The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-09

the Dead.
From special reports sent from Avondae yes
teIday we extract the following:-
Within the Pit.
About O'Clock this morning the first door OF the
gangway was broken in and sixty bodies were found
there. Their situation was awful; fathers lay stif
in death with arms about their sons. Some Were
kneeling, as though in prayer strong men were
hand in nand with their fellows The pckaXes and
shOvels which they had used in making an embank-
ment to prevent the entrance of foul air, lay one
side II seemed, then that they had fled few steps,
when in an agony they fell in one anothers arms
suhocated by the deadly damp. In another
stripped themselves OF clothes to them in filling
up Clevices and Crannles. One man had pushed a
part OF mis- garment into an aperture when gust OF
the gas rushed through and strangled him to DEATH
Wagon loads OF collins line the road and litGers
lew minut AS they are brought out of tue tunnel
an inquest is held, the dead are exposed for recOg
nltion and when one is identified, the Justice calls
out his name and home; his friends take the body
and convey II to their house.
Already the dozen mules have caused an nsufrer-
able stencil, having swollen and bursted. The men
who go down to bring up the corpses have to pass
these carcases in order to get at the dead and the
STENCIL together with the gas, which has not yet
been pumped ont, makes it dicult to bring them
up. The solemnlty of the place is not alone that
which impresses the spectator
The weeping women and londly-crying children
strike the spectator with sadness but the active
CueTs, and the Prov ison Committee, and the police
and hucksters and The Unconditional miners, make t
painfully obvious that the present is time for bust
ness, and not for mourning alone.
FOrty-nve have already been taken up. One of
them showed signs of life. He was bleeding and
moved. he was found with his face in the water,
lying fiat on the bottom of the mine. Efforts are
being made to resuscitate him now.
The Scene mt Night.
At dark the scene was strange one. For many
miles up and down this beautiful valley the glare of
thousand lights were seen. The vast quantities of
burning coal at the breaker were covered with sheets
Of colored flame. Great brawny men worked
walls mothers wall came in O1 the night air, as 1t
| did years ago when death once reigned in the val;
| ley of the Wyoming Long lines OF men guarded
| the hOisting rope on either side, while those
at then posts attended to the duties assigned them
| The yolunteers were lowered by means OF machine
located the elevated plane at the upper side of
the shaft Here are lines OF miners extending back
some distance. When descent is to be made, word
ened The order 'Silencel" is given, and thousand
men stand motionless. at last the rope sackens,
and then there is another pause, while the foreman
looks at his watch. One, two, three minutes
are passed, and still ..t the silence sous con {,
| and away goes the horse with a man at his
heels on the run The rope runs slow, and the call
for more speed is heard again and again. At last
heads appear. GAN right! is heard rush is made,
and in minute the new comers fall fainting into
are borne away to the open air, where they are
famed and rubbed until life is restored 1t sick
| life beneath the ground utter not word of COM
| plant The news of "things below" is given in a
| whisper, sent in shouts to the men above.
All day and all night weary hours passed by, but
| the workers did not stop moment. You see grim
creature sitting on log. His eyes are scarcely
! suit close buttOned, made him look as though he
had been on spree for week. lie is an English
MINER and he is one of the most experienced in the
| State. He has come many miles to rescue his
brothers, and well does he do his work | saw him,
and wondered when i learned that he had been
the fatal shaft several times, and staid down
| longer than almost any other person.
FIcOlSing 10 the Spot.
At Piston station over two thousand persons lined
the platform, all eager to get down To the OF
the great disaster-many from curiosity, others 10
Iearn the fate of relatives and friends few could
Ind rnnnn and tha Dl,ain
| forced TO find other modes of conveyance or wait
for later train. 1t was the same at West Pttston
| Kingston, Wyoming, and Delaware. In all perhaps
l5O persons were disappointed in not having room
TO rice on this train from Scranton. The women
were especially numerous, and in many instances
when refused admission on the train braved the risk
OF moving cars and crowded platforms to jump
board, with every prospect OF instantly falling or
The country for miles around appeared to he Occu-
pied by one thought-the accident at Avondale.
me mines, Of course, were all stopped, and every
ess the sad and fearful calamity that befel large
Il number OF his class.
When the train reached Avondale an assemblage
Il ABOUT ten Thousand already occupied the hillside
IN long lines, rising aDove the other, and every
iye gazing lntently down upon the road leading TO
he mouth OF the tunnel, out OF which every fifteen
II lnutes issued dead body on stretcher, borne be-
just before each body was raised from the black
and awful depths below couple of miners nvaria-
| bly, preceded II, faint and weary, leaning upon each
other, and, with lantern still lighted in front OF
their hats, were forwarded 10 the base of big tree
where they lay down to rest and had restOratives
given them TO bring them back to strength and fuller
CONSCIOUSNESS Every available space in the neigh
horhood OF the tunnel entrance thrOnged by
h en- and women, the latter sitting like daughters of
Jtphlha, with features expressive of a deep and
abiding sorrow,
Who are Censured.
Olcourse there Is a deep-seated feeling among the
hlnlng population that in consulting their own pc
cGnary Interests the owners OF the mine showed
an utter Indifference TO the lives of those in their
employment. The sum OF $4,000 would have been
hulhclent To have sunk another shaft which would
nave permitted means OF escape to the men, and
saved perhaps all of them and spared widespread
grel and misery among hundreds of women and
children.
Every house in the vicinity Of the Avondae mines
ana Tor miles is widowed tonight, and none but the
Almighty knows the anguish OF this state of be-
reaVement
How the fire originated can never he truly told
tnat a spark from the furnace in the bottom OF the
PIT set fire to dry woodwork, which, when famed by
he strong current OF yeDtlating air gradually grew
INTO name and burned hercely up the shaft in quick
uhle, lgntng the breaker overhead and destroying
the engine houses.
The Volunteers.
The miners who went down the pit IN pairs were
all Volunteers strong, resOlute men, with frames OF
great endurance-and, though well used 10 the at
mOSphere OF mines ana accustomed Tor years 10
work below the surface of the earth, Drawing and
bearing well the noXiOus gases generated i'll coal
mines each one nevertheless on reappearing at the
surface after an absence OF twenty OF twenty-nve
minutes, showed all the symptoms OF the utmost
physical prostitution. In almost every instance II
was necessary 70 apply restoratVes so great was the
- eXhaati0n.
The bodies all, as general thing. present horr.
BILE appearance caused no doubt by black cOal-dust
with which every thickly smeared yet they
ald not seem TO give much expression OF pain IN tne
inevitable fate, which gives 10 some features calm
Q ana ppdiAtuTbed appearance.