Reports of the Inspectors of Mines of the anthracite and bituminous ...

No. 12.] Seventh Bituminous Disteict. 469
of roof in the Pine Creek mine on October 31. The weig-ht of rock
which fell upon him was about two and one-half tons ; it was partly surrounded
by a free slip. The danger could only be detected by sounding
it with some heavy instrument, such as a crowbar or sledge The
deceased had not worked long in the mine and very likely had not
sounded the roof, or if he had, did not comprehend the danger.
James Sweeney, miner-boy, was fatally burned by crude petroleum
oil on December 7 in the Laurel Hill No. 1 mine. The boy was pour-
ing oil from a two-quart bottle into his lighted pit lamp, when it ig.
nigted the oil, bursting the bottle and throwing the burning oil all
over his clothing with the above results. In this section it is a common
practice with the miners to gather the crude oil from the oil wells and
use it in the mines for lighting purposes, and no amount of persuasion
will turn them from this habit, and the wonder to me is that more acci-
dents do not happen from the reckless use of this oil in the mines, to
say nothing of the foul, unhealthy state of the mine atmosphere caused
by the poisonous fumes given off. On account of his youth we deeply
regret the death of this boy under such sad circumstances ; we also re-
gret that there is no provision in the mining-law under which the father
could be prosecuted and severely punished for taking himself or permitting
his children to take this dangerous commodity into the mine
for lighting purposes, and also the managers of the mine for not pre-
venting its use as they have it in their power to do so if they wish.
Robert Davidson, roadman, was killed by the dilly trip December
11, in the Nickle Plate mine. He was employed to oil the rollers on
the dilly road and to keep the road in general repair. The accident
occurred near the mine entrance. The dilly runs into two different sec-
tions of the mine, and the deceased had just stepped aside to allow
the empty trip to pass him near to the point where the two roads di-
verge, and for some reason or neglect the switch was not placed in its
proper position and the trip was pulled into the wrong entry : the dilly
rider gave the signal for the trip to be pulled back over the switch in
order to get to the right entry, and the deceased who was working
within a few feet of the cars did not notice that the trip was being
l^ulled towards him and he was struck and dragged some distance under
the cars and injured to such an extent that he died in a few hours.
John Mojock, miner, was killed by fall of slate December 23, in the
Ocean No. 2 mine. He was working with another man taking out a
room pillar; he had only been working in the mines a short time and
was not competent to recognize the fact that he was working under a
loose and dangerous piece of slate and consequently made no effort to
take it down or to set props to prevent it from falling. The danger was
imminent and could not have escaped the notice of any practical miner
having any regard for his own safety. His butty who had worked in
the mine for some time said that he thought the slate was dangerous.