The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1869-09-16
The Great Mining Calamity.
The Particulars Of the Aronaass Disaster

3d11
The Great Mining Calamity.
The Particulars Of the Aconaose Disaster.
The certainty Of the horrible fate of the
miners at Avondate, Pa; was announced in
the dispatches yesterday. The New York
papers Of yesterday contain additional details,
from which the following extracts are made.
A correspondent of the New York Times,
under the date of Scranton, Pa, September
9Th, says:
FINDING OF THE BODIES.
The terrible calamity at Avondale was
proved to be the most doubling at the dawn
of morning, when the eastern gangway was
penetrated l 200 feet from the bottom of the
shaft, and the explorers came to barricade
that had been securely placed across the gang
way. Tearing this down, horrible sight was
encountered, The lamp shown upon heap
of dead. A pile Of human beings choked
the passage as though they had fallen together
in the last agony. Even Hughes, the inside
superintendent, lay but little apart from
the mass. He had been resting on his hands
and there was look Of placid content upon
his rigid features. This was true, too, of
nearly all in the great heap. Some few had
abrasions Of the skin, as though they had been
injured in falling down, and some had an ex-
preston Of Mortified supplication, as though
their last of earth had been an agonizing pro-
test against their fate. These were excep-
tons. The vast majority looked like men
who had accepted the inevitable with digni-
fed resignation; but none had died until they
had exhausted all means of saving life
WHAT PROBABLY OCCURRED IN THE MINE.
AS has been promised, it was found that at
the first alarm of danger these brave men
had not been appalled,, but taught by instinct
and experience, and knowing the horrible fact
that there was no means of egrcss from the
mine except by the shaft, then choked with
| fire, they fled to the furthermost parts of the
mine. They had not fled in panic, but had
gone back in order and with a full knowledge
that their lives might depend upon their ac-
tions, for they had but closed all the alright
doors behind them, and thus kept the fresh
air already in the mine and the foul air out.
When they had retrcated behind the last door,
and found poisonous vapors still following
them, they had then hastily thrown up the
barricadc and filed the interstices with cloth
ing, which they had stripped from their per
sons. ~ Ell Fn e.
THE WORK OF REMOVAL.
! When this mass Of dead had been carefully
examined, it was found to contain sixty three
persons, and without exploring the mine TO-
discover the spots whore the others met their
fate, the work of removing them to the sur
face was begun, The air in the mine was
still very bad, and the horrible heap was ne
cessarily very slowly diminished The rails
ing apparatus had been destroyed by fire, and
an improyised platform and rope and tackle
was poor substitute. The actual raising of
each corpse from the bottom of the shaft to
the tunnel consumed eight minutes, and the
horse in winding the rope upon the drum
travelled something over mile. Only one
body could be brought up at once, and with
the time occupied in getting to the bottom of
the shaft and bringing it out through the tun-
nell it can be readily understood that the
work is not to be completed in a day, or
even two.
| AT THE MOUTH OF THE MINE, BURIAL, sc.
The scenes outside the shaft were scarcely
what were anticipated. The crowd was as
great as on the previous days, and hardly
more in keeping with the scene. AS each
corpse was brought out upon a stretchcr, and
covered with coarse canvas cloth, it was
| placed under tree, and the cloth removed
Mr.. Phillips, the outside superintendent Of
the mine, then stepped up to identify the
dead. The coroner's jury viewed the body,
and it was carried to the temporary dead
house. The name and residence of the de-
ceased was then announced to the surround
crowd by James George. Very rarely did a
violent outbreak of feeling follow. The
friends of the dead came forward, claimed
the body, and it was removed In some Ca
scs wall of woman's anguish was heard, in
others low cry of woe rippled through the
crowd, but generally the dead were received
without audible sorrow and hurried away
with decent ceremony. In every case cot
fin was on hand, provided by the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Company, and it
was decent, being polished wood and mounted
in imitation silver. The bodies are delivered
to their friends for immediate burial i; most
of these, however, will occur Oh the 9th and
10th. Testimony as to the calamity will be
taken on Saturday, at 10 o'clock, a. M, at
Plymouth. The inquest will occupy several
days, and the testimony will touch the whole
question Of mining.
! A sADDER PHASE.
Late explorations of the mine have deyel-
oped sadder phase of the tragedy. Many
of the chambers have been entered and mi
ners found in them dead, the breast of the
mine showing they had been stricken down by
poisonous gas in moment, and without a
warning, while at work. They were found in
different gangways, showing that the destruc-
ton had come swift and sudden.
BITTER FEELINGS OF THE MINERS.
The spirit evinced by miners to-day has
been bitter in the extreme and not assauged
by the offers of assistance and sympathy,
flowing in from every side, but they remain
obdurate. The more reasonable are ready to
listen to reason, but they are in the minority.
Many are refractory and vicious. Trouble is
apprehended, and has been avoided only by
consummate tact.
THE CROWD OF VISITORS.
During the day crowds that visited the
scene of this appalling calamity were even
larger than yesterday. Hundreds Of persons
came in carriages to the place, or as near to
it as they could conveniently get, while thous-