Report of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Internal Affairs of ...

No. 10. EIGHTH BITUMINOUS DISTRICT. 431,
ductor, Henry Gossar, Fipuehman, and Willard Williams, American,
arrived in first right heading at 11.30 A. M., they met the obstruction
of loaded cars, and saw fire flashing from the wire ahead. On investigation,
saw the deceased lying on his back in an unconscious condition.
The}' immediately got a piece of wood and removed the rail
from his body, but found he was dead, he having been literally roasted
on the left side. Had he been an expert electrician he could not have
arranged an electrocution with more assurance of results and yet he
was ignorant of the danger. This is the first instance of a new danger
in this section of the State in the coal mines. It is mentioned in report
of this mine and the remedy to be applied.
Accident causing the death of Alex. Pollock, aged 27^ years, mine
foreman at Atlantic No. 2 mine, on the 29th of April. About 6.80 A.
M. he was in the fan house with his brother, W. C. Pollock, and while
there he concluded to oil the engine, and while standing on the slides
of engine which stand at an angle of 45 degrees, he attempted to
fill the oil cups on cranks of engine, which was running at the time
at sixty revolutions per minute, he following the cup with the can,
and, at the same time, talking to his brother. He failed to catch
the stroke of the engine, the crank came around before he could recover
his balance, and struck the bottom of the oil can, causing the
spout of the can to be forced into his right eye. He immediately told
his brother that his eye was knocked out and before his brother had
time to reach him, he fell backward unconscious, a distance of six feet
five inches, striking steam pipe and burning the side of his head and
neck, which caused parahsis. He remained unconscious until death
occurred, on the 2d of Ma}
Joseph Havanic, Slavish nationality, aged 32 years, miner in Mt.
Vernon No. 7 mine. On June 17 he and his butty had mined the
first cut of coal in turning a room otf first left heading; the cut was
mined three and one-half feet deep. They jirepared a shot and fired
it at 8 A. M., and according to his partner's statement, when he called
for lielp he said the deceased had gone back to see the result of the
blast, and while in a stooping position, looking under the coal, which
had only partly fallen, a stone fell from the roof, striking him on the
head and shoulders, causing instant death. The stone weighed from
four to five hundred pounds. The day on which the accident occurred
was the first shift for the witness to be in that mine, and before
the officials had time to learn his name he left for parts unknown, so
that all the necessary evidence from an eye witness could not be obtained.
It seems that the deceased had taken the stranger in the
mine without the knowledge of the officials.
Enice Olsen, aged 50 years, German, miner in Eureka No. 7 mine,
was, on the 25th of June, mining a cut of coal in an old room that had