The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-09-09
BY TELEGRAPH.
THE coLL1ERY DISASTER.
discovery that Ihe' Purnnce was
Burning and had Fired the Coal.
The last Faint Hope AbAadou,d Ht 4
+, NJ, Tuesday.
Tho Numbers OF inc Los. Ovor.tu,'

The Numbers or the Lost OVerstated.
HFa.H' la- New YORK, Sept. 2
"a Scranton special says thers were not
less than 1888 nor more than l50 people
In the AVondale mine, when the RccI-
dent occurred. Some men who went
down IN The shaft, reported that the Are
In the furnace was all out. The pre-.
sumption was that when the Gre broke
out, the miners had kept their senses,
and having dragged tho fire had fed
TO the upper chambers closing the doors
behind them. Supposlng this 10 be
true the rescuers proceeded on The slm>
pie plan Of forcing fresh air Into the
mine; this was continued TIL four In
the afternoon, when O party OF men
penetrating 200 feet and opening the
door made the discovery that the fire
was still burning In the furnace, and
had ignited the coal piled outside
OF II. 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
10 drag the lost miners from their fiery
tomb 10 Christian burial. A change OF
operations was then Instantly decided
on. II was determined 10 direct imme>
dlate efforts TO the extlnRuishment Of
the fire. Means are now arranged TO
that end, and the night will be occu-
pied by deluglng the mine with water.
SCRANTON, Pa, Sept. 7.
AT 7;5O o'clock to. night John Price,
L. Morris, Wm. Thomas and Elijah
Thomas went down-it being Morrls's
second trlp-for the purpose OF Rrrang-
Ing the house. They were down tW enty
minutes, aud +. Morris was brought
out inSenslble, lalnting before he
reached the carriage. The second trip
proved more than he could stand. He
was resusitAted In q short time. The
others were all right, They succeeded
In getting the house ready to haul up.
The Terrible Truth at Last-MOrS
than u Hundred Dead Bodies
4. Taken Out-TheIr Shocking
Condition.
SCRANTON, Sept. 8.
Four men who went down the shaft
yesterday afternoon, aud explored a
Hangway, opened a door leading 10 a
furnace, and found 1t full OF burning
coal and lot Of coal, near by blazing,
One became overpoWered and they re-
turned 10 tho mouth OF the shaft, where
they were with difficulty restored from
the effects Of the gas and blue damp,
which WAS following them. 1t was
then determined to pour water into the
mine to exingnlsh the fre; and after
some four hours, another party went
down aud carried hose 10 the furnace,
They reported the hre dying out In the
furnace. Oiher parties went down and
placed the hOse lu position to throw
water on the furnace. After the
water had been turned on two hours,
two parties went down, the last
one returning In bad condition
from effects OF blue damp which arose
very freely. About . O'Clock this morn
lug another gang went down and
brought up the bodies OF two miners,
which were Ia bad and unrecOguIzAble
condition, being badly bIoaEed ami
clols OF blood about their mouths. Ono
Is a young man and the other middle
aged. Tne excitement was intense.
The air In the mine was then improy.
Ing. .- 49,,
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 8.
Special dispatches from Scranton.
dated 4 o'clock to-day, report the find.
ing oi nearly two hundred dead bodies
Of miners piled up together In Avon.
dale mine. -. -....
" A private dispatch says one hundred.
and three dead bodies lave been
brought up from the mine.