Was badly injured about hips by a piece Left arm and left leg fractured by a fall car and Two ribs fractured; he was pulled be- Arm fractured and scalp lacerated by a Leg fractured by a fall of coal in Parlor Both legs fractured by being caught in and Leg fractured, caused by fall of slate. Was caught by a fall of clod and in- Leg fractured by being struck by cable Was caught by a rush of coal at battery Collar bone fractured and otherwise in- Injured on back and internally by falling Slightly burned by an explosion of gas. SIXTH ANTHRACITE DISTRICT. (SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.) Shenandoah, Pa., February 20, 1896. Hon. James W. Latta, Secretary of Internal Affairs: Sir: As required by section nine of article two of the act of June 2, 1891, I have the honor of herewith submitting to you my annual report of the Sixth Anthracite Coal District for the year 1895. The report shows the decrease in the number of fatal accidents to be fourteen, or twenty per cent., and of the non-fatal accidents, nine, or ten per cent. less in 1895 than in 1894. It also contains the usual tables giving a brief description of how the accidents occurred; the names and location of collieries; the number of tons of coal produced and shipped from each, as well as produced and shipped by the respective companies and individual firms, together with the total number of tons of 2,240 pounds per ton produced and shipped from the entire district during the year 1895. Yours very respectfully, WILLIAM STEIN, Examination of Applicants for Mine Foreman's Certificates. The annual examination for mine foreman's certificates was held in Pottsville, July, 1895. The examiners were William Stein, Mine Inspector; William H. Lewis, superintendent; Frank Wilkum, miner and Michael Brennan, miner. The following are the names of the successful candidates: George McGee, Freeland; James Cranny, Mahanoy Plane; Frederick Weeks, Gilberton; Anthony Gaughan, Girardville; James Brennan, Yatesville; Gethin Powell, Mahanoy City: John Cavanaugh, Gilberton; William Edwards, Frackville; Robert Painter, Gilberton; Richard Close, Gilberton; Frank Terrill, Gilberton; William J. Price, Frackville; Elias Cooper, Girardville; Robert Coxson, Frackville; Thomas J. Meyers (Maple Hill), St. Nicholas; Daniel Skeath, Mahanoy City; Felix O'Brien, Raven Run; John Eagan, St. Nicholas; William Lynch, St. Nicholas; Frank Kelly, Centralia; Frederick Hughes, Hazleton and Frank Wilcom, Shenandoah. I am pleased to report a decrease of nearly twenty per cent. in the fatal accidents and ten per cent. in the non-fatal accidents for the year 1895, as compared with the previous year and the returns from the respective collieries operating in the district, show an increase in the shipments of 747,866 tons for 1895, as compared with 1894. The total number of employes working in and about the collieries in 1895 was 19,814, showing a decrease in the number of employes of 294 as compared with the year 1894. During the year I carefully noted the causes of the fatal accidents which number 59, of these 47 lost their lives either by carelessness or from a want of knowledge to determine as to the safety of their working places; three lost their lives through the neglect of the fire boss in allowing the victims to enter their place of work before first removing the gas; the remaining nine I considered purely accidental. In the discharge of my duties making examinations of the collieries throughout the district, it has been a great source of worriment to me why the death rate should not be reduced to a minimum when I consider the safe condition of the collieries and that they are being improved yearly. Referring to table A, we have four deaths by explosions of blasting material, four by premature explosions, four by being crushed by mine cars, four by machinery on surface and five in the miscellaneous column. Twenty-one lives having been lost by the most manifest recklessness on the part of the victims themselves. From inquiry I have learned that many of the workmen go to work in the morning and to their night shift under the influence of drink, and are unfit to properly care for themselves. I had occasion to visit a colliery on the 8th of November, and left at quitting time, and found a miner on top who had come late for work and was refused to be lowered down because he was under the influence of drink. Some of the mine foremen occasionally have to send men home and even discharge them because of drink, yet it is a very easy matter to pass the foreman and not be detected. I am satisfied beyond a question of doubt from my own observations and from information received from others, that many lives are sacrificed through the excessive indulgence in intoxicating drink at night, and then going to work the following morning in a dazed condition. There has been no question more repeatedly thrashed out in modern times than the question of how to reduce accidents in and about the mines, which for years has given much food for study on the part of those interested as to how the problem can be best practically solved. The mineral resources of the State very largely contribute towards its wealth, and they may be legitimately considered the great lever by which all the other industries are moved, and there is no department of industry within the borders of the State or even throughout the commercial world that deserves more attention and care in connection with mining millions of tons of coal from our anthracite mines, than the question of how these millions can be produced with the least possible loss of life or limb. When I take a retrospective view and compare the present system of mining and mine appliances with that of fifty years ago, I notice a more permanent construction of shaft and slope openings, of transportation and ventilating avenues, better drainage, larger pillars formed for the support of the superincumbent strata so as to prevent a sudden displacement of a large area of the roof which might cause serious loss of life or imprison the workmen for a time. I notice also the improved types of hoisting, ventilating and pumping machinery; the ropes and chains are of the best manufacture and of such diameters that the difference between the working load and the breaking strain do not approximate. We have also a mine law which is mandatory in its construction, and is considered to be the best even by critics in countries where mine laws have been longer in existence, and that it has been instrumental in preventing accidents, since its enactment, no one will gainsay, I am glad to report that all these improvements are taken advantage of in the Sixth District, the collieries are equipped with the most modern machinery and appliances that is possible for the best brains of the present century to construct. The mining department inside is conducted on the most improved system so as to surround the miners and others working inside with all the appliances possible for safety, in order that accidents may be reduced, yet the improvements I have enumerated seem to fail to reduce the number of casualties in and about the mines, and so we very naturally again repeat the question why all these accidents year after year, notwithstanding we claim that we are so far ahead in the march of intellect in regard to scientificiand practical mining compared with fifty years ago. Can they not be reduced? We answer, yes, they can be reduced at least eighty per cent. I have already stated that forty-seven lives were lost in 1895 by the victims themselves choosing to take unusual risks while in the performance of their day's work, and we can only persume their reasons for so doing. Nevertheless while investigating and examining into the causes of these accidents, it was very manifest to me as well as to those accompanying me, that the deceased either knew the danger, or was reckless, or had not the practical knowledge to determine whether the surroundings of his place of work was safe or not. Referring to table A, we record deaths from "Explosions of Blasting Material," "Prema 13--10--95 |