The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-08
THE T'ERRLBLB TRAGEDY AT
A VONDALH


were providentially rescued. The imagina-
ton can scarcely conceive anything more dis
tressing than the spectacle of six hundred
widows and orphans peering down dark
cavern in which two hundred husbands and
fathers were suddenly entombed. The hor-
rors of this scene are terribly intensif ed byth
fact that it could and should have been averted
by timely precautions. There are hundreds of
other mines in the coal regions so effectively
arranged that accidents of the same descrip-
ton may happen at any moment Lives are
lost or endangered every day. large por-
ton of the Pennsylvania Hospital is con-
stantly crowded with the manned victims of
mining accidents. Now we hear of fire at a
colliery on another occasion of fire-damp
explosion, and on another the telegraph brings
the sad tidings that the roof of mine has
fallen and buried number of workmen be-
meath its ruins.
Whatever may be the details of each part-
cular disaster, they all point directly to one
conclusion Pennsylvania, the great mining
State of the Union, has failed utterly, totally,
and criminally to provide proper safeguards
whatever against the constant repetition Of
these accidents; and inasmuch as the necessity
of this legislation is painfully evident not only
by the constant wall of anguish that goes up
from bereaved women and children, but by
the example of other countries where
it has been benefcially invoked, it
is scarcely too much to say that the blood of
the two hundred men just slaughtered at
Avondale, and of hundreds of others, rests
upon the heads of the neglectful legislators
of this Commonwealth In Great Britain,
where more than one hundred millions of
tons of coal are taken every year from mines
at great depth below the surface, the total
number of accidents, in proportion to work
done and difficulties encountered, falls below
the average in Pennsylvania. But there the
mines are carefully inspected; where the ven
tilation is defective the owners are required
to improve it; the cause of every accident is
investigated, the number of deaths or in
ries is fully reported to Parliament, and
where mine owners have been wilfully and
criminally careless, they are branded with in
fanny in the eyes of the whole United King
dom. public opinion is thus created, and
watchful supervision instituted, which, al
though it cannot in all cases guarantee abso-
Lutte safety, throws around the British miners
hundreds of safeguards that are not afforded
here We have not the exact figures at hand,
but we think that, as a rule, nearly twice as
many tons as the total annual pro-
duct of anthracite coal in Pennsylva-
mia is mined in Great Britain without
q greater loss of life than that which has oc-
Cured at the single tragedy at Avondale; and
this result is directly traceable in large de-
gree, to the humane interpostion of Parlia-
ment on behalf of the English miners on the
one hand, and the stolid neglect of the lives
and safety of the miners of Pennsylvania by
our Legislature on the other.
At the last session of the Legislature. or
the 21st of January, Mr.. Randall, of Schuyl
kill county, presented to the State Senate
petition ''of citizens of Schuylkill county
praying for the passage of a law compelling
a more perfect ventilation of mines" which
was referred to the Committee on the Judi
ciary. At a later period the same bjec
came up for consideration in the House. il
which body an act to promote this object il
Schuylkill county alone was passed finally il
March by unanimous vote. When thi
bill reached the Senate a remonstranc
against its passage was presented by Mr.
Coleman, the Senator from Lebanon county
opposing it on the ground that it contained
''many impracticable and useless provisions
Mr. Randall, however, zealously defended it
MIR. Coleman contended that the law should
be made applicable to all the coal mining
districts of the State, and not to Schuyzil
county exclusively. His objections were
overuled, however. When the bill came
up on the second reading the
same ground was taken by Other
speakers, but Mr.. Turner, of Luzerne county
thought that while the bill might be very
useful in Schuylkill, it was scarcely necessary
in his district. He confessed that he had mo-
even read the bill under discussion, but hC
thought that the protection it would affort
was not yet needed by his constituents, alleg
ing that he could remember but "one in
stance where fire-damp explosions resulted il
injury to miners in that county" Finally, il
April, the bill came up for third reading i.
the Senate, and after various amendments i
was passed finally, but it is doubtful whethe
the House approved these amendments il
time to send the bill to the Governor. and +
make it law At all events it provided fo
Schuyllzill county alone, leaving all the othe
mining districts of the Commonwealth III
protected.
CONTRARY to our expectations the Repub
cans of Wilmington, Del, have, by gala
fight, reelected Valentine their candidate (
Mayor, as well as majority of Councilme