He advised that in England areas of old working were usually bricked off and sealed to prevent build ups of fire damp-entering that area of the mine was considered unsafe, although Archie Hodge had been into the area to get some rails on occasion.
12.
Shore further pointed out that the ventilation system at the Companies mine had not been operational since the explosion and that it was more likely that a lack of ventilation was the cause of the buildup given that fire damp was known to be present in the mine.
13.
At Bartonholm no 3 in 1871 four were killed when fire damp was ignited-William Graham age 55, Charles McDonald age 56, Thomas McQuade age 45, and Samuel Holmes age 29 . In 1874 at Eglinton Colliery an oversmen, James Lawson, aged 59, was killed when he fell down the shaft . In December 1874 a 16-year-old collier, Alexander Cupples, was killed at Bartonholm when the roof and sides of the tunnel collapsed.
14.
After the unification of Italy was involved in a great economic boom largely due to intense mining of sulfur, but it was accompanied by various misfortunes : 47 people died due to an explosion of fire damp in the mine of " Trabonella " on the 27th of April 1867; 65 miners died on November 12, 1881 in " Gessolungo " because of another explosion; and another 51 died in 1911 in " Deliella " and " Trabonella ".
