The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-09-25
THE WYOMING HOLOCAUST.
ruli Resume ef the Axoaasse Colilery
w '4 yf.s. Calamity. -s5 l
Ths Rsmovs Of the DeaA--YaentiGna-
M 5s tiOn Of the Bodies. ~


W |F ss~1 On tns 8ooaesss9 ~
ATA sac scsmxs. taI lahia
Correspondence ef the New York wsrsd.
AvoSDALE SzAFT, Wednesday night, Sept
o.-1ou have an irfnitude Of scattered fact
about this slaughter. 1t is time they wer
coIlated into some kind of conference.
rHE SCENE aff rtf.I
The thronged train that left Scranton shi
morning ran % miles to the southwest an
halted here. Just Opposite, within 20 fee
OF the track, is shapeless heap of aushra
racite, still sulienly and intensely burning
though IL was kindied on Monday morning
over It quivers continually an air-wave o
fefvent heat here and there, under th,
noary ash, its red heart can be seen glowinl
and the breath Of IL blisters our face wher
we stand. Afew feet to che left, piece o
raai, which as its lower extremity Joins ou
track, slopes sharply over leDRthening nes
tes ~ feet or 90 up the steep nil, where
- broken short on. The upper ends of tn,
beams are charred. At the bottom o. il 4
couple Of coal cars are tum6lsd together
and wire cable, connected with the up
permcss, runs sp the incline, and dangle
useless over the burnt-of beams. Risin,
IRON the burning heap in our itnmsdiat,
front, is stone wall, built to secure roat
along its edge. This road 10 filled with mer
and women, The former mostly in rough
woolene, with iittle tin lamps hooked on Il
their hats; thelatssr in bright motley calico
Is ends IN Q black hole, which, We can, jus
discern IN the hillside. beyond The road il
another high stone wall, the top Of which II
ilssie more than midway up the bill. Tn,
front rank OF another great crowd is th.
parspet of the wall also. The smoke risins
from their feet tells Of . bull ding latel
burnt. just above them, and to the left, i
q square foundation, from which, also, th,
superstructare has been burnt away. Tn,
masonry of the side-walls,s 20 feet apart, il
standing still, though shattered, and across
them is lashed stout sapling, from fh
MIDDLE of which depends pully that cfeak
continually v Under the strain of q ropa rov,
and running through it. just over this pul
ley man is hanging from the CROSS cam
bead downward. like an acrobat from hi
traPeze, with one hand on the pulley ant
the other apparently adjusting it. Th
Timber beam bends and squesks With th
weight OF whatever mst be at the love
end of the rope. just over this, again, i
great, geunt brick chimney, the only edific'
left uniniured in all this wreck Of matter
Belos the cornice of it, clear so feet abov
its base, 10 the date !" 1867" Standing soil
tary there, this huge chimney looks like
monument. And q monument it is, soith
vengeance. Over this the thick woods, O.
oak and chestnuts mainly, climb the hill
and the nearest trees are parched, brown
and sere. To person unaware Of what hat
happened here, all this might seem only th'
result of an ordinary fire. But it woal'
astonish even such person to ind bow vas
crowd had gathered in this wilderness
for the railway here is laid through a woos
to look at the ravagss OF fire.. The tw,
human terraces have mentioned cannot b,
made up Of less than 5000 atoms, and il
and about the lines Of clapboarded cottages
on either hand and along the track are ful
1000 more. And the crowd has serious
ness and even solemnity that we are no
used 10 seeing in the demeanor of crowds
at fires. While We are looking, the ereai
OF the pulley ceases, and the gYmnastic alb
disstes bis perch. Half minute alter ther,
can just be seen through the lower terrace
OF people men staggering out from thi
black hole 10 the hill with something white
between them. As they sat down their bur
den on the road, q group gathers aboat it
and, a minute after, q big bearded minel
comes cut to the edge of the wall, entrest
ins and securing perfect ailence with wave
of his hand, and says: gas VIZ
The last man that has been bfough,
out is William Allen, of Hanover" Fhil
is repeated twice, and then the announ,
Ger asks: ,Hl-F aH
"Has William Allen any friends here ~
I'll take charge of that man." man
near me calls out, Just loud enough to be
heard on the hIll, ard walks quietly ur
to do it. rr.l
1t is "a tedious cline to where the pulley
10 rigged up above, and still more trouble
some thing to get within the Gordon OF con-
stables after you arrive there. Bot if you
are a reporter, q committeeman appears in
the the fullness of time and lets you in.
A horse, changed every ten minutes, is
travelling bis dull round, working wind
lass that winds up the rope. A gang Of
20 men are helping him by hauling in. The
ruins are still warm to the touch as you
step into the inclosure, and the toothold Is
insecure. But you cling with both hands
to the nearest points of support, and sur
vey the scene. Far below yos the fruitful
valley of Wyoming spreads and glistsns un-
der the bland September sunlight. The
slow Susquehana trails his broad and shall
low current toward the sea. Beyond the
plains the serried hills of Luzsrne lift their
round tops. But closer by, and just over
head, is tbe acrobat, hanging headidown-
ward over a chasm, and pouring, as you now
perceive, pailfuls Of water on the ipulley,
which is almost on fire With the friction.
Around you are the foundations Of four
stone walls, inclosing a rectangte about 20
feet by 80. Beside you the rope Is coming
ap, and Just behind you fan, whirled by a
steam engine brought up yesterday, sends
constant current down a canvas cylinder.
Below you is the abyss.
These walls, while these walls were, sur
rounded what looks like the bottomless pit.
The rectangle bisected by vertical series
Of charred beams, fitted on the side toward
you, with cogs, and running down, down,
down, till they are indistinguishably blent,
and ut last lost in the bOttomless blackness.
As you peer cautiously down, trembling for
the reckless miner above, who hangs by one
knee directly over this well, which Co the
eye, is endless, which is, in fact, 237 feet
deep, on become aware of lights twinkling
far below. As the rops is wound up they
show clearer, and at last you can discern
that they are fast to the forehead CT four
men. who are rising toward you on plat
form that just fills the pit Another man,
or what seems a man, lies on the platform
them. His body is naked to the
waist, and his only clothing is pair of
heavy trousers stuffed into great mining
boots. The platform stops so feet or 50 be.
low you, ard the four men pass the 9Th
semblance of a man Out at an aperture in
the side, Of which you are thus for the first
tine notified, anosher fur replace them on
the platform, and the windlAss lowiy low
ers it again, the gymnls.ic all the while
keeping bis perilous position, and drench-
ing the pulley. .tH
This platform has been Lifted aud lowered
10 this way, BY this crazy tackle, at inter-
vals ever since the hero Charles Vsrtue, went
down on Monday night, and without inter-
mission every ten minutes since 81 o'clock