Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-09-16
Authenticated Particulars Of the
AVondale Horror.
Shocking RumOr About the Origin of
the Calamity.
The Shaft Said to Have Been Fired
With Kerosene Oil.
Revenge on the Welsh Miners the
Motive.
Mining Accidents Analogous 10 that
of AVOndaIe.
The Horrors Endured by Imprisoned
Miners.

From the Correspondence y. Y. Herald
SCRANTON. September 10, 1869.
ALL DOUBTS REMOvED-NO MORT
BODIES IN THE MINE.
Tonight no more doubts exist as tC
the probability of other bodies being
still lying in the mines. A few, how.
| ever, shake their heads and say if the
mine was thoroughly searched at least
ten bodies more might be found lying
4 in the remote portions Of the mine.
| Experienced and careful miners per
sist in declaring that this cannot pos
siblg be, as the mine was a new one,
! with no intricate passages or inacce5-
sible chambers, and that every corner
in ii was as thoroughly known to the
engineers a. might he the rooms in a
twO-5tOFy house.
Nevertheless, some men are still in
credulOus. One person bases his dis
belief of the total clearing of the mine
on the statement Of a woman living
in PittstOn who had two sons lost by
the accident. She says her sons, and
five men who boarded with her started
! for AvOndale on Monday morning,
and out of the seven only five have
been accounted for. She feels sure the
Others are still in the mine, but there
is likelihood that they might have
been taken out and cared for by some
one OF their friends of whom she
knows nothing.
Two gangs went down the shaft
this morning to satisfy themselves
that no bodies remained, and returned
without any. Another gang went
down to destroy, by application of sui
phuric acid, the putrid remains of
some half dozen mules, which were
becoming particularly offensive.
\ NEW THEORY BQ WAY OF EXPLA-
NATION. s
A new theory to account for the dis
aster AT AvOndale has been started
this evening. and / can only give il
for what it is worth, merely promising
that it is probably set afioat in the in
terest Of the mine owners. As antag
oniSm has existed in this section for a
year or two past between the Welsh
miners and those of the other ma
tiOns, based upOn the partiality
shown 10 the former in the way of
promoting them to I'LL most of the
superior positions around the mine,
this antagonism has developed itself
in evidences of ill-ieeling. The
Welsh have always been slow TO
strike, and in the meetings of the mi
ner's unions theyhave nearly unani-
mOusly voted against the "basis,"
which il a term expressing an agree
ment among the miners to strike
whenever tile f0al fell, and not work
until it went above that figure again.
The other mines have mostly favored
this mode OF proceeding, and the
Welsh alone have been opposed to it.
Three months ago a meeting was
held, at which, after much debate, il
was agreed on all sides TO strike. The
strike was failure, and the Welsh
were more Indignant than ever with
those who led them into the fiuitless
struggle to uphold the 'basis."
This week, with pockets empty end
the pinch of privati0n nearly felt, the
men c. the AYondale mine went to
work. In the meantime, ani0ng tho
mining circles Of Hyde Park near here,
threats were ffeel v uttered against the
Welsh for their tlmIdlty in striking,
and the grllmbling they indulged In
when called upon to sustain pro-
longed opposition to the mine own
erS.
SUPPOSED DIARoHCAL IEcENDIAR-
ISM.
So much by way of explanation.
Now for the story Of tF9nscendant
sensatiOnalism that has come 10 light
this evening By way OF the village of
II gah slxB
holds himself responsible, but which
is super-eXcellent food for speculation
to pass from hand to hand. Monday
morning funeral was announced to
take place at Plymouth, near Avon
dale, and 10 this funeral all the miners
were invited except the Welsh.
When the latter went below to their
work 1t is supposed the wooded parti-
ton in the shaft was fired with kero-
sene oil by some persons standing in
the tunnel forty feet below the top of
the shaft, and thus the work of des-
tructi0n was hegun, 10 give color to
this horrible assumption of the mines
being fired, one man states that the
brattice, meaning the center partition
of the shaft, was less burned below
than above, and that if it were set on
fire from the furnace in the mine, the
lower psrt would be totally consumed
and the upper would be the least af-
fected. That it was possible to fire
the brattice in the center, and, burn
ing il up, kindle the woodwork of the
breaker overhead, bringing all down
in blaze of ruin, and choking up the
cir passage entirely, the woodwork
falling from above WoHll still -cQp-,
tinue burning down below and ignite
the remainder of the brattice, but not
TO that extent that II would be wholly
destroyed before the water from the
engine extingnished the flames. The
furnace, II Is held, could not have set
the brattice ON fire, because of Its long
distance from the mouth of the shaft.
Another man says he thinks he saw
traces OF kerosene oil on the edge of
thetunnel, but this is hardly worthy of
mention, as 1t occurred to him as an
afterthought on hearing the story |
have related. -~~a-
MINERS AND THEIR PECT,LIARITIES.
The miners have not yetreturned to
work, but it is thought that Monday
next win find the miners of the Della
ware and Luckawanna Company Oc-
cupied and busy with the hum of la
Dor as before. Miners are a peculiar
race of men. Death, in its most hor-
rible form and on the most extended
scale, as in the case of the Avondale
catastrophe, has no such terrOrs as to
keep them moment from running
the same risk as did their brethren in
Hyde Park Cemetery yesterday. The
very mine that has been the grave of
so many could find sufficient men
willing TO go down its shaft to-day
and work In its fearful chambers as it
did on Monday last, when l0S hurried
10 the summons of the bell and took
their last look of sun and sky forever.
There was a rule of the Avondale
mine that any man arriving at the
mouth of the shaft for the purpose of
descending after the bell tOlled seven
should not be allowed to work that
day. Monday morning two men
came late, but only by few minutes.
The person in charge of the cage re-
fused to let them 60 down, at which
they grumbled and swore, and threat
ana1 70 no ax-a,. a,.a Ioxy xnftth tho