1898 - Coalmininghistorypa.org

No. 11. BUREAU OF MINES. xxxvAnd also by sectionit is provided as follows:10 of said article 4 of said act of Assembly"Section 10. Hand rails' and efficient safety catches shall be attachedto, and a sufficient cover overhead shall be provided onevery cage used for lowering or hoisting persons inany shaft."That, notwithstanding the provisions of the said act of Assembly /regulating the manner of operating anthracite coal mines in the \said district by the owners, operators and superintendents thereof, \said defendant, disregarding the said act of Assembly and its severalprovisions above set forth, has failed to comply with the same andin that, al-totally disregards tlie act of Assembly above referred to,though often requested so to do, defendant has failed to provide fora stecond opening from the Clark vein to the surface and the reasonable,safe and available appliances connected therewith, to enablethe persons employed in the mine to escape incase an accident occursderanging the hoisting machinery at the main outlet, that is tosay, at the second opening so-called, distant some fifteen hundred(1,500) feet from the main shaft; said opening extends to the Clarkvein, a total depth of three hundred and thirty (330) feet from thesurface and for a distance of one hundi'ed and twenty (120) feet fromthe Clark vein leading up the said second opening toward the surface,no sufficient buntings are provided, and such as were originally placedin said shaft are unavailable for use and destroyed by the ice and otheraccumulations thereon. There is no carriage or guides providedfor the said second opening; no steam is kept up so as to providefor the operation of the said second opening, and no engineer is maintainedat the said second opening, that is to say, said second openingis not only improperly constructed and maintained and withouttbe necessary safe and available appliances for its use, but thereis no provision made for the operation of the same at any and alltimes, and in case of an accident deranging the hoisting machineryat the main outlet. The mines worked in connection with the saidEicbmond Number Three (3) are very gaseous and dangerous tooperate, requiring the utmost care and caution on the part of themen working therein in order to avoid serious accidents, and it isabsolutely essentialthat the second openings to these mines shallbe maintained at all times safe and available so as to permit thej)ersons employed in the said mines to escape readily and withoutdelay whatever in case of an accident to the hoisting machinery or toany other fixture or aj)pliance connected with the said main outlet.There is no carriage used in connection with the said second opening,or any pretense of any such provision for hoisting the men from themines to the surface; the only thing in use at the present time isa bucket. This is in violation particularly, of section 10 of saidarticle 4, as well as of section 3, of said article 4, as above set forth.\