The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
|AbERNANT FOREMEN
 MAY BE PROSECUTED
Neglect of Duty Caused the
 Death of IS Miners
NESBITT FILES REPORT
Mine Inspector Makes Thorough In- vestigation of Mine Explosion at Abernant-May Take Legal
 Action Against Foremen

Montgomery, October 11.-(Special)-
 Neglect of duty on the part of the fore men at Abernant mine caused the death
 of IS men August B, according to State
 Mine Inspector c. H. Nesbitt. who filed
 his report with Governor o'Neal Friday afternoon. The men are subject to prose cution under sections 2s, 30, 32 and fl of the mining law. and the solicitor of Tuscaloosa county has been requested to determine whether or not legal action
 against the foremen should be taken now. 1 Inspector Nesbitt stated that he had delayed the report until he could make
 a thorough investigation. He said that the explosion occurred about Il o'clock
 while 7s men were in the mine. He
 holds that "a large body of explosive
 gas in rooms Nos. g, 10 and Il, on the 1 fifteenth right entry, had been ignited
 by an open light, the ignition beginning l in room No. Ii, and was aided by dust.
 On the fifteenth right entry there were
 employed one driver and eight miners, 1 five of whom were fatally burned and l four died from the effects of after damp. From the best obtainable evidence the lamp of Gilbert Lee, one of the victims, caused the explosion"
 | If eight of the Is men had been guided | by the cool-headedness of Will Lacy they | would have been saved, according to the I inspector. He said the men gathered near the place where the explosion oc- cured and exchanged suggestions. They decided to attempt to get through the after damp to the slope. They found | they could not proceed because of the poisonous fumes and were advised by | A. .Ir sad ar sj died in the after damp. Yancy and Henry Duncan made five attempted to pass through the after damp but were unsuc- cessful and Duncan died while trying to | pass through an air course. Yancy stayed l in the slope until ventilation was restored and escaped uninjured.
 "The explosion did very little damage | to the mine," said the inspector. 'in fact, scarcely any violence or force was nos l ticed beyond the destruction of all but two of the brattices on the fifteenth right entry and three brattices on the four l teenth right, which impaired ventilation. | No other parts of the mine were affected. | "The opinion of this department is that | this explosion was due to neglect of | duty as prescribed by the mining law, and I would particularly mention sections | 20, 30, 32 and 41, which deal respectively | with the duties of mine foremen, spray l ing of dusty places, duties of the fire | boss and prohibition of explosive gas &C., cumulations.
 Influenced by the above opinion have called upon the solicitor of Tuscaloosa county for advice as to my procedure | in applying whatever penalty the law permits to be imposed for neglect of duty | such as this case'
 | Appended to the report were the names of all persons who died in the explosion. Abernant mine Is 30 miles southwest of I Birmingham, in Tuscaloosa county, and | Is owned by the Abernant Mining com pany The mine inspecting force, which agreed with Inspector Nesbitt's report, was as follows: Inspectors Ray. Hillman. Webb Roscoe and Kelso They spent several days in making the investigation. Seventy-eight men were entombed in the
 mine, but GO escaped unhurt.