The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-03-14

to ~, OOO-poor compensation, indeed, fol
the loss Of iifty-nine valuable lives.
Although the Telling and Barnsley acct
dents have been briefly sketched, they form
BY no means the most fatal of the mine &C
eidents, due to explosions of 6redamP, IN
| British mining experience. At HAswell.
| IN the year lSt ). ninety-fvo men were 'ost'
and AZ Cvmmer Rhoadder colliery, in
| 1855. ia lives were sacri6ced; while at
| Rts.Sn. Ia lSsn. IA3 victims were added to
the dread hist In 1857, At the lund I'LL
mins. ISa miners were slam. and az iSs"'
At the oaks ,s,iliary. full S6i men Se'w 'n,
S,r,,.,.i h, = NIUE explosion. "". %h
M. 4, lh,,,,. ~, ,All,~i the miner . net" +"
81, T.',,,ni,, a. j. the hat IT British mine
.,..'..rrrs IL hrNismp explosions. the CON
na.,ntsl states ot EUROPE can show an
equally formidable array II valuable lives
sA,g,a,Sd by the same dread destroyer, in
wrvStNg tho black diamonds from their
native eSs,is IN the bowels IL the earth. and
SooG'oS tAcm today e. serve the rurpcs y
~ W,Nievn ttV,0sAtion AZ the rottSchapel
n,,ncS IA >y,Nouy. ~ later than the year
lSsS9, Am explosion W trc,iamp resulted IN
the io>S n 90 mincTS This accident WAS
caused Ny the tirVNiamp accumulatlng IN an
Abandoned part II the minc. which took
avc tNNm spontaneous condensation. Bel
Siuia. France and Prussia. the three lead
any NNAl uuuinS states II continental Eu-
N4s, have each m turn r'cVivcd awful viS,-
tStt'u> III the demon from the mime. In
th year lS,SA. IN consequence of mine
disaster, the result 81 an cxpl SION which
accurrGd at the coal mime nf Moons, near
SAINT Eucnne, IN France. the miners Of
thst region became So alarmed that they
were seized with superstitious terror, and
could not he prevailed upon to 20 down
into the mir.es for a long time thereafter,
until they had commended themselves Il
the divine protection Of st. Barbe, the
miners patron saint. In one Of the gal
leries Of the mine where the explosion &C.
CURED, they actually erected the statue Of
their saint, as safeguard against apy flu.
ture explosion Of gas.
The coal fields of the American cont.
uent are no less troubled with this fiery dc.
struyer, the last great accident from this
cause being that Of the Drummond mine
ma Nova Scotia. The coal mines Of the
Richmond, Virginia, fields are subject Il
violent discharges of inhammable gas, sew.
eral serious explosions having occurred
SINCE the mines we're opened. The coal re.
gions of Western Pennsylvania and those
of Ohio, where the Goals are wrought by
drift openings, OF by comparatively shallow
! shattlngs, are not seriously troubled with
tiredamp. This is equally true Of the west
ern coal fields of the American Union
The tiredamp is generally found in greatest
abundance in mines which range from Coz
to |, 200 feet Of perpendicular depth. The
mines Of the anthracite fields of Pennsyl.
wanna DO not yield this gas in any great
quantities, although many Of the opening.
are sunk from 40 to GOO feet in depth
This fact is doubtless due to condition,
under which the anthracite coal is found
When the hydrogen Of the coal was hber
ated by the heat, which acted on the Goa
during the upheaval Of the Alleghaney
mountains, the infammablealrs Of the mine
were also liberated, though not 50 com
pletely, for, as may be observed by the re-
ports Of the Pennsylvania mine inspectors
deadly disclosures of the carburetted by
drogen are frequently encountered by the
unsuspecting miners.