Reports of the Inspectors of Mines of the anthracite coal regions of ...

108 Reports of the Inspectors of Mines. [No. 10,
given by me, or by any one to my knowledge, about miners using up bad
prop timber ; but it is too often the case that men in picking the props will
select the lightest, and they often have to be looked after about it ; there
is plenty of prop timber at the mines ; on the right side of the track, five
props w^ould have been sufficient.
William S. Jones, sworn : I reside in Hyde Park ; my
inspector of coal mines ;
Thomas D. Davies.
occupation is
I was not officially notified of the accident until
m}'^ arrival at the mines ; heard of the accident while at Jermyn's Green
Ridge shaft, at about twelve o'clock and fifteen minutes ; I drove home,
and immediately after dinner I went to the Diamond mines' office; I there
found Mr. Benjamin Hughes, general mine superintendent, and shortly there-
after Mr. Thomas D. Davies arrived there ; I informed them that I desired to
go into the mines to see the place where Johnson and Batt were killed, and
Mr, Davies went with me ; we went together down the shaft, and into the
chamber where the accident occurred, and when we got there we looked
to see if there were any indications as to where the men laid, and in looking
under the rock which had fallen, we found the brains of one them
scattered there ; could not see anything to indicate where the other laid ;
saw the rock that had fallen, having a surface area of from twelve to fifteen
square yards ; the rock on the thick side, on the left of the road, was one
foot thick ; it extended over the road eight feet, and ran out to a very thin
edge ; saw a prop newly put up in the middle of the road ; went on top of
the fallen rock under which the men were found, and examined the other
props ; there was a prop 13'ing on top of the rock, and one prop lying
under the rock ; this was a small one, and worthless ; to the left there were
two props showing indications that they had been put in after the fall
the inside prop on the left of the road
there was another prop lying there ;
was lying on the coal, and part of it under the fallen rock ; it leaned
towards the face ; it may have been discharged by a blast, but I think it
was discharged by the falling of the roof; in my judgment I have doubts
of there being four props standing on the right hand side of the road be-
fore the fall ; have no doubt but those props were discharged by the falling
of the rock, and not by the blast ; after examining the fall, Mr. T. D.
Davies and I came down the chamber road, and on the way I examined the
roof, and found some of it rather heavy, and I called Mr. Davies' attention
to it, and told him that more props were needed there ; we then came
out of tlie mine, and, when on our way, we met David W. Mosier, the mine
he returned with us, and we all three came to the surface.
On Wednesday, November 21, I went into the mines again, and I was
boss, coming in ;
confirmed in m}- conclusions which I had arrived at from my examination
of the nth. I measured the distance of the gap between the two props
which had been filled by standing the two new props, and found it to be
thirteen feet. I then came down the- chamber road with Mr. JNIosier and
Mr. Hickey, and examined the roof by sounding it with a pick for the dis-