The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-09-23
golitits and alews,
THE GREAT MINING CALAMITY.

AvOnuale, Pa. over one hundred men
were hurried into eternity by one Of those
disasters not untrcquent in mining coun-
tries. The cause OF the disaster must, to
a certain extent, always remain myste-
ry. Not one survives to tell the story OF
suffering and death, and the origin OF the
catastrophe is mainly matter OF conJec-
turc. The newspapers are filled with
lengthy accounts, written from the scene
of disaster, giving such information as
will shed the most light upon this sad
event, and relating the agonzing picture
presented upon discovering the bodies OF
these unfortunate miners. We will give
such as our limited space permits, and
begin with the following concise narra-
tive from the New York Tribune:
The collery in which this terrible ac-
cident occurred Is entered by perpen-
dicular shaft, 327 feet deep, on the side
of Il mountain. From the bottom of it,
DO feet below the surface of the valley
run two main galleries, sloping upward,
one $40 and the other 12UO feet long.
Smaller passages and chambers, SO in
number, branch off from these. There
is no access to the open air except by
this single shaft which had to serve all
tue purposes Of Il hoist-way for the work
men and the coal, and channel for the
ventilating current which in all mines
must b. constantly forced by machinery
through the various galleries and drifts.
The Sides of the shafts were built UP
with wooden supports, and a wooden
partition ran perpendicularly through its
whole length, dividing it into two passa,
ges, one Tor the upward, the other for the
downward current. Right over It's
mouth stood a great wooden building.
containing the machinery for hosting
and for breaking. sorting and cleaning
the coal. To assist in creatinga current
of air IL fire was always kept burning in
Il furnace ut the foot OF the shaft, and
from this it is supposed the woodwork
must have caught. On Monday morning
TWO hundred men went down that SHAFT
TO resume work after Il long strike They
were followed, about 9 o'clock, by one OF
the mule-tcnuers, with hay for his beasts
As he reached the bottom he was heard
10 cry Fire :" but what he saw we never
shall know, for in un instant fierce col
umn of fame rushed up the shaft, caught
the.brealicr AS if that had been a house
OF paper, and wrapped the whole struc-
1urc in sheets of fire. The mouth of the
pL belchcd forth destruction. Hundreds
,,t' tons Of coal in the shutGs and bins
were soon i'll u white glow, and dropped
with the falling beams INTO the shaft. 1t
WAS seven or clght hours before the ell
III, lana ,,t
disaster from all the neighJorng towns
succeeded in extinguiShng the burning
mass. Workmcn had fockcd 10 the spot
from the entire miniLg region, for 1t was
known that two hundred of their breth-
rem were imprisoned among the deadly
vapors of that awful pit. The rubbish
was cleared away from the mouth, and
fifty experienced miners volunteered TO
attempt the descent. 1t WAS now about
6 in The evening To test the purity Of
the air Il dog and Il lighted lamp welc
first lowered into the shaft us far as they
would 20. At the end OF five minutes
they were drawn up the dog WAS alive,
the lamp still burning A miner named
Charles Vartue then went down TO recon-
nollre, but about halt way from the bot
tom he found the shaft blocked with fall.
en limbcrs Two fresh volunteers were
then lowered with hatchcls. After ~
minutes they were drawn up again,
faint and Lrcathlrss They had penctra-
ted seventy or eighty yards into Il gang
way, finding three dead mules, and COM
iam at last 10 u closed door They ham
mcred at it aud waited for an answering
sound, but no answer came, and through
tho crcviccs poured clouds of sulphurons
vapor-the fatal "black damp" Several
other parties, in the course OF the even
ing and night, made attempts to penetrate
into The gangways. but with little more
success. Few could remain more than
five or six minutes, and when drawn up
they were all spcechlcss and exhausted.
Several were brought back by their COM
panions entirely inscnsible. Two brave
fellows, Daniel Jones and Thomas Will
liams, were brought back dead. There
WAS no hope now that any OF the miners
remained alive, unless possibly they had
succeeded in walling themselves in at some
remote part OF the mine SO eficctnally us
to vrcvcnt the entrance OF the foul gilsscs
from The shaft 1t was only the shadow
of hope; still the work went on, while
women sat wringing their hands and
weeping for their husbands and children,
and miners from distant regions came III
hundreds TO offer their assistance. by
nine o'clock on Tuesday morning an ell
ginc and fam had been placed in position
TO force fresh air into the mine. a Il day
long parties went down ut intervals, but
the black damp drove them back, and the
f. IS did not seem to gain upon it. About
fonr IN the afternoon it WAS discovered
that the fire ut tho foot of the shaft,
which was supposed to be entirely ex-
tinrushcd, had been revived by the fresh
current and communicated with a MASS
NJ cn,I lvino near. Thas the workmcn