The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-12-15
LOCAL MATTERS.

LOCAL MATTERS.
Lass Of Life and Dsssraes.oa of Properly at aa
InlaloMtah cog rus Ia our Saturdays issue VI
gave hurried account Of the late terrible aceidap
1t the Midlothian Coal Pits In Chesterf eid county
which cost twelve men their lives and iuyoIyef
sne company In heavy pecuniary losses Since
then we have learned full particulars Of this sad
affair, AMI now give them to our readers:
About l o'clock last Friday morning the n. ,t
men discovered q sudden rise of water in the deeu
SHAFT, and supposng that some accident had occur
red. reported that fact to the gasman, whose duty
| II was to go down that morning to see if All v..
right, and who Immediately proceeded 10 descend
into the pit to make an examination Going down
| win eaniion. be eventually reached the water
which be found had risen forty feet above the bot
'om Q, tne snait: On striking the sigaal he was
raised ana attention was then directed TO the "riss
snsf, oy which the coal was brought to the sur.
race; and as soon as steam could be got m in the
| engiae, Mr. AvERICK, the Midlothian Mining Agent
ar. JOE ATKINS the Mining Agent for the English
company, and etaers, y hose names We did net hes
descended the pit, with the view of rescuing The
unfortunate men in it, il possible On getting
oo~n In the pit they found that the communication
Det"een tne two shafts nearly cut off, but dssermi
| neo 70 40 All IN their power, they nobIy set to
work and succeeded In effecting passage and res
cuing two white men. WILLIAM BARNES and RYI-
BEN BURTON, both of whom had made their escape
l1oui Inc submerged drift along the highest rise
4
eo INTO the workings rs far IS they were access,
oie, with the hope of being able to rescue others
ons taiied to mud another human being. leaving but
tue aoaot on the mind OF any one connected with
the work, that they had all persisted in the dsuee
Ino.e now missing are William Dunn James
| rarely, I homas Lester, J. W Pringie and Edva
"a" SOD, white men and Bristol White Thomas
jackson, Daniel Wa hngtoD, slaves Of the Mielo
imam company Edward Mills and Henry Dckin.
son. slave to Nicholas Mills Esq of this eitv. John
Goooe, the property Of Mr.. Goode; and Mark Mar
| tin, owned by William E Martin, of Chesterfield.
MOST or the white men, If not all, have lett help
ess ana dependent families, whose situations will
be truly depiorabls if prompt aid is not rendered
lhem from those who have hearts to feel and
meaos 10 subscribe to the relief OF the dsconsolate
wido" and sorEowing orphan. Bereft Of protee-
| truly hard lot. =
| Inc cause OF the accident. as we stated on Sat.
nfdsy was oy one OF the working drifts utersect.
ing the Old works of the White Chimney Pits,
| WHICH mad been abandoned many years age and
stood fuli OF water Similar accidents have oceur.
red In England, notwiths sanding the great precau.
| tion tsken in boring ahead OF tue working
| ga saturday morning the rescping party again
aeScs ended the pit and resumed their explorations
| but oees1ss of the accumulation of after damn
could not gat rs far into the wo kings as they had
/ donethe morning previous +
We understand shat the company will proceed
! q! once to pump out and reduce the water, which
must be done before the exten. of damage 70 tbs
works can be ascersained or the lost bodies recov
cred. 1t the body Of water IL as great as some
| suppose, 1t will cost vast amount of money to
gss ria OF 1t Until an exploration can be made
aowever, it will be impossible to form any idea of
the losses :
Discorry Of Dead Body.-Yesterday afternoon
| as Ar. Andeew J. Haw sins, member of the Pub
| lie Guard, was about leaving hs residence corner
| Of 9th AID Syrd streets, he observed two gro
men pass his door, one of them having under bis
| right arm candle box. Supposing it possible
| that the negro had come improperly by the box,
Mr. IL ssoppsd the two and demanded to know its
esnt-ns Onreceiving reply statis contained no
ing. Mr. IL took the box in his hauds and rsmarA.
ed that it was too heavy to be empty. The negro
then stated that is contained the body of o white
child, which had been given him by q white lady
at B. L. Jones' corner to bury, and that he was
en- his way to Hollywood Cemetery With this
Mr.. Hawkins arrested both negroes, aud took
them to the second station house As soon Al
these facts were made known TO Coroner Keesse
Jury Of inquest was summoned, when the follow
ing facts " ere developed:
Five or six weeks ago . man calling him self
Ditman, and kailing from North Carolina called
at MIR. X. d Yarrington's and obtaiaed board for
his wife aud her aunt, Mrs. Allen, the wife bein z
in delicate health. After remaining twenty-fsu
hours. ar. Ditman and Mrs. Allen LEFT for North
Carolina. leaving Mrs d. in the city because Of
her i'll health, Mrs. Allen promising to return In
two waeka. In about two days after that tims
Mrs. D. was taken i'll, and wrote for her aunt, who
came on Ars. D., during her illness, gave prema
, |
Saturday last, when death ended it's sufferings--
Being without money save s., E.s Allen endea-
vsrsd to get the infant buried for that amount but
falling to do so had the little creature placed in
box yesterday and got the negro man to take 1t t.
the burying ground in his arms, she being too sick
| to accompany the corpse to its last resting place
and the health of Mr.. Warrington being too preca-
rious to admit of his going. On the way to Holly
wood, the nero was arrested as we have already
stated.
| After examining the body, AID hearing the evi-
dsnce the jury rendered a verdicts that the child
came to its death by natural causes. and the ne
groes were therefore discharged Tho Coroner
then took ckarge of the corpse and had 1t properly
inferred.
| Firs-The residence Of Michael Purcell on I'LL
street, near tbs Wesleyan Chapel, came very nigh
being destroyed by fire last Saturday night. One
of Mr. P 8 daughters, after supper WAS over, car
risd her young brother up stairs and put him to
bad, leaving burniog candle on the bureau e
iadncs the fellow to to sleep. In the course of
hour or 80 after, Mss MeDonoush. who occupied
portion Ct the room, repaired to IT for sorns pur
| pose, when abe discovered that the snuh OF the
candle bad fallen into q drawer among lot o.
, pop crackers causing them to explode, and frir
sons books and papers around j: from which ths
: bureau caught and was in blaze TIE alarm
. wa. Immediately given. and by the aid Of th.
4 ncighbors tho IRE exsin nguished bat not unit
the bureau and its contents Of clothing, jewer,
and papers were destroyed, or badly damaged
! Miss Med. lost about 500 worth by the accident
ana Mr. Purcell papers to the vaiue Of $50. Nj
Hyde, q neishbor, in jumping the fence to rende
assistance dropped from bis pocket go In banl
notes and IS In specie, but afterwards recovered
/ the notes. Had the discovery of the hre been ter
minutes lsisr the house would have been con
sumed.
q Tie Hearico Dragons had public drill at Gen
r Wan Richa Idson's farm on Saturday last, and ai
. forwards, with q number Of guests, partook of
collation. provided for the occasion. This we te
) ieve. ID the Only regularly organized nouns
company Ia this State at this time though throus
its iastrumentsty efforts are now being made tc
establish troop in Cumberland, ~ well as In oth
e o. counsies As arm of the police In times 0
/ usbteak or invasion, mounted companies are in
dispepsaoie, and If they can be sustained in NJ
o'hsr way, every eouaty shoul make special Ia
: Wy 10 support troop of its OWN In Henrico th
i County Court has made small appropriation Il
It's Dragons; and If other counties would follow th
a example thus <et, the military Of the State wdu
be far more Efficient than az present. At the mex
e session OF tie Legislature an effort will be mad
TO amend the rr militia laws and If il eed
the volunteer systsll wiz be greatly increased i
q | ralue
= LntaefnI Asssas6ly -Yesterday morning office
. Norris entered ;hs house of john Dinsisy il
| Screansrsvilie and arrested IA unlawful asseiabf
OF twelve negroes, who were engaged In piayin