ways of a size sufficient to draw the necessary quantity of air through the workings of said mines at all times, and also the necessary distributing air-ways; which said air-ways shall be kept independent of each other until they terminate in the up-cast air shaft; and upon their neglect or refusal so to do, they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment and fine at the discretion of the court trying the same. NOTE.-Sec. 7 is under the title Hoisting Engines. (See p. 82.)

SEC. 8. The neglect or refusal of any of the said superintendents, lesssees, operators or owners or mining agents to do and perform any of the duties enjoined upon them by sections 1, 2 and 3 of this act shall be a misdemeanor, and upon conviction therefor, he or they shall be punished by fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court trying the same.

SEC. 9. The neglect or refusal of any mining boss to perform the duties enjoined upon him by the provisions of section 4 of this act shall be a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof he shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, and imprisonment at the discretion of the court trying the same. NOTE. A copy of this section is also under the title Mine Foremen-Employment and Duties. (See p. 206.)

SEC. 10. In every case in which an explosion, resulting in death or personal injury, and of any accidents whatever in or about any of the said collieries or mines, resulting in death or serious personal injury, it shall be the duty of the party in charge of the said colliery to give notice of such explosions or accidents to the inspector hereinafter named within twenty-four hours after its occurrence; and it shall also be the duty of the coroner of Schuylkill County to give notice of every inquest held by him upon the body or bodies of persons killed in or about the mines or collieries aforesaid. “

SEC. 11. It shall be the duty of every operator of a colliery or mine as aforesaid, to keep in good order all boilers in and about the collieries and coal breakers used for generating steam; and it shall be the duty of every operator, or his agent, to have all such boilers examined once a year by a boiler maker or other competent person, and the result of all and every such examination shall be made known in writing to the inspector hereinafter named, unless said inspector shall deem any such examination unnecessary, when the same may be postponed for two years.

NOTE.-Sections 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, and 19, are under the title Inspectors and Inspection. (See p. 109.)

SEC. 15. When any coal mine or any level or lift thereof is finished before such level or mine is abandoned and filled with water, or any of the gangway pillars are removed, an accurate survey and plan of the same shall be made by one or more experienced engineers, at the cost of the land owner, and said plan shall be given to the inspector, who shall file the same in his office for future reference; and on failure to furnish said plan, the cost of the same shall be collected from the said land owner by action as debts are by law recoverable.

HEALTH AND SAFETY OF MINERS SECOND GENERAL REVISION

LAWS 1870, P. 3.

MARCH 3, 1870. (See p. 187.)

NOTE.-Sections 1 and 2 relate to maps and are under that subject.

SEC. 3. That four months from and after the passage of this act, it shall not be lawful for the owner or agent of any anthracite coal mine or colliery, worked by or through a shaft or slope, to employ any person in working

within such coal mine or colliery, or to permit any person to be in such coal mine or colliery, for the purpose of working therein, unless there are in communication with every seam or stratum of coal worked in such coal mine or colliery, for the time being at work, at least two shafts, or slopes, or outlets, separated by naturai strata, of not less than one hundred and fifty feet in breadth, by which shafts, slopes, or outlets distinct means of ingress and egress are always available to the persons employed in the coal mine or colliery; but it shall not be necessary for the two shafts, slopes or outlets to belong to the same coal mine or colliery, if the persons therein employed have ready and available means of ingress and egress by not less than two shafts, slopes or outlets, one or more of which may belong to another coal mine or colliery: Provided, That a second opening can be had through coal; but if a tunnel or shaft will be required for the additional opening, work upon the same shall commence immediately after the passage of this act, and continue until its final completion, with not less than three shifts in each twentyfour hours, and as many hands to be employed as can be put to work to advantage, the inspector to be the judge as to the least number of hands engaged per shift; this section shall not apply to opening a new coal mine or colliery, nor to any working for the purpose of making a communication between two or more shafts, slopes, or outlets, so long as not more than twenty persons are employed at any one time in the said new mine or working; and the term owner, used in this act, shall mean the immediate proprietor, lessee, or occupier of a coal mine or colliery, or of any part thereof; and the term agent shall mean any person having, on behalf of the owner, the care or direction of a coal mine or colliery, or any part thereof.

SEC. 4. The owner or agent of any coal mine or colliery to which there is only one shaft, slope or outlet, may petition the court of common pleas in and for the county in which such coal mine or colliery is situated, which said court is hereby empowered to act in the premises, setting forth that in consequence of intervening lands between the working of his coal mine or colliery, and the most practicable point, or the only practicable point, as the case may be, at which to make or bring to the surface from the workings of his mine, he is unable to make an addition shaft, slope, or outlet, in accordance with the requirements of this act; whereupon the court may make an order of reference, and appoint three disinterested persons, residents of the county, viewers, one or more of whom shall be practical mining engineers; all of whom, after being sworn to a faithful discharge of their duties, shall view and examine the premises, and determine as to whether the owner ought, or ought not, under the circumstances, to have the privilege of making an additional outlet through or upon any intervening lands, as the case may require, and report in writing to the next term of the court, which report shall be entered and filed of record; if the finding of the viewers, or any two of them, is in favor of the owner of such coal mine or colliery, he may make an additional shaft, slope or outlet, under, through or upon intervening lands, as may be determined upon and provided for by the award; if the finding of the viewers is against the owner, or if no award be made, by reason of any default or neglect on the part of the owner, he shall be bound to comply with the provisions of this act, in the same manner as if this section had not been enacted; in case the said owner or agent desires to, and claims that he ought to make an additional opening under, through or upon any adjoining or intervening lands, to meet the requirements of this act, for the ingress or egress of the men employed in his or their coal mine or colliery, he or they shall make a statement of the facts in the petition, with a survey setting out the point of commencement and the point of termination of the proposed outlet, which he or they, their engineers, agents and artists may enter upon said intervening

lands and survey, and mark as he or they shall find it proper to adopt for such additional outlet, doing no damage to the property explored; and the viewers shall state in their report what damage will be sustained by the owner or owners of the intervening lands by the opening, constructing and using of the outlet, and if the report is not appealed from, it shall be liable to be confirmed or rejected by said court, as to right and justice shall appertain; and any further and all proceedings in relation thereto, shall be in conformity with like proceedings as in the case of a lateral railroad across or under intervening lands, under the act in relation to lateral railroads, approved the 5th day of May, 1832, and the supplements thereto, so far as the provisions of the same are applicable hereto; and the notices to the owner of intervening lands of the intention to apply for the privilege of making an outlet and of the meeting of viewers shall be given, and the costs of the case shall be paid, as provided in the said act of the 5th of May, 1832, and the supplements thereto.

SEC. 5. Any of the courts of law or equity of this Commonwealth, having jurisdiction where the coal mine or colliery proceeded against is situated, upon application of the inspector of coal mines and coflieries of the proper district, acting in behalf of the Commonwealth, shall prohibit by injunction or otherwise, the working of any mine in which any person is employed in working, or is permitted to be, for the purpose of working in contravention of the provisions of this act, and may award such costs in the matter of the injunction or other proceeding as the court may think just; but this section shall be without prejudice to any other remedy permitted by law for enforcing the provisions of this act.

SEC. 6. The owner, lessee, operator or agent of every coal mine or colliery shall erect or provide, at or near the mouth or entrance to such mine, and maintain the same at all times when men are employed in such mine, a suitable building or buildings, supplied with soft water and properly lighted and warmed, for the use of the men employed in such mine, to wash and change their clothes when entering the mine and when returning therefrom.

SEC. 7. The owners or agent of every coal mine or colliery shall provide and establish, for every such coal mine or colliery, an adequate amount of ventilation of not less than fifty-five cubic feet per second of pure air, or thirty-three hundred feet per minute, for every fifty men at work in such mine, and as much more as circumstances may require, which shall be circulated through to the face of each and every working place throughout the entire mine, to dilute and render harmless and expel therefrom the noxious, poisonous gases, to such an extent that the entire mine shall be in a fit state for men to work therein, and be free from danger to the health and lives of the men by reason of said noxious and poisonous gases, and all workings shall be kept clear of standing gas; the ventilation may be produced by using blowing engines, air-pumps, forcing or suction fans of sufficient capacity and power, or other suitable appliances, as to produce and insure constantly an abundant supply of fresh air throughout the entire mine; but in no case shall a furnace be used in the mine, where the coal breaker and schute buildings are built directly over and covering the top of the shaft, for the purpose of producing a hot up-cast of air, and there shall be an intake air-way of not less than twenty square feet area, and the return air-way shall not be less than twenty-five square feet.

NOTE.-Section 8 of this act is under the title Mine Foremen-Employment and Duties. (See p. 200.)

SEC. 9. All and every of the safety lamps used in coal mines or collieries shall be the property of the owner thereof, and shall be under the charge of a suitable

person, under direction of the mining boss, who shall keep them clean and in good order; and the mining boss shall provide that all doors used in assisting, or in any way affecting ventilation of the mine, shall be so hung and adjusted as that they will close of their own accord, and can not stand open; and the main air doors on the traveling roads shall be double, and an extra door shall be fixed, to be closed only in the event of an accident to one of the others, and the sides and top of such door shall be well built with stones and mortar, in mines in which the inspector shall deem it necessary and shall so order; and all main doors shall be provided with an attendant, whose constant duty shall be to guard them and prevent them being left open; and every mine having explosive gas, in each and every part of such mine or mines, shall be divided into two, four, or more panels or districts, each ventilated by a separate spit (split) or current of air, and fifty persons shal be the greatest number that shall work in any one panel or district at the same time; and bore holes shall be kept twenty feet in advance of the face of each and every place, and if necessary, on both sides, when the same is driven toward or approaching an abandoned mine, or part of a mine, suspected to contain inflammable gases, or which is inundated with water.

SEC. 10. The owner or agent of every coal mine or colliery, opened and operated by shaft or slope, shall provide and maintain à metal tube from the (top) to the bottom of such slope or shaft, suitably calculated and adapted to the free passage of sound therein, through which conversation may be held by and between persons at the bottom and the top of the shaft or slope, and also the ordinary means of signaling from and to the top of the shaft from the bottom, and also provide an improved safety catch and a sufficient cover overhead on every carriage used for lowering or hoisting persons; and they shall provide and arrange the flanges or horns of sufficient dimensions (sic) are attached to the sides of the drum of every machine that is used for lowering or hoisting persons in or out of any mine; an adequate break (brake) shall be attached to every drum or machine, worked by steam or water power, that is or will be used for lowering or raising into or out of any said mines, and the main link attached to the swivel of the wire, or any other rope, shall be made of the best quality of iron, and tested by weights, or otherwise satisfactorily to the inspector, and bridle chains shall be attached to the main link from the cross pieces of the carriage, and no single link chain shall be used for lowering or raising persons into or out of any of said mines; and no boy under twelve years of age shall work or enter any mine, and proof must be given of his age, by certificate or otherwise, before he shall be employed; and no father, or any other person, shall conceal or misrepresent the age of any boy; the neglect or refusal of any person or party to perform the duties provided for and required to be performed by sections 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of this act, by the parties therein required to perform them, shall be taken and be deemed a misdemeanor by them, or either or any of them, and upon conviction thereof they, or any or either of them, shall be punished by imprisonment and fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars, or either, at the discretion of the court trying the same. SEC. 11. No owner or agent of, or at, any coal mine or colliery operated by shaft or slope shall place in charge of any engine whereby the men are lowered into or hoisted out of the mine, any but experienced, competent, sober engi. neers; and every engineer so placed in charge of an engine shall constantly attend to the engine of which he has charge, and shall not allow any person, except such as may be deputed by the operator or agent, to touch or meddle with it or any part of its machinery; he shall work the engine slowly with great care when any person is ascending or descending the shaft or slope, and when any person is about to descend or ascend the shaft or slope, the men at the bottom, or top, as the case may be, must inform the engineer,

by the metal tube, the signal, or otherwise, thereof; and no one shall interfere with, or in any way intimidate, the engineer in the discharge of his duties, nor ride upon a loaded wagon or cage, in any shaft or slope, and in no case shall more than ten men ride on any wagon or cage at one time in any of the said mines; and upon any person violating the provisions of this section he shall be held and deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof he shall be punished by fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court trying the same. (Amended. See p. 83.)

NOTE.-A copy of this section is under the title Hoisting Engineers. (See p. 82.) SEC. 12. Whenever loss of life, or serious personal injury to any person, shall occur, by reason of any explosion or other accident whatever, in or about any coal mine or colliery it shall be the duty of the party having charge of such coal mine or colliery to give notice thereof forthwith, by mail or otherwise, to the inspector of coal mines and collieries for the district, and to the coroner of the county, if any person is killed thereby; and due notice shall be given by the coroner of any inquest to be held as the result of any such explosion or accident; and it shall be the duty of the said inspector to immediately repair to the scene of the accident and make such suggestions as may appear necessary to secure the safety of the men; and if the results of the explosion do not require an investigation by the coroner, he shall investigate into and ascertain the cause of the explosion or accident and make a record thereof, which he shall preserve with the other records of his office; and to enable him to make the investigation, he shall have power upon such occasions to compel the attendance of persons to testify, and to administer oaths or affirmations thereto; the cost of which investigation shall be paid by the county in which the accident occurred, in the same manner as costs of inquests held by the coroner or justices of the peace are now paid; and the failure of the person in charge of the coal mine, colliery to give notice to the inspector and coroner, as provided for in this section, shall subject him to a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars, to be recovered as other fines are to the county treasury.

SEC. 13. All boilers used for generating steam in and about coal mines or collieries shall be kept in good order, and the owner or agent thereof shall have them examined and inspected by a competent boiler maker or other well qualified person as often as once in six months and oftener if needed, and the result of every such examination, under oath, shall be certified in writing to the inspector for the district; and all machinery in and about the mines, and especially in coal breakers where boys work, shall be properly fenced off, and the top of each shaft be securely fenced by vertical or flat gates, covering the area of said shaft, and the entrance of every abandoned slope, and air or other shafts, shall be securely fenced off.

NOTE-Sections 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, and 23 are under the title Inspectors and Inspection. (See p. 110.)

SEC. 19. That any miner, workman, or other person, who shall knowingly injure any safety lamp, water gauge, barometer, air course, brattice, or obstruct or throw open airways, or carry lighted pipes or matches into places that are worked by safety lamps, or handle or disturb any part of the machinery of the hoisting engine, or open a door and not have the same closed whereby danger is caused in the mine, or enter any place of the mine against caution, or disobey any order given in carrying out the provisions of this act, or shall ride upon a loaded car or carriage in any shaft or slope, or on any plane in or around any of said mines, or do any other act whereby the lives or the health of persons, or the security of the mines or machinery is endangered; or any miner having