Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-09-14
THE AVONDALE COOLIERY DISAs-

We print elsewhere very graph
ic description of the calamity at the
Avondale mines in Pennsylvania,
by which one hundred and eight
men and boys persisted by a sud-
den and fearful death. The Balti
more Sun says: This is one Of
those disasters which, from its very
magnitude and horror, seems to
render the mind unable to take in
and realize its just proportions and
effect. Like the first tidings Of the
Wholesale massacre Of q battle, we
are stunned and bewildered before
&c can begin to approach the ade-
'guate conception of the affection to
our Fellow beings which has occur
res ii, by an exercise of magma
ton, We can put ourselves in the
place OF these poor miners, sudden
ly burned Or stiE5d to death, be-
yond the reaeh Of human aid, and
Of those sympatLizing ministrations
with which famiIis3 and fri rnds esu
say to soothe the pathway # the
dying to their last home, and if we
try to think of our own households
left, by some appalling blow, in Tao
condition of those women an
children whose terrible outbreak Of
grief is filling the miners hous, $
with sounds of anguish and desola
ton, we may perhaps sufficiently
appreciate what 1t is which has just
happened, to commiserate the III
happy suffers and their miserable
survivors, and do all that we can 20
assist in relieving their distress.
1t is sad to think that, in addition
to all the other suffcrings of the
laboring poor, they are not only
compelled to engage in dangerous
vacations, and confront death itse (
for the support of life, but that
effective legislation for their pro
lection and to diminish their dangers
is neglected. Disasters attending
mining operations have been of
frequent occurrence in England, and
occasional in this country, though
none, it is believed, like that which
has happened at Avondalo. The
catastrophe at the Carbondale
mines, in 1850, found about one
hundred men in the pit, and when |
the collapse occurred, the pressure
Of air from the falling mass is said
TO have been so great that it blew a |
boy and a mule an eighth ola mile
out Of the narrow entrance TO the |
NINE. A few Of those entombcd
worked Their way out through all |
the dangers of firc-damps and foul
air, but the most Of them persisted |
by starvation or fell a prey to the
rats, which in coal mines are
said to grow TO an enormous
size One man was said to be
seven days in digging his way TO
the surface. Among the most dis
astrous Of those accidents which
have recently occurred in the mines
of England was the explosion at
St. Helen s, near Liverpool, on the
22d Of July last, which resulted in
the death of fifty three men. Pres
there had been the Fernan-
dale colliery disaster, on the 10th
of June, ia South Wales, in which
a like number Of victims (Gfiy-
ihree) persisted and one at Ian
cashire, England, in which twenty
eight were killed while in the coal
mine explosion near Dresden, Sax7
onv. on the % Of August three
hundred and twentyrone persisted.
In England, the coal owners having |
been SLOW in adopting means of
providing increased safety to mi
ners, the government nterposed,
and appointed government inspec~
,ors. scientific and trustworthy
men. invested with authority to in