New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-09


Pttston were closed to-day, and meeting was held 70
raise funds for the relief the sufferers Mayor Hill Of
this city win in the morning Issue proclamation oroer
ing places Of business 20 be closed on the 9th ana 10Th
nsts Relief subscriptions have been received as follows
S. 900 from the NewYork Board OF Brokers; 2OO from
| Asa Packer, and $500 from Gov. Geary.
Daniel Jones' who lost his life in an effort to rescue MS
| companions on Monday night, and Thomas Williams,
who also sacrificed his life for the same object, were
| buried this afternoon.
| LATEST DIsPATCH-oNLY sEvENTY-Two BODIES
| FOUND
PLYMOUTH, Sept. $3.50 p. m.-There were
only 6s bodies in chamber first penetrated. and
search made for the not yet accounted
| for A doctor was called to accompany the men, but
none would volunteer Six bodies were found in another
chamber making 70 in ALL The great heaps OF coal lett
III the shute and mass of fame tonight
and light the surrounding country
| ANOTHER ACCoUNT-oNE OF THE BODIES SHOWS
| SIGNS OF LIFE.
| AVONDALE, Penn, Sept. S.-The horrors OF
the scene at the coery just being developed The
mine which has proven the deathchamber OF two hun
dred men is opened and the dead have been brought
| forth. Aion who went down happy Monday morning,
eager to their longsuspended work. came forth
stark and cold in death to-day. The miners homes,
which, in long row, the opening of the tunnel are
swept Of every male member; and the women st with
stifed cry and pald lips, at the doors, waiting the ar
| rival OF their dead.
The people here express their condemnation OF the
Company in most uuequivOcal terms By little expense
this rghtful calamity might have been averted An in
quest which will be held 10 o'clock on Saturday morn
ing will make plain the facts Of the case and rest the
censure where it is DESIRED On Wednesday morning at
O'Clock the relay Of men got far the first
found two dead this side the door, The bodies were
in dreadful state and showed they had been dead since
early Monday. The black damp is so strong that the
cannot abide it ongnot moro than five or six
tlaNyo al IN
| times nsensible.
About O'Clock this morning the first door Of the gang
was broken and sixty bodies found there Their
situation awful fathers lay stiff in death with arms
about their Some were Rneeling, as though In
prayer; strong hand IN hand with their
fellows The pick.axes and shOvels, which they had
used in making an embankment to prevent the entrance
OF foul air. Jay one SIDE II seemed, them that they had
fed few steps when in an agony they fell in one ano-
theirs arms sufocaed by the deadly damp In another
chamber every was without a shirt They
had stripped themselves Of clothes TO use them
in filing up crevices and crannics. One man
had pushed part Of his garment into an aper'
ture, when gust Of the gas rushed through and
sranged him to death. Wagon loads Of collins line the
road and ters filed with sheeted dead pass along the
line every few minutes AS they brought out Of the
tunnel, an inquest is held the dead exposed
for recognition; and, when one is identified, the
Justice calls out his and home; his friends
take the body and convey 1t TO their house.
Already the dozen mules have caused an insu1erable
STENCIL having swollen and bursted. The men
who 20 down to. bring up the corpses have to pass
these carcases In order to get the dead; and the
stencil together with the gas which has not yet been
pumped out, makes it difficult to bring them up.
The soemnity OF tho place is not alone that which I'M
presses spectator. The weeping women and loudly
crying children strike the spectator with sadness; but
the active rescuers and the Provision Committee, End
the police and hucksers and the Unconditional miners,
make 1t painfully obvious that tho present time for
business, and not for mourning alone.
Forty.fve have already been taken up. One OF them
showed signs Of life. lie was bleeding and moved He
was found with face in the water, lying fiat the
bottom Of the Efforts being made to resussitate
him now
HOW AVONDALE IS sITUATED-THE ORIGIN OF
THE FIRE-SCENES AT THE SHAFT.
AvoNDALE, Luzerne Co., Penn, Sept g.
About l6s miles west OF NewYork City Is the town Of
Wnkesbarre situated in the Wyoming Valley on the
eastern bank OF tine Susquehanna River. -Four miles be-
low the side OF the river, Avondale and
the Avondale coal mine. The Snsquehanna Is about
mile distant, across the fats The Lackawanna and
Bloomsbury Railroad along high hill, near the
mouth Of the mine which is 200 feet up the side OF the
mountain Over the entrance this mine stood large
building, called breaker" Here were the hosting
apparatus the pumping engine, and the machines for
breaking screening the coal 1t was taken from the
mine Above the ground rises at an angle OF about Is
degrees. The town Of Plymouth lies about mile and
half to the north. The view Of the Valley OF the Wyo-
ming charming On both sides of the river are groups
Of mountains stretching away to the north and SOUTH
while meadows and gardens slope gently 10 the waters
edge.
On the morning OF the 9th Of September about O'clock
some bows at work in field near the breaker ssaw a
bus yapor rising above the roof but they thought lit
tie Of 1t at the tIme Ami aierward the Keeper OF
the stables in tho mine took down some hay for his
mules When the bottom OF the shaft he was heard
TO cry Fire." and at the instant, almost, column
OF fame shot up through the yentator into the engine
ROOM The engineer was driven from las post before he
could reverse stop the engine. In moment the vast
wooden structure 100 feet in hight, and as large as
hotel, was burning in every part. The terrible heat
created such current from the shaft below that nothing
could withstand It, The shaft is lOx6 feet square and
about $50 feet in depth partition extended from the
ton 10 the bottom leaving hue for the TO pass up
and down. 1t was up this wooden box or chimney that
the fire first came, aud IL being separated from the main
shaft the hoster thus kept from discovering the FIRE
| when he went down.
In order TO purify the air in mne IT Is necessary to
force the foul vapor out and in addition to the steam
fans used it Is customary to build fire at the bottom
OF the shaft for the purpose OF getting rid or the
| damp" When mines are constantly worked these
fires are allowed out and no danger is feared
as there seldom fame except when the fire Is first
luded The miners in the Wilkesbarre region, having
been on a strike for a long time, commenced work on
Monday the 9th inst The wood fire at the bottom OF the
shaft being recently knded sent up blazo before the
coal was put on 1t is supposed that the wood lining OF
the shaft caught from the blaze below though there was
| many feet OF brick work at the bottom.
SO soon as the breaker was discovered to be on fire.
the freenglnes at wikesbarre Kingston and Scranton
were telegraphed for and the officers Of the railroad In
formed OF the disaster The alarm spread far and wde
and soon large crowds Of people cOnegated In the vcin
ty of the burning The excitement sntense but when
il was rumored that nearly and boys beneath
1.1 "a, al,n tta and