Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-09-11
THE TERRIBLE MINING CALAMITY.

Details of the Great Disaster in Pennsyl-9
vania-Unsuccessful Efforts to Save
the Buried Miners-Fatal Effects Of a
False Theory-The Deadly and SUI
locating Blaok-Damp of the Mines
Heroic Efforts to Penetrate the Recess
ses of the Mines, etc.
Scranton, Pa, Sept. 8.-The great
disaster and loss of life in the mines at
Avondale foreshadowed in the dispatches
since Monday has become certainty.
All efforts so far to relieve the men or
get at them have been worse than fruit
less. There is now scarcely a hope that
a single one of the men entombed will
be found alive. At first it was suppos-
ed that 200 men were in the mine when
the fire broke out, but later investiga-
tions have shown that the number was
exaggerated. Not less than 1873 nor
more than 150 men and boys were in
and down the shaft at the time. There
are fifty-nine chambers in the mine, and
in each of these chambers ere one minor
and one helper, but as some of these
men. it is known, were not at work, one
hundred is the number allowed for mi
ners and helpers There were, in addi-
ton, nine drivers, nine door-boys, eight
gangway men, one oiler, one boss mule
driver, one rodman, one roofman, one
footman and six extra hands. This
places the number shut up at 1873. The
general agent will not admit that there
were any more in the mine. But
whether there are two hundred or less,
they are all dead, and probably, from a
fatal mistake made by their friends
above.
A FATAL THEORY.
Some of the men who went down the
shaft last night, reported that the fire in
the furnace was all out. The presump-
ton was that when the fire broke out
the miners had kept their senses, and
having dragged the fire, had fled to the
upper chambers, closing the doors be-
hind them. Surprising this to be true,
the rescuers proceeded on the simple
plan of forcing fresh air into the mine
by means of fan working by an en-
CINE, both machines having been taken
from Scranton Forty-six men had
been enrolled as volunteers to descend
the shaft, and, in less than half an hour
the first two went down 100 feet to re-
connoitre They lowered lamps which
burned freely. Nearly an hour later
four men descended, but quickly re-
turned, reporting that they had encoun
tered "blacll damp" or ''bIue damp, as
the miners call the deadly carbonic acid
gas, which had forced them to retire.
They penetrated the gangway thirty
feet. Ia another hour more men went
down seventy-fvo feet, and opened a
set of doors Thus it went on until
nearly p. IN. yesterday, when a party
of men, penetrating two hundred feet
and opening the door, made the discove-
ry that the fire was still burning in the
furnace, and had even ignited the coal
piled outside of it.
ALL HOPE GONE. f..
Those understanding the situation,
upon hearing this fact, saw in moment
that all hope was at an end, and that
all that could be done was to drag the
lost miners from their fiery tomb for
Christian burial They saw, too, that
all the labor of the day had been more
than thrown away, and that they had
unwillingly been Engaged IN making
certain the death of their comrades be-
low, if any of them had CHANGED to re-
main alive, by forcing air down the
shaft to feed the flames, to breed deadly
gases, and to fill the entire mine with
life-destroying vapors.
THE OPERATIONS CHANGED.
A change of operations was then in
stantly decided on. 1t was determined
to direct immediate effort to the ex-
tinguishment of the fire. Means are
now arranged to that end, and the day
was occupied by deluging the mine
with water. If the mine is not cleared
of dangerous gases, sufficient to allow
of its exploration, other remedies will
be tried The risks thus far attendant
upon attempts to penetrate the mine
have been extreme, and, although no
life has been lost, four Of the brave
men who descended were brought to
the surface in an insensible condition,
and were only revived after great labor
and the application of the most power
full remedies.
THE SCENE OF THE DISASTER.
The scene of this catastrophe, I'M
paralleled in the histoey Of American
mining, is on the Lackawanna and
Bloomsbury railroad, twenty-five miles
from Scranton, about six from Wilkes
barre, and about one and q half below
the hamlet of Plymouth. The shaft is
sunk in the side of steep mountain;
is 237 feet deep and 40 feet below the
mountain; has tunnel opening into it
which is dug through the mountain.
The main gangways of the mines are
nearly east and west from the shaft,
the first being about 1900 feet in length
and the latter about 800. Both east
and west the inclines arc upward, and
the gangways about ten feet in the clear.
The sides of the shaft are numbered
with wooden fixtures. The great wood
en- building, in which was the breaking
machinery, was Immediately upon the
mouth, and all of this infammable ma
terial was as dry as finder. fla spark
of fire touched any of this wood any
where, even outside the mine, a great
confagation was inevitable,and its COM
munication to the interior Of the shaft
"a vino aIn,ost certain To these facts