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

Ex. Doc] Reports of the Inspectors of Mines. 121
it did not require one half of a minute to see what must be done, and how
to do it.
Fourthly. Michael Duffy, the runner, who left the trip of ears standing
in the door, as sworn to by Edward Anguin, the door bo}-, and as admitted
under oath by himself, was very much to blame ; but he did not do
anything in this case, only what he was accustomed to do ;
and the custom
had been allowed to go on without any interference on the part of the
mining boss. The custom was to send the door boy to tell the footmnn to
take the cars out of the door.
Lastly.—William J. Davies, the fire boss, was not blameless. He was
the only one who appeared to be competent on the premises. He knew
things were wrong, and had called the attention of the mine boss to the
needed improvements ; but being subordinate to the mine boss, he was
powerless to have done what was necessary. The error committed by
Davies was, that he did not inform Mr. Jermyn of the fearful risk they
were running by not attending to the necessary improvements. I can
readily see the delicacy of such a course, and how liable his action would
be to a wrong construction ; how
liable it would be to be attributed to
jealous}' and selfish motive, &e. While he knew all about the miserable
system of ventilating the mine, he also knew that the law placed the re-
sponsibility on the mining boss, and that a fire boss was to be under his
direction and subject to his orders. Still, when he knew that the lives of
his fellow workmen, and the property of his employer were in constant
danger of being destroyed, he would have done nothing disgraceful if he
had gone to Mr. Jermyn and laid the whole matter before him, and, under
the circumstances, it was unquestionably his duty to do so. It did not
matter how Mr, Jermyn would have received him, this was his imperative
duty. The press, at the time, contained strictures on Davies which were
uncalled for and unjust. Davies, on the day of the explosion, did his
duty and did it well, and with a competent mine boss he is unusually well
qualified to make a good fire boss.
IVon-fntal Accidents from Explosions of Gas.
Accident Xo. 6 William Batten and John McCullough, miners, at
the Leggett's Creek shaft, Providence, were very severely burned, January
18th, by an explosion of gas, while in the act of "brushing out gas " from
their working places. They had gone in according to custom, after being
told by the fire boss that there was gas in their chambers, and commenced
brushing away, leaving their lighted miners' lamps in the return air-waj-.
There being a large body of gas there, it soon came in contact with the
lamps and an explosion of course was the inevitable result. Batten's hands
were shockingly burned, leaving him a cripple the balance of his life.
They had no business to go in there until their working places had been
examined, and all cause of danger should be removed ; and those who
sent them in, or allowed them to go in, were criminally violating the law.
This practice has been stopped, however, and if any cases of this kind