The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-09-10

The catastrophe in the colliery at Plymouth,
Pa, on Monday last, is one OF the most ap-
palling that ever occurred in this country, and
is paralleled only by similar calamities which
from time to time have occurred in Great Bri-
tain. For three months the miners had been
idle. and on the first day that they resumed
work q fire broke out in the Steuben shaft.
confning beneath the ground full two hundred
men, not one Of whom could be rescued. The
shaft st once filled up with rubbish and flames,
thus rendering all efforts to reach the miners
unayailing; and even after the flames had been
80 far subdued as to permit OF descent, the two
brave men who ventured upon the relief OF
their fellows met with almost instant death.
A more sickening calamity it would be hard to
conceive of. A Scranton dispatch OF Tuesday
says:
The unparalleled mining disaster is the sub
ject OF universal inquiry, thought and feeling.
While the whole community is thrilled to the
centre with horror. the mining population, as
might be expected, is more deeply ana pam.
fully touched than any other class. All work
ia suspended in the mines in this vicinity, and
nearly the whole force ofminers, in mining suits,
have gone to Avondal,, to rem in until
their brethren are brought out, dead or
alive. Special traits run down from here
hourly. No tare is charged those going to Avon
dale. Thousands have gone from this direc.
ton alone, and the whole country is aroused
and focking to the scene of the disaster. In
the fourth, fifth and sixth wards of this city
the streets are thronged with women, relatives
and friends of the men in Avondale pit, eager
" beseeching every person arriving from below
for information. Their weeping fills the air.
Mining cannot be resumed at any OF the works
of The Delaware, Lackawana and Western. Rail-
road Companies probably within week, or, at
least, until all the funerals Of the Avondale
strike has just ended, adds greatly 10 the desti-
tuition which will follow the calamity. The
widows and orphans will number not less than
six hundred.
dispatch from Plymouth, dated on Tues
day last, says:
Two parties of miners descended the shaft
this afternoon. The first was compelled by the
gas to retreat after going twenty-five feet into
the eangway. The damp was two or three feet
deep a. the bottom Of the mine. The second
party returned s1fey. They penetrated the
| gangwaY seventy FIVE feet, and found the large
| door wids open. T1ev then went one hundred
| feet further in one OF the passages, and FOUND
| the small door closed.
After opening this door to give a circulation
of air around the entrance, they returned.
| Had this small door been open there might be
a shade OF hope. as the gas, smoke and fire
would have had free passage around the cir
cult and out gain. As it is, the fears are that
the smoke has penetrated the inner mine and
suffocated all the men. The main doorway
leading to the mine has not yet been reached.
A third set of men-four in number-went
| down and came back in fifteen minutes, two
of them 30 overcome with the effects OF gas
| that they were restored with difficulty.
The gas is coming out OF the outer mine
very last since the passage way was opened. 1t
seems idle to peril life by any further attempt
| 10 60 down as long as the gas is so strong.
No attempt can OF course be made to reach
the main door or to penetrate the mine until
the outer gangway is cleared Of gas. 1t is un-
certain how long this will take. There is
really no ground for hope that single life re-
mains of those who we're at work in the mine.
Everybody gives therc up, and nothiT e proba-
bly remains to be done but to recover the bo
dies.
Adispatch received last evening adds: "a
careful estimate puts the umber OF men in the
Avondale mine at one hundred aud fifty. At
last accounts ninety bodies had been taken
out"