In 1886, after an explosion killed two boys, the territorial legislature took steps to ban children from working in coal mines. The coal mine safety law prohibited boys under the age of 14 and women and girls of any age from being employed in or about any coal mine. Even so, boys still performed a variety of tasks, and teenagers were not covered by the law, so many boys under sixteen remained in the mines after 1886. Teenagers were killed all too frequently, and when a teenager died while working underground, the father was often blamed rather than the coal company assuming responsibility. An incident eleven years after the first safety laws shows these circumstances: on Friday, April 30, 1897, fourteen-year-old George Dubensky, son of John and Mrs. Dubensky, was killed in Union Pacific No. 9 mine by falling coal. Testimony said that at 12:30 Thomas Gregory heard John Dubensky cry for help, ran with Ed McCourt to the room, found George dead in a pile of slack, notified the mine foremen, and took the boy outside, judging that two or three hundred pounds of coal had fallen on him and caused his death. The jury investigating the death found that George Dubensky died from a fall of coal and, according to the evidence given by his father, found John Dubensky responsible. Wyoming's child labor law was only marginally successful, and children and teenagers continued to work in the mines, including in family mining businesses.