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

Ex. Doc] Reports op the Inspectors of Mines. 109
tance of forty j^arcls in length and nine yards in width, and found it very
heavy, and, in my opinion, needing props badly ; several of the props now
under it are very small, in fact, little better than no props at all.
On Tuesday, November 20, I examined the bodies of the men that were
killed. I went to the former residence of George Batt, and found his body
laid in ice, and all that I could see was two marks on the face, one on the
left temple, and the other on the right side of the head. I believe the
mark on the left temple was a fracture of the skull. As to the condition
they say
of his body, I have onl}^ the statement of those who laid it out ;
his body was all black and blue, and that his chest was crushed in. From
there I went to the former residence of James Johnson ; saw his body
lying in a coffin ; we opened the cover, and took off the coffin lid ; found
his head wrapped up in bandages, which we removed so that we could see ;
his face on the left side was crushed in ; he must have been instantly
killed. The sight of his head satisfied me that that fearful crush was the
cause of his death.
I hardly think that the roof could have been safely held, with the road
where it was, without its being cross-timbered ; it is probable that a blast
had been fired with too heavy a charge of powder, and that an unknown
number of props were knocked out from under the heaviest part of the
rock by the blast ; and the roof undoubtedly discharged the remainder of
the props. In my examinations of accidents, I find great carelessness on
the part of miners in returning to the face of their chambers too soon
after firing blasts.
The Verdict.
William S. Jones.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,"^
County of Luzerne^ Scranton City,')
An inquisition indited and taken at the city of Scranton, in the county
of Luzerne, and State of Pennsylvania, the 20th day of November, A. D.
1871, before me, R. K. Cranfield, an alderman in and for said county, upon
view of the bodies of James Johnson and George Batt, then and there
lying dead, upon the oath of Nicholas Washburne, James B. Hickey, B.
F. Ackerly, John Wagner, Thomas Barrow, and Esdras Howell, good and
lawful men of the county aforesaid ; who, being duly sworn to inquire on
the part of the Commonwealth, when, where, and how, and after what
manner, the said James Johnson and George Batt came to their death, do
say that, on the ITth day of November, A. D. 1877, at the city of Scranton,
and in the county aforesaid, by a fall of roof in the Diamond vein of the
Diamond shaft, caused by a shot, which knocked out the supporting props,
and that they went back too soon, the roof falling on thexn and killing
them ; said mine or shaft belonging to and worked by the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western Railroad Company. We, the undersigned jurors, find
that James Johnson and George Batt came to their death, on the morning
of November 17, 1877, by a fall of roof in the Diamond vein, in the Dia-