The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
NESB|TT BACK FROM
 TRIP T0BANNER MINE
Investigating Saturdays Ex- plosion- Statement Issued
 by Geo. B. Mccormack

c. H. Nesbitt. chief state mine inspec- tor. returned yesterday from Banner mine, where an explosion occurred Sat urday afternoon. in which one negro con vict miner was killed, one seriously in- jured, and 10 others hurt According 10 a statement made by him, the explosion was caused by the igniting of pocket sr gas accumulated in one of the rooms, pre- sumably by a slight fall Of the roof.
 All the debris was removed Saturday after the explosion and the mine is oper- atng as usual None of the injured men are expected to die. The man who was seriously injured is improving and it
 is thought will recover.
 G. B. Mccormack. president of the Pratt Consolidated company. yesterday made the following statement:
 'The Pratt Consolidated Coal company owns the Banner mine, but the state of Alabama, through it's convict board is in the exclusive control of and operates this mine, and the Pratt Consolidated Coal company has nothing whatever to do with the operation of this mine and has no control over and is not responsible for the conditions therein. therefore, statement of the probable cause and ex- tent of the explosion of gas at Banner on last Saturday afternoon should be ob- tained from the state officials. We are glad, however to give you all the in formation we have.
 Our general superintendent was pres ent on Sunday when thorough exami- nation and investigation was being made by P. J. Rogers, president of the board of convict inspectors, and 1t appears that on Saturday morning, the ventilating fan was shut down for a few hours on &C., count of the bearings running hot. For this reason none of the men were put to work in the mine on Saturday morning. After the fan had been started, the mine was examined by the enine foreman and his assistant. The explosion occurred in room 13 on the fourteenth left entry, at 2.40 D. m.. and the men had been work ing in that room since 12 20 D. m., which would indicate that the ventilation was good and that the stoppage of the fan early in the morning was not the cause of the explosion From all that could be gathered from a physical examination of the mine, it appears that immediately preceding the explosion. there was a fall of top in room 12 and this doubtless re- suited in the releasing or forcing of a small pocket of gas out into room 13 where it was fired by a miners lamp. One man was killed, another seriously wounded and 10 others slightly burned. none of them seriously.
 .The explosion of pockets of gas is not unusual in many of the large mines in this district. Most of them. however. pass off without fatal injuries and are unnoticed. Fortunately, the good venti- lation of the Banner mine, which had been examined within two weeks by two state mine inspectors and pronounced in excellent condition, prevented any ex- tension of the effects of the explosion beyond those stated above. Proper off cials of the state in the convict depart ment and in the mine inspection depart ment. can give you a correct descrip- ton of the mining conditions in that mine, and I am sure you will find them neither vile nor horrible, for the officials in neith CT department would permit work to be done under such conditions and any statc- ment to; the contrary is an unwarranted reflection on both departments.'