The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-18
MINE INSPECTORS' REPORT
 ON DISASTER AT VIRGINIA

| Virginia City Mines was coal dust | caused by what the miners call a | windy shot In mining coal 1t is the : custom to drill a hole in the face oi hole to place dynamite or a powder l cartridge and set it off by fuse. the hole to be tamped so as to get the full effect of the explosion of the powder or l dynamite upon the coal, and if the hole Is not properly tamped there Is pos | sibility of the dynamite or powder | after the explosion shooting straight | out of the hole as though 1t was gun distance ignited particles of coal which | of course is liable to act as an ex- | plosive agent upon explosible materials l in the mine.
 Illustrated Topography.
 ITO those who do not understand @ coal mine imagine Dexter Avenue to be the main slope and the streets run | ming on to the right and left as the entries and the houses fronting on | these streets as the rooms. gives very fair idea of the topography of a coal
 Tt appears from the report that the | windy shot was in the first room open ing on the fifth left entry, which is l the last entry in the coal mine. In this l room was found the drill hole funnel 1 shaped at Its outer end, showing that | the explosive instead of blowing down l the coal was fired out of the hole like the powder of gun barrel and in this
 
 | hitting all the explosive dust.
 An examination of the report shows l that the inspectors had made exami- nation of this coal mino according to | law and that they had discovered many conditions which they regarded as dan gerous and had advised their correc- | ton, many of which 1t appears from | the report had been compiled with. | spectors and the letters of the chief mine inspector to the mine ofdciaIs | the facts in detail can be observed. II will be observed that they had advised that the coal be undermined before | the shots were fired; that fuse of sufh- cient length to reach the cartridge | from the outer end De used ana tna' | the hole be tamped with clay or rock. | and that the dust in the mine be sprin- kled.
 | "Altosether I think the mine inspec- tors have made a thorongn, g,o;san eXamina- d,s- | charged their duty In inspecting the mines"
 Main Body of. Report.
 The main body of the report or the mining inspectors is as follows;
 ITO His Excellency, R. M. Cunningham, | Lieutneant and Acting Governor, Montgomery, Ala:
 | Dear Sir-In compliance with Sec tion 29 of the mine law and your re- quest of February 21, have with the Iassistance of Messrs. mes Hilihouse and M. M. Kuffner, associate mine m spectors, made a thorough examination of the disaster which happened at vir- Sinia Mine on February 20, 1905, at o'clock D. m., killing one hundred ana eleven men.
 "As the miners were anxious to have some of their men go with us to make the investigation as to the cause of the Iaccident, after talking the matter over with Messrs. Hillhouse and Runner, we decided to ask two of their men, Messrs. IT. H. Tinney and Joseph Hoskins, MT |. ITinney, checkweighman for the miners at Virginia Mine. and MT. Hoskins a miner at Virginia Mine. Both of these lgentlemen hold firstclass mine-foremen certificates We also invited MT. w. M. Herbert, who is a disinterested par lty and A gentleman of broad experience in coal mining both in Europe and dif- Ierent States in America.
 | "Of course, we could not begin to make the investigation until the bodies were practically all gotten out. This was accomplished on March S. All put five were recovered. We began our ex- animation proper of the mine on March g and 10, completing the examination down to the water in the slope where there were three bodies under the wa. ter. We fonpd one body on March lin the fourth right air-course.
 One Man Missing.
 "On March IA the three bodies were recovered from the slope and on March 16 we completed our investigation. There is still one man missing, but there has been one man buried without being identified, and as the mine has Ibeen searched time and again we be- llieve that the man has been buried; | we proceeded first to the fifth left At the side-track on the fifth left q loaded car was turned over up the hlll at the curve Of the side-track. Taking in the first room in here we found m the face of the room near the middle where a shot had been fired under the middle man. This means a band of lrock in the middle of the coal. The ltop coal was taken ofr about sixteen Inches, the middle man being about twelve inches thick. On the right hand rib about fifteen feet from the face oi 1.-the top coal we found a six and hail point. This hole blew the tamping shattering the hole and leaving IL Tn funnel shape. "A,
 "Directiy in front and in line with lthis hole was found a lot of bright coke sticking on the props facing the lhole. Also the bark on the props were icharred, showing that great amount of heat had been developed at thls goes to show that this was windy shot. There was a hole in bottom coa under this shot that had not been hred
 'The miner that worked in this room was found under a big fall on the entry lust below the switch of this place place lshowinE that he had run down there to get out of the way of his shot"
 "Windy Shot" Unmistakabie. The report next reCOuHlS e.p pA of the inspectors and party through tnt various entries and air courses. ine1 go into a technical description or tht coal vein. At the origin of the explo, sion there was evidence of great dea of heat and the indications of WlndS shot were unmistakable.
 A thorough search of the mine wal made for every evidence of any charac' ter which appeared to throw light or the agencies contributing to the dtsas. ter. Fire damp was found in room II of the fourth left. Here was also found some poor '1atticing." The | wrecked condition of all parts of tht mine was pictured by the report. 4 paragraph of the report was devoted tC each room.
 Chief Inspector Gray. after descrip
 called the attention of the Governor tC the reports of the inspectors from De cember IS, 1902, to December 12, 1904 The latter is the date of the last inspec' ton that was made. Several letter! from Chief Inspector Gray to the Su perintendents of the Alabama Steel anC | Wire Company and A. w. Reed & Co. were produced In the report.
 You find enclosed copy of the ru[S' adopted by A W. Reed & Co, based oI
 my letters in regard to the mining anC
 shooting of coal in this mine" say. Chief Inspector Gray. T had not seer a copy of these rules until after the ex plosion, but MT. Kuffner, Associate In
 spector, on June 13, 1904, while making an inspection of the mine, read and ap
 proved the same.
 Rules Were Not Observed.
 You will see further from this re
 port and testimony that these rules
 were not carried out. We believe tha if these rules had been faithfully ob