Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1869-09-16
Seleet aseading.
A TERRIBLE INNING CALAMITY.

q L L Ii l. Il
SCRANTON, PA, Sept. 6.-The great
disaster and loss of life in the mines at
Avondale foreshadowed in the dispatches
since Monday has become a certainty -
All efforts so far to relieve the men or
get at them have been worse than fruitless
There is now scarcely a hope that sin
gle one Of the men entombed will be founi
alive. At first it was supposed thai 200
men were in the mine when the fire broke
cut, but later Investigations have shown
that the number was exaggerated. Not
less than 1873 nor more than 100 men and
boys were in and down the shaft at the
time. There are fifty nine chambers in
the mine, and one helper, but, as
some of these men it is known, were not
at work, one hundred is the number al
lowed for miners and helpers. There
were, in addition, nine drivers nine door
boys, eight gangway men, one oiler, one
roofman, one footman and six extra
hands. This places the number shut up
at 1873. The general agent will not ad-
nit that there we're any more in the mine.
But whether there are two hundred or
less, they are all dead, and, probably
from 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 fed to the
upper chambers, closing the doors behind
them. Surprising this to be true the res
cuers proceeded on the simple plan of
forcing fresh air into the mine by means
of fan working BY an engine, both ma
chimes having been taken from Scranton.
Forty-six men had been enrolled as vol
unteers to descend the shaft, and, in less
than half an hour the first two went down
100 feet to reconnoitrc. They lowered
lamps which burned freely. Nearly an
hour later four men descended, but quick
ly returned, reporting that they had
encountered black damp" or blue damp,
as the miners call the deadly carbonic acid
gas, which had forced them to retire
They penetrated the gangway thirty feet
In another hour more men went down
seventy-fve feet and opened a set of
doors. Thus it went on until nearly 4
P. NJ. yesterday, when party of men,
penetrating two hundred feet and OPEN
ing the door, made the discovery that
the fire was still burning in the furnace,
and had even ignited the coal piled out
side of it.
ALL HOPE GONE.
Those understanding the situati on, up
on 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 below, if any Of them had
CHANGED to remain alive, by forcing air
down the shaft to feed the flames, to breed
deadly gases, and to fill the entire mine
Will ile-ueclIoJihS faPoi'.
TIE OPERATIONS CHANGED.
A change Of operation was then instant
" decided on. 1t was determined to dI-
rect immediate effort to the extinguish-
meut of the fire. Means are now arrang-
ed to that end, and the day was occupied
by deluging the mine with water. lftbe
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, al
though 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 lal or
and the application of the most powerful
remedies.
THE SCENE OF THE DISASTER.
The scene Of the catastrophe, unparal-
! leled in the history of American mining,