The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-09-15
The Great Mining Calamity.

the miners at Ayondale, Pa, was an
nounced in the dispatches recently. The
New York papers, of Thursday, contain
additional details, from which the follow
ing extracts arc made. A correspondent
Of the New. York Times, under date of
Scranton, Pa, September s, says:
The terrible calamity ut Avondale was
proved to the most doubling at the dawn
OF morning, when the Eastern gangway
was penetrated 1900 feet from the bot
tom of the shaft, and the explorers came
to bsrricade that had been securely
placed across the, gangway. Tearing
this down, o horrible sight was encoun-
tered. The lamp shone upon heap of
dead. A pile of human beings choked
the passage. as though they had fallen
Hughes, The inside superintendent, lay
but little apart from the mass. He had
been resting on his hands, and there was
look of placid content upon his rigid
features. This was true, too, of nearly
all in the great heap. Some few had
abrasions of the skin, as though they
had been injured in falling down, and
some had an expression of Mortified SUBJ
plication, as though their last of earth
had been an agonized protest against
their fate. These were exceptions The
vast majority looked like men who were
rather sleeping than dead, or like men
who accepted the inevitable with digni-
fed resignation; but none had died until
they had exhausted all means of saving
life.
AS had been promised, it was found
that. at the first alarm of danger these
brave men had not been appalled,, but
taught by instinct and experience, and
knowing the horrible fact that there was
no means of egress from the mine except
by the shaft, then choked with fire, they
fled to the furthest parts of the mine.
They had not fed in panic, but had
gone back in order and with full know
ledge that their lives might depend upon
their actions. for they had but closed all
the air-tight doors behind them, and
thus kept the fresh a;s already in the
mine and the foul air out. When they
had retreated behind the last door, and
found poisonous vapors still following
them, they had then hastily thrown
up the barricade and filled the interstices
with clothing, which they had stripped
from their persons.
When this mass of dead had been care
fully examined, it was found to contain
sixty1three persons, and without explor-
ing the mine to discover the spots where
the others met their fate, the work of re-
moving them to the surface was begun.
The air in the mine was still very bad,
and the horrible heap was necessarily
very slowly diminished, The raising
apparatus had been destroyed by fire,
and an improvised platform and rope and
tackle was a poor substitute. The actual
raising Of each corpse from the bottom
Of the shaft to the tunnel consumed
eight minutes, and the horse in winding
the rope upon the drum travelled some
thing over mile. Only one body could
be brought up at once, and with the
: time occupied in getting it to the bottom
OF the shaft and bringing it out through
the tunnel, it can be readily understood
that the work is not to be completed in a
day, or even two.
The scenes outside the shaft we're
scarcely what were anticipated. The
crowd was as great as on the previous
days, and hardly more in keeping with
the scene. AS each corpse was brought
out upon a stretcher, and covered with a
coarse canvas cloth, it was placed under
tree, and the cloth removed. Mr..
Phillips, the outside superintendent of
the mine. then stepped up to identity
the dead. The coroner's jury viewed
the body, and it was carried to the ten
porary dead d-house. The name and resi-
dence Of the deceased was then an
nounced to the surrounding crowd by
James George. Very rarely did vio-
lent outbreak of feeling follow. The
friends of the dead came forward.
claimed the body, and it was removed.
In some cases o wall of woman's anguish
was heard, in others low cry of woe
rippled through the crowd, bnt generally
the dead were received without audible
sorrow and hurried away with decent
ceremony. In every case coffin was on
hand, provided by the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna and Western Company, and it
was decent, being of polished wood and
mounted i'll imitation silver.
In consequence of the slowness with
which the bodies are removed, the idea
OF agreat public funeral of all together
has been abandoned. The bodies are de-
hvered to friends for Immediate burial:
most OF these, however,, will occur on
the 9th and 10th, and Mayor Hall, of
scranton, has requested general sus.
pension OF business on those days.
Samuel Sloan, President of the company
owning the mine, has also telegraphed
orders for n general suspension Of work
Ero, 100. II