1900 - Coalmininghistorypa.org

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No. 11. EIGHTH ANTHRACITE DISTRICT. 2C:J
5th. The slate above the vein, being full of joints and slips, fell
as the coal was mined from under it, leaving very little of it overhanging
the coal and it fell on Miller, ills' brother, the miner, went
to li i in al once and found him dead. Upon making an investigation,
f found three small pieces of slate that had fallen, the heaviest of
which was not over fifteen or twenty pounds in weight and could not
have fallen more than about fifteen inches before striking him.
Joseph Cook, an outside laborer, was fatally injured at Wades
ville colliery, on November 6th. A heavy lever, hung on a frame, is
used for raising the hack end of the car so that the rock will run
out. A pin is used in the frame to hold the long end of the lever
up, when not in use. After dumping a car, his partner failed to get
the pin in to hold the lever up and it fell, striking Cook on the head.
He did not appear to be seriously injured and walked home. The
accident occurred at 11.30 !A. M. and he died at 5.30 P. M. His
physician said a blood vessel had been ruptured in the head, which
••aused apoplexy.
•James Schoffstall was killed at Silverton colliery on November
10th. lie started to drive at the bottom of the Black Mine slope
that morning at about 8.20. The track on the turn-out was filled
with empty cars. As he could not pass with loaded cars, until
I he empties were taken away, he sat down with the bottom men
for a few minutes, then started with the loaded cars. The front end
of Loaded car was knocked off the track, when it struck the empties
and ran against the lower rib of the gangway. Schoffstall was caught
between the car and the rib and killed instantly.
Joseph .Muskalavitz, a miner, was instantly killed at Otto colliery
on November 23d. The vein was 7 feet 4 inches thick, on pitch of 10
I degrees, ;ind deceased and another man had started to drive
;i heading towards No. 12 breast, and fired a shot to form the upper
corner. They thought the shot had missed and went back to it.
About the time Muskalavitz got to the hole, it went off and killed
him instantly. His partner, Stacknavitz, was back about forty feet
and was severely injured by the flying coal, but did not know whether
Muskalavitz had relighted the match that had partly burned, or
whether the shot exploded before he got quite to it.
Timothy Brady, a pump engineer, was fatally injured at St Clair
colliery on November 28th. Ho was employed near the bottom of the
I'.uck .Mountain vein slope, which is a single track slope, with from
four to five feet from between the rail and side of the slope. In
this space, t wo column pipes, one four-inch and one live inch diameter,
were laid along the bottom. There was a leak on the four-inch line
about forty live yards above the pump, the pitch being from 15 to
2(1 degrees. Timothy went up the slope to get a short piece of pipe
to repair the leak, and brought it down and started to work at it.