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

116 Reports of the Inspectors of Mines. [No. 10,
covered. He had no business whatever to go to the place from whence he
fell.
Accident No. 112,—Edward Simons, a slate-picker, at the Mt. Pleasant
breaker, Hyde Park, had his knee fearfully crushed, November 14th, by slip-
ping into the screen. His life was despaired of for a long time, but lie was
finally saved by amputation of the injured limb, which leaves the little
fellow a cripple for life.
Accident No. 151.—Sarah Conwa}^, a widow, was run over by big cars,
at the Diamond breaker, December 22d, while picking coal for her own do-
mestic use, and her nether limbs were mangled in a most shocking manner.
She was conveyed to the Lackawanna Hospital, where she had to undergo
amputation of both limbs. She was living when I last heard from her.
I hardly think it fair to cliarge such an accident to the business of mining
coal.
Explosions of Carbureted Hydrogen Gas.
The accidents from explosions of carbureted hydrogen gas, for 187T,
have been comparatively light and few in number. I had strong hopes
that I would have no fatal accident from this cause to report, but I am
very sorry to say that I have been disappointed. However, there is only
one, and that one was not from burning, but from being violently thrown
by the concussion of an explosion. This matter ought to be under the
absolute control of the mine bosses, and no reason can be advanced, ex-
cepting the incompetency of the mine bosses and stinginess of operators,
whv it is not. If an adequate amount of pure air is circulated through to
the face of each and every working-place in the mine, to dilute the gas
and carry it off as the law requires, there need be no casualties from ex-
plosions of gas. But it is almost impossible to induce the managers of
many of our mines to provide enough air for this purpose ; and many of
them, even when they have the amount required, do not utilize it by conducting
it properly through the workings. There are many bosses who
do not know how to carry air with them, and these men are generally so
full of conceit that they will never learn. Though they know literally
nothing about the properties of gases and the laws governing ventilation,
no one can teach them anything. Go into the collieries in charge of this
their
they have doors enough
•class, and you will find no air-ways ever diiven with their gangways ;
stoppings are built of culm and rickety brattice ;
for a half dozen collieries ; and they have a little pigmy of a grate which
they dub with the name of " furnace," at the bottom of a forty to sixty
feet shaft, to produce their ventilation. When one of this class is put in
cliarge of a colliery generating explosive gas, explosions are the inevitable
consequences. Air-ways are absolute necessities in such collieries, and
culm stoppings and rickety brattice will not answer. Good strong walls,
well pointed or plastered with mortar, must be provided before the air-
currents can be well kept under control. The companies are too often
"penny wise and pound foolish," or too miserly, to furnish a little lime