Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-09-17
THE PENNSYLVANIA C0LBIERY
DISASTER

I
The New York T5fE,essse thus sums up
the particulars of the terrible disaster
which occurred at the Ayondale mine
near Scranton, Pa, Iass week
The coIIiery in which this terrible
accident occurred is entered by a per-
pendicu1ar shaft, -327 rect Deep on the
side of a mountain From the bottom
of il, 20 feet below tbB surface Of the
valley, run two main galleries, sloplng
upward, one 800 and the other 200 feet
long. Smaller passag IS and chambers,
SO in number, branehlon from these.
There is no access to the open air eX-
eept by this single shaft, which had to
serve all the purposes of hoist-way
for the Workmen and the coal, and a
channel for the ventilating current
which in all mines must be constantly
forced by machinery through the va
rious galleries and drifts The sides
of the shaft were built up with wooden
supports, and a wooden partition ran
perpendicuIarly through its whole
length. dividing it into two passages,
one for the upward, the other for the
downward current. Right over its
mouth stood a great wooden building,
containing the machinery for hosting
and for breaking sorting, and cleaning
the coal. To assist in creating a cur
rent of air fire was always kept burn
ing in a furnace at the foot of the shaft,
and from this it is supposed the wood
work must have caught. On Monday
morning two hundred men went down
that shaft to resume work after a long
strike. They were followed, about 8
o'clock, by one of the mule tenders
with hay for his beasts. As he reached
the bottom he was heard to cry Fire I
but what he saw we never shall know
for in an instant fierce column OF
fame rushed up the shaft, caught the
breaker as if that had been a house of
paper, and wrapped the whole struc-
ture in sheets of fire. The mouth of
the pit belehed forth destruction. Hun-
dreds of tuns of coal in the shutes and
bins were soon in a white glow, and
dropped with the telling beams into
the shaft. 1t was seven or eight hours
before the engines which were hurried
to the scene of disaster from all the
neighboring towns succeeded in eX-
tinguishing the burning mass. work
men had dOczed to the spot from the
entire mining regio1s5 for it was known
that two hundred of their brethren
were imprisoned among the deadly
yapors of that awful pitt The rubbish
was cleared away from the mouth, and
fifty experienced miners volunteered
to attempt the descent. 1t was now
about s O'Clock in the evening. To
test the purity of the air dog and a
lighted lamp were first lowered into
the shaft as far as they would go. At
the end of FIVE minutes they were
drawn up the dog AFasallye, the lamp
still burning. A miner named Charles
Vartue then went down to Teconnoiter,
but about half way from 6he bottom
he found the shaft blocked with fallen
timbers. Two fresh volunteers were
then lowered with hatchets. After
twenty minutes they were drawn up
again, faint and breathlesS. They had
penetrated 20 or 80 yards into a gang
Way. finding three dead mules, and
coming at last to a closed door. They
hammered at it and waited for an an
swering sound, but no answer came,
and through the crev1ces poured clouds
of suIrhurous Yapor-the fatal '%black
darnp.1 Several other parties, in the
course of the evening and night, made
attempts to penetrate into the gang
ways. but with little more success.
Few could remain more than dve or
six minutes. and when drawn up they
were all speechless ana exhausted.
Several were brought back by their
conDanions entirely insenslble. Two
brave fellows, Daniel Jones and Thorn
as williams. were brought back dead.
There was no hope now that any of the
miners remained alive, unless possibly
thev had succeeded in Walling them
selves in at some remote part OF the
mine so effectually as to prevent the
entrance of the foul gases from the
shaft 1t was only the shadow of a
hone. still the work went on, while
women sat wringing their hands and
weeping for their husbands and chill
dren. and miners from distant regions
came in hundreds to offer their assist
Hance. By 9 O'Clock on Tuesday morn
inor an engine and fan had been placed
in position to force fresh air into the
mine. All day long parties went down
at irfervals but the black damp drove
T1iaf fQ ms rlT N lnf
to gain upon it. About four O'Clock in
the afternoon it was discovered that
the fire at the foot of the shaft, which
was supposed to be entirely extin-
guished, had been revived by thef fresh
current. and communicated with a
mass of coal lying near. Thus the
workmen had actually been aceelera-.
ting the generation of gas, and de-
stroying what little VeStige of hope
might remain for their imprisoned.
lcomrades. A stream of water was
with some difficulty brought to plaY
upon the flames, and the greater part
/ of the night was devoted to the sup
preston of the fire, the clouds of gas
/ that came up the shaft being mean
I while so awful that workmen at the
mouth were removed insensible. Be
tween two and three O'Clock on
] found, both fearfullY dis6gured and
unrecognizabie. About $3.50 party OF
four succeeded in penetrating some
/ distance into one of the principal gal
| Ieries, and came upon the bodies -gf
| over sixty more where they had met
! their fate together. They had con-
structed two barriers of cars and re-
fuse coal, and stripped off their clothes
to stuff the crevices. One poor fellow,
whose duty it seems to have been to
4 close the last aperture after all had
passed beyond it, had fallen dead on
the outside, his work not yet comPlet-
ed. Fathers and sons were found in
I each others arms. Some lay with Their
/ hands elenehed as if in agony, some
with their faces buried in the ground
some in the attitude of prayer. While
we write the labor of bringing out the
bodies still goes on.