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

56 Reports of the Inspectors or Mines. [No. 10,
door boys, attending to closing and opening of the doors, ranging in age
from twelve j^ears upwards, who pass to and fro so close to these small
powder magazines, that they can stand upon the track and place their
hands riglit into those boxes or kegs. This is too tempting for bo^'s, as
they frequently take powder in the manner just described, and play with
it, resulting sometimes in serious injury or death. I have had to record
two cases of a serious nature during this year, as can be seen in the list of
accidents. Two boys working in the West Nanticoke colliery, nlso two
boys working in the Nottingham colliery, were very seriously' burned from
powder that thej- had appropriated to themselves from some of the miners.
I would here saj^ that if the miners would not take almost unbounded
liberty, and become so careless in the handling, and transporting, and using
of these cartridges, they could not be considered objectionable. The
objections come in, in their being packed into wooden boxes, containing
two or more kegs. This necessitates their being opened and their contents
divided, as the miners will not, voluntaril}', take more than one keg, or its
equivalent at one and the same time, as it may get damp, &c. In the said
division, one party gets the box—unless it is the custom to take it also
away from the men—and the other has to take the other portion tied up in
paper as before described.
Blasting by Electricity.
Of late 3^ears most of our rock miners use the Frictional BJai