Nine miners were killed instantly, and a tenth man died later of injuries suffered when a loaded cage dropped from surface to the bottom, a distance of 662 feet.  Seven other miners suffered serious injuries.

The cage was resting on chairs at the collar when the signal to lower was given.  As was the usual custom, the hoist operator first raised the cage to release the chairs, and immediately after the cage dropped as if in a free fall.  When the engineer realized that the cage was dropping out of control, he used all his strength to tighten a manually-operated brake wheel.

Another employee in the hoist room stated he saw sparks flying from the brake drum, so he "threw on the hoisting gear." The rope broke at the drum and fell on the smashed cage.  It was reported that the hoist continued to revolve at a terrific speed after the rope had left the drum.