - ous men were not enumerated at the inquest. It was simply stated that death was due to multiple injuries and shock. The injuries were so numerous that death was instantaneous in most cas - es. It is recorded that fourtee n of the sixteen men suf fered fractured necks. The names and status of the deceased men, who were all employed by Pay - master Consolidated Mines, Limited, are as follows: -Mervin Appleyard....British, aged 29, single, chute puller , -Alphonse Auger ....British (French- Canadian), aged 37, marrie d, three children, miner , -Arthur Beland....British (French-Ca - nadian), aged 40, 1 1 children, miner . -Russell Dillon....British, aged 25, single, sampler , -Laurent Dubeau....British (French- Canadian), aged 20, single, mucker , -Stanley Kolodziejski....Polish (not naturalized), aged 60, married, l child, cagetender , -Hero Kohtala....Finnish (not natural - ized), aged 45, married, 2 children, mucking machine operator , -Ligouri Lauzon....British (French- Canadian), aged 23, married, miner , -Ubald Legault....British (French-Ca - nadian), aged 31, married, 2 children, chute blaster and spare motorman, -Melvin Markoskie....British (Cana - dian-born Ukrainian), aged 20, single, mucker and chute puller , -Mike Mokoruk....British (Austrian, naturalized 1932), aged 50, married, one son in armed forces, under ground hoistman, -Eino Neimi....British (Canadian-born Finn), aged 20, single, sampler , -Mike Parnetta....British (Canadian- born Ukrainian), aged 36, single, mucker and chute puller , -Albert Plourde....British (French-Ca - nadian), aged 40, married, 6 children, chute blaster , -Nicola Suppa....British (Italian, natu - ralized 1933), aged 44, married, wife and l child in Italy , cagetender , -T auno V outilainen....Finnish (not naturalized), aged 42, single, scaler and skiptender . The inquest was held before Coroner (Police Magistrate) E. R. T ucker , of Cochrane, in the T isdale T ownship Paymaster Mine was scene of the second worst mine disaster in history of the Porcupine Gold Camp. Br oken r ope and failed dogs kill 16 men at Paymaster Mine Cont’d on pg. 48 “The Porcupine Camp” 100 Y ears of Mining Page 46