Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-09-16

" NAONh wa hDtJOAuANl Tit
of an Irish miner, and all the Irish
e men employed at Avondale resOlvet
to attend it. Over fifty worked in tn
thank that funeral for escaping q ter
# rible fate. Truly may 1t be said II
their case that through death they
found life. Half a dozen IrishmeI
were among the victims; all the rest
4 about one hundred, were Welsh, and
of the same nationality were most o.
those who periled their lives in the
rescue of the dead bodies. Only two
native Americans were found.
1t was a sad commentary on the
prejudices that warp the miners
minds against those who are placed in
any position over them that the body
of Evan Hughes, "the inside boss y
though found first, was compelled, in
Difference to these unholy prejudices,
to he left in the pit until twenty other
bodies were removed, though at each
removal it was necessary to brush
against the dead body of Hughes, who
was found sitting on pile Of coal in
one of the main passages. Had Hughes
been brought up first, dead, disfigured
and blackened as he was, the miners
would have murmured against this
grim partiality; SO there he had to
stay, an actual inPediment to the pro-
gress of the exploring gangs, until
twenty Others were removed.
HOW LONG THE IMPRISONED MINERS
LIVED.
A great many opinions have been
given on the probable length Of time
/ which the imprisoned men lived after
the fire in the shaft broke out at nine
O'Clock Monday morning. Yesterday
some people believed thequestion was
entirely set at rest by the finding of
several dinner and water cans full,
from which fact it was inferred death
resulted before Il o'clock, noon, the
! time when the men are accustomed to
/ take their dinner. This theory il
! plausible enough, but then it is by no
| means hard to believe that when the
miners discovered the dreadful nature
of their situation all thought of din
! ner and dinner-canS fled from their
minds; and had they lived for twenty
| four hours it is not unreasonable to
think the same indifference to food
| would have continued. Anybody who
has been amid the dangers of a battle
! field will readily recognize this feel
| ing,
THE WORK DONE IN THR RESCUE.
To a stranger looking at the vast
amount of debris strewd around the
scene, and aware OF the fact that an
other vast amount fell down the shaft
! a depth greater than from the top of
| the traceried pinnacle of Trinity
! Church to the sidewalk beneath, and
| chOked UP the only means of ingress
and egress to hight of forty feet
from the bottom, 1t seems marvellous
how the re5cuing party ever got to
work in so brief a time. Then again
the machinery was all destroyed, the
flames burned with the tiercest ViO-
lence in the shaft and below it, and
for hundred yards outside the mine
on the slope. descending 70 the rail- |
road track most intense slow fire |
made the atmosphere intOlerable for a |
wide circuit Of space. There Werh nl |
fire engines On the ground, no ma
ChineFy TO replace what was destroyed, |
and none of the cOnvenieRce5 at hand |
to meet the eXigencieS Of the Oeca-
sion.
Almost everything had to be brought |
from Scranton, distance of twenty |
three miles. The fire in the shaft was |
finally put out, but the slow burning |
anthracite that flowed down the hill- |
side In a fiefy stream, like lava, still |
kept up its white heat, and, uniting |
with the hlistering sqnr9ys, made the /
work of excavation fit only for gang
of salamanders. 4 beam Of timber |
was laid across the partly dismaRtled |
walls Of the enginehOuse, a couple of
young oak trees were felled on the
mountain to support this beam, Il
drum was rugged up, Il rope put around
il and run over a pulley attached to
the beam Just mentioned, a horse was
procurel To drive the drum, and a /
bucket being attached to the rope over
the shaft, the next question remained
who was the man TO venture down |
that black and steaming mouth, with
all the anticiDated horrors to be met !
with bellows ,H
THE HEROIsA OF THE RESCUE.
The crowd around the shaft was tre-
mendously excited at this time. The
bravest fell back appalled, at the pros
pect of Venturing alone in bucket |
down into the gloom Of that awful
ruin, not unlike a Lying picture of
hell itself. The beams OF timber in /
the partition across che center of the
shaft still smoked from the recent fire, |
Whoever should venture to 20 down |
took his life in his own hands, for all |
the sulphurOus gases had been let |
loose by the consuming fire, and one |
breath of such was sure asphyXatiOn.
Mr.. Charles Nartue, of the Grand |
Tunnel eolliery, was the first man |
who ventured dawn the mine. lie |
stepped forth to the sacrifice looking |
the beau ideal of Il hero, with & well |
cut, reSolute face, athletic build and
clear blue eve of unWaVering Steadi- |
ness. 1t was here the herOism WAS !
shown, to which no mere words Oft
praise or admiration can do adequate i
Justice. Aartue was the first to 90 |
down the shaft; but Others as heroic |
followed and penetrated In darkness
and amid rushing clouds OF sulphur
into gangways and chambers where |
death in frightful shapes had visited.
The courage of the battlefield has |
nothing In 1t n0hlGrGr more seifsao-
rificing than theeOnduct of these brave |
men who, perceiving that In some re-
mote chamber OF the mine their fell |
lOw-men were waiting and painting |
for deliVerance, struggled through the /
foul air, the awful gloom, and OPP |
pressiye stiffness TO rescue them or |
perish in the attempt.
MIDNIGHT AT THE MINE.
Wednesday night, when the last
body, the l0Sth, was taken nom the /
pit, and the work of eXhumatiOn was /
rapid and eeaseleSS, the scent from
after dark till dawn was terribly pic
turesque. On the hill where the min
ing shops stood is an immensely high
and pOnderous wall of mountain rock, |
intended, no doubt, to support a road
way TO the mines and keep the soil of /
the mountain from giving way. Along 1
the parapet of this wall row of hu- I
man figures sat, partly women, but
mostly men. Another wall, twenty
feet lower than this and removed fur
ther out, was occupied in the same I
way. Next TO this, still coming down |
the hillside, intervened the road to |
the tunnel, thickly thrOnged with men
waiting for the appearance of the
bodies. Lower still came third wall,
like the others level with the road
way II supported, and this was also /
laid under contribution.
Looking up from the railroad track, !
the spectators above appeared like the |
audience In the galleries of a theater, |
rising in tiers, one above the other, |
while the great central object Of at |
4. n