Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-09-22
THE COAL MINE HORROR.
Interesting Details of the Disaster and
Its Cause--Who is to Blame for all the
Mlseryi

Herald, writing from the scene OF tn,
disaster, on the Sth, says:
A feeling Of relief Is experienced
here this evening that the hideou
work Of drawing the dead bodies o
men in endless succession from ou
the Avondale Coal Mine is at an end
Ono hundred and eight bodies made
the sum total recorded at noon TO-DAY
as having been ezhumed, and the be
lief with miners generally is that THU
constituted the entire force at worl
in the mine on the day of the fata
catastrophe.
Mr.. Benjamin Hughes, who headed
the committee that went down the
shaft this morning aL half-past eight
o'clock and remained at the work Of
exploration for over three hours. il
one of the most experienced miners in
this district, and il intimately ac-
quainted with the topography Of The
Avondale mine. His brother, Evan
Hughes, was the inside boss, whose
remarkable attitude, sitting on a pile
Of coal, with his head resting on bis
hands, and quite dead, so etrutk tho
first gang Of explorers that descended
the shaft.
Standing on the track of the Lacka.
wanna and Bloomsbury Railroad to-
day at noon and looking up the steep
bill side at the ruins of the once -four
ishing coal mine of Avondale-tbe
shattered engine house built Of stone,
the torn, twisted and scattered ma
cbinery, the sloping ridge of fereely
fired embers filling the motionless air
with a strong and shimmering heat,
the blackened wreck of coal shute and
breaker, tho charred oak and hickory
trees upon the hill above and the utter
wreck and ravage of the scene all
over, impressed the spectator with
awe and seriousness. But much more
awful aud serious must become the
color of his thoughts when told that
from beneath that fearful ruin the
bodies of 200 human beings, few
days since full Of strong and palpita-
ting life, were being brought out, one
by one, black and bloody corpses and
bearing many marks of briet but
desperate struggle with the doom Of
sufiocation in the horrible gloom OF
knowing ths character OF tho ourar.
renee and the purpose for which these
crowds of saddened women and solemn
men have gathered, lining the disman,
tied walls in compact and sorrowful
numbers, il had a strangely dismal
effect upon the mind to see issuing
from the month of low, dark tunneI
ut intervals of every fifteen minutes
through the day and night four weary
worn men, bearing on stretcher the
biackened form of human being
across the distorted face of which Il
coarse, white cloth was thrown; and
as the melancholy cortegc moved VI
between the ranks at either side ol
mourning miners the awful presence
of death made il, elf asserted. Voices
were hushed, and in the women's eyes
grief and fear alternately found ex'
preston. 1t was also strange effect
TO watch, as each miners namo was
called in stcntor tones that echoed
along the hill, how all the men turned
their eyes upon the women 10 painful
suspense that some wild startling
shrek might rend the air and some
ponr heart broken creature reveal the
dreadful grief of her bereavement.
The day Is over now. Sixty dead
bodies have been rescued from the
fatal pit and three score widowed
wives sit by desolate heartbs this
evening.
Could all this misery have been
avoided is a question that might a'
easily be answered as asked 1t GER
tainly could Coal mines are at al
times, of course, subject to risks, and
those who engage to work in them are
satisfied to take the consequences ol
Whatever natural casualties attend
the operation Of mining coal Many
of these casualties the miners instinct
and experience will teach him toavoid
but where human ingenuity, prompted
by spirit of good, provides only just
such means for the miner as will ena
bic him to work at the least possible
expense on the part Of bis employer
and at the greatest risk on his own
no forethought or intelligence can pro
vide against the accidents that ar'
likely to occur. An air hole at AZ
expense Of from $4,000 to $4,000
sunk in the Avondale coal mine woul'
have saved perhaps every man in thu
mine. The short-sighted and inhu
man policy that refuses TO make thu
simple provision against emergencies
at anv time likely TO arise must hav'
terrible rccoil in the long run. Bu
Avondae is no exception TO othe
mines. All around this section o
country are mines 10 each one o
which but ono shaft is attached, AM
when the mems Of escape are cut ol
In that quarter no hope remains 10
the men ut work below. Mines u
this country seem TO be constructed
on the principle of getting out th
most coal at tho least expense, an
without particle Of consideration a
TO the health and safety Of the minoi
Had we any such deep shafts AM
extensive galleries among the mine
Of this State ps they have in Englaw
accidents like this of Avondalo woul
be Of frequent occurrence and 9
equally appalling horror.
The Delaware and Lackawann
! Corporation is immensely wealthy
, and has another mine, called the Tay
lorsvilIe sbaf, run on precisely Oh
same principle ne the Ayondale min'
: and liable at any time to the sam
fearful accident II remains TO b
seen whether this corporation wi
!. take any steps even in complianc
+ with the statute law Of the State
!, render their mines n little less Nv
|, huge traps for human life. The fec
ing on this head is confined to no pa
itculsr class Men ssk 10 il not sho'