Added to these various dangers which exist in the coal-mine, we must not omit to notice those accidents that are continually being caused by the falling-in of roofs or of walls, from the falling of insecure timber, or of what are known as "coal-pipes" or "bell-moulds." Then, again, every man that enters the mine trusts his life to the cage by which he descends to his labour, and shaft accidents are not infrequent.
The following table shows the number of deaths from colliery accidents for a period of ten years, compiled by a Government inspector, and from this it will be seen that those resulting from falling roofs number considerably more than one-third of the whole.
—————————————————————————————————- | Causes of Death. | No. of | Proportion | | | Deaths. | per cent. | —————————————————————————————————- | Deaths resulting from fire-damp | | | | explosions | 2019 | 20.36 | | | | | | Deaths resulting from falling | | | | roofs and coals | 3953 | 39.87 | | | | | | Deaths resulting from shaft | | | | accidents | 1710 | 17.24 | | | | | | Deaths resulting from miscellaneous | | | | causes and above ground | 2234 | 22.53 | | |——————|——————| | | 9916 | 100.00 | —————————————————————————————————|
Every reader of the daily papers is familiar with the harrowing accounts which are there given of coal-mine explosions.
This kind of accident is one, which is, above all, associated in the public mind with the dangers of the coal-pit. Yet the accidents arising from this cause number but 20 per cent. of those recorded, and granted there be proper inspection, and the use of naked lights be absolutely abolished, this low percentage might still be considerably reduced.
A terrific explosion occurred at Whitwick Colliery, Leicestershire, in 1893, when two lads were killed, whilst a third was rescued after a very narrow escape. The lads, it is stated, were working with naked lights, when a sudden fall of coal released a quantity of gas, and an immediate explosion was the natural result. Accidents had been so rare at this pit that it was regarded as particularly safe, and it was alleged that the use of naked lights was not uncommon.
This is an instance of that large number of accidents which are undoubtedly preventable.
An interesting commentary on the careless manner in which miners risk their lives was shown in the discoveries made after an explosion at a colliery near Wrexham in 1889. Near the scene of the explosion an unsecured safety lamp was found, and the general opinion at the time was that the disaster was caused by the inexcusable carelessness of one of the twenty victims. Besides this, when the clothing of the bodies recovered was searched, the contents, taken, it should be noted, with the pitmen into the mines, consisted of pipes, tobacco, matches, and even keys for unlocking the lamps. It is a strange reflection on the manner in which this mine had been examined previous to the men entering upon their work, that the under-looker, but half an hour previously, had reported the pit to be free from gas.
Another instance of the same foolhardiness on the part of the miners is contained in the report issued in regard to an explosion which occurred at Denny, in Stirlingshire, on April 26th, 1895. By this accident thirteen men lost their lives, and upon the bodies of eight of the number the following articles were found; upon Patrick Carr, tin matchbox half full of matches and a contrivance for opening lamps; John Comrie, split nail for opening lamps; Peter Conway, seven matches and split key for opening lamps; Patrick Dunton, split nail for opening lamps; John Herron, clay pipe and piece of tobacco; Henry M'Govern, tin matchbox half full of matches; Robert Mitchell, clay pipe and piece of tobacco; John Nicol, wooden pipe, piece of tobacco, one match, and box half full of matches. The report stated that the immediate cause of the disaster was the ignition of fire-damp by naked light, the conditions of temperature being such as to exclude the possibility of spontaneous combustion. Henry M'Govern had previously been convicted of having a pipe in the mine. With regard to the question of sufficient ventilation it continued:—"And we are therefore led, on a consideration of the whole evidence, to the conclusion that the accident cannot be attributed to the absence of ventilation, which the mine owners were bound under the Mines Regulation Act and the special rules to provide." The report concluded as follows:— "On the whole matter we have to report that, in our opinion, the explosion at Quarter Pit on April 26th, 1895, resulting in the loss of thirteen lives, was caused by the ignition of an accumulation or an outburst of gas coming in contact with a naked light, 'other than an open safety-lamp,' which had been unlawfully kindled by one of the miners who were killed. In our opinion, the intensity of the explosion was aggravated, and its area extended, by the ignition of coal-dust."
We have mentioned that accidents have frequently occurred from the falling of "coal-pipes," or, as they are also called, "bell-moulds." We must explain what is meant by this term. They are simply what appear to be solid trunks of trees metamorphosed into coal. If we go into a tropical forest we find that the woody fibre of dead trees almost invariably decays faster than the bark. The result is that what may appear to be a sound tree is nothing but an empty cylinder of bark. This appears to have been the case with many of the trees in coal-mines, where they are seen to pierce the strata, and around which the miners are excavating the coal. As the coaly mass collected around the trunk when the coal was being formed, the interior was undergoing a process of decomposition, while the bark assumed the form of coal. The hollow interior then became filled with the shale or sandstone which forms the roof of the coal, and its sole support when the coal is removed from around it, is the thin rind of carbonised bark. When this falls to pieces, or loses its cohesion, the sandstone trunk falls of its own weight, often causing the death of the man that works beneath it. Sir Charles Lyell mentions that in a colliery near Newcastle, no less than thirty sigillaria trees were standing in their natural position in an area of fifty yards square, the interior in each case being sandstone, which was surrounded by a bark of friable coal.