The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-01-09

ne neYet WAS il he Moponsah
mi before the expl slop Re found
when Re went ia me mine aitef the Is;
piosion Evidence Of great Violence. IN
the mines ne observed crushed coal.
dust. ne assisted IN recovering bodies
at No: 9.
John Gordon smyth. assistant chief |
engineer Of the Fairmont Coal Com
pany. He had sexperience in the wy
oming region in pennsylvania and
worked in mines that were conceded
very gaseous and were accepted as
such. He visited these mines to To-
cate some bore holes. He did not see
any dust because it was drainage that
he wanted to establish. He saw no
gas in either mine. He has been
through the mines since the e1plo-
sion and there are many times more
dust there now than previous to the
explosion. The witness has prepared
maps showing the ventilating courses
and the location OF bodies that were
found. together with the workings of
the mine previous to the explosion.
One map was marked as map OF Mine
No. 6 and the other was marked map
Of Mine No. 8. The maps were intro
duced as part of the evidence OF the
witnesses. The course of the ingoinG
air was drawn in red ink and the
course OF the returning air was shown
in yellow ink. The air splits were por-
trayed In purple ink, green ink. The
air came in No. through the main
entrance and the man hole. The 10.
cation of the bodies are designated on
the map by small black circles. These
maps were exhibited to the jury with
full explanation by the witness. The
witness gave 1t as his opinion that
dust In suspension in the air Is more
dangerous than dust lying on the floor
of the mine. The witness did not know
OF any local explosion. The witness
explained each feature of the map in
detail The maps were very compre-
er much information that would have
been hard to obtain in any other way
and they got it in way that was not
confusing. The location where the
dead bodies were marked. One place
where forty-three men were regularly
employed seventy-three bodies were
recovered. The explanation for this
was that on the day of the explosion
the mine foreman started extra work
that increased the working force at
that point. At many places fewer
men were found than worked at those
places regularly.
David Victor TestiHes.
David Victor was the next witness.
He was chief mine inspector of the
Fairmont Coal Company. He has three
assistant inspectors. The four men
have forty-mines to look after. Re-
ports are made to the general superin-
tendent. Records OF all the air meas
urements that have been made are in
possession of the inspectors.
He visited these mines in November
and found the mines In excellent con-
''tion so far as dust was concerned.
One place he ordered the. miners to
sprinkle. The production of coal in,
creased more rapidly than miners
could be obtained and for that reason
mining machines were introduced as
more rapid process Of producing coal
than with pick. j, Two motors are
used in NOS. The bits in the. ina
chimes are either the chisel shaped
bit or the pick point which is used in
punching machine. Some machine
men use combination Of the two bits.
The dust from room cut by mining
machine would fill small car. The
miners are instructed not to fire shot
until twenty minutes have elapsed
after cutting the room. The witness
gave detailed explanation of the map
showing how the air was distributed |
through the mine and the, amount fur
nished each part Where the bodies
of the men were found and where the
horses and mules lay. When asked
what he knew about a local explosion
at the foot of the slope of mine No.
about,a month previous to the general
explosion the witness stated that he
had never heard of local explosion
until this morning.
MANNHEIM