Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-07
Over One Hundred Men Buried
Alive i'm "A Coal Mine.

The columns of the papers of Germany
are filled with the particulars of the great
est disaster that ever desolated any mining
district: 5cs +ri.a I'd. Il
On the 1st of July last the wooden frame
work of thousand five hundred feet deep
pit of a coal mine i'll the neighborhood of
Lugau, in Saxony, gave way, blocking up
with an impenetrable mass of timber and
rock the pit at depth of about three hun
dred ellis from the top. At the moment
of the disaster one hundred and two men,
nearly all of them the supporters of large
families, were working at the bottom of
the mine. Their provisions were only cal
culated for one day. On the 9TH of July,
the date of our latest news by mail, the
place where the fallen masses had stopped
the pit, was of such solid structure that
the water was standing on it many teet
high. s.,-,.-- ~ ~
From all sides the most available help
was offered, but the conviction that moth
ing could be done soon enough to save the
unfortunate miners, weakened, as it seems,
any energetic efforts. They were doomed
to die of starvation and want of fresh air.
On the 4th of July all attempts to reach
the bottom of the mine by any quick pro-
cess were abandoned, and a sure but slow
plan was devised, by which at least the
cOrpses of the perished could be extracted.
Iron tubes of about two feet in diameter
were to be sunk through the obstruction
down to the bottom of the pit. Among the
dead are fortyfour married men, one of
whom had wife and nine living children.
The scenes at the entrance of the pit are
described as lamentable without par
allel. One hundred and thirty-seven chill
dren filled the air with their woeful cries,
whilst the superintendent of the mine, to
whose negligence the disaster was ascribed
by the people, could only be saved from be-
ing mobbed by his su dden imprisonment.
CH1EF JUSTICE PARSONS was one of the
ablest men that Massachusetts ever pro-
duced. His power with a Jury was extra
ordinary. He avoided, from principle, all
attempts at oratory, being convinced, as
was often said of Mr.. Choate, that a reputa-
tion for eloquence was formidable obsta-
Gle to success. He talked directly to jury
in simple language, with great conciseness,
putting the case with earnestness, pressing
it with strong logic, and making them feel
that they had no doubt they must agree
with him. His most elaborate argument
did not exceed an hour, and rarely went
beyond half an hour. An eminent lawyer
tells an amusing story of one of his earliest
pleas. The case, was an important one, and
Parsons was unknown to most persons out
side the bar. When he began, his argu-
ment he leaned one foot on chair, and one
elbow on his knee, and began to talk as if
he were explaining the matter to compa-
ny of neighbors, and there could be no
doubt about his version of it. The lawyer
saw at once that he was winding the. jury
around his finger, but they we. e. uncon-
seious of the process, for when they had
given him the verdict, one of them came to
the lawyer and said, naively: who is
this Mr.. Parsons? He is not much OF a
lawyer, and don't look or talk as if he
would ever be one; but he seems to be a real
good sort of q man." i1l's-