The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-11
THE MINERS HARD LIFE.
ApDsE1Ps OF THE MEN IN THE
ANTHRACITE REGIONS.
vivid Pen-Picture of Their Daily
Toll and Danger-Scul and Body
r,,,,arfsd by Coal BaronS.

SCRANTON, PA, rep. 40 my lnlnu Une
liners working day is one long day of con-
tinred danger and hardship. l will follow
liner from his home through his days la
IS and dangers and back again to his gen
4 ,rallv poverty-stricken cabin. At O'Clock
s,,orv morning the miner meets a number
Il s. his fellow-laborers at the mouth of the
Il sIona and awaits his turn to be one of the
q 80 the law does not allow more than ten
- mount the wagon" which is to carry
Il Vim into the depth of the black pit. In
81 INN, ,nes gone by this ride down the slope was
alwavs attended with danger, as frequently
a .ba inch cable broke and let the car,
.l5tb its human freight, rush with
q srigbtful speed to the bottom of the
d me and seldom one of its passengers
aascaned death or terrible mangling. This
kos now been overcome by the ingenious
aotant which catches and holds the car as
ssoon as it becomes detached from the rope.
81 arrived at the foot of the slope the miner
starts of for his particular working place,
II which in the vocabulary of the mine is
,eTned a breast" Sometime he rides and
sonetimes ne walks, but however he gets
there he frequently has to traverse two or
three miles of gangway underground before
he reaches his "breast," Arrived there he
has hooked into his tarpaulin or leather hat
and lighted a small lamp, built on the plan
of the Old-IHsnlOneu, lollS-SpOuJeu COuee-
not. This is to give him light, for, of
course,
THE MINE is AS DARK
&C the coal it contains. The "breast" in
which he is going to work is PITCHED to
slope up toward the surface of the ground,
and to reach it he must climb the schultz
through which the coal he mines is passed
10 the cars in the gangway. When he ar
riyes there he finds his tools as he left them
,l-ill f,,I- Nf
different sizes, keg of powder and all the
paraphernalia for blasting. As the miner
GENERALLY works by the yard or wagonload,
his earnings depend on his industry, and he
wastes no time in getting to work after he
has arrived in his breast. He has had the
assistance Of his partner, or "butty,"
a loader, and man to push the
coal down the schultz to the gang
way, where it is taken away in the
low-built mine wagons. The ''shover," who
does the work in the shute, has the most
hazardous regular employment i'll the mine.
Frequently the big humps form jam in the
schultz and the shower has to get down
among the big Jumps and dislodge them and
set them moving again. When they start
TO move his actions have to be quick, be-
cause slow mover would be caught by the
moving mass and be ground to pieces be-
tween the big Jumps of coal. These men
b take such risks dozen times day. In
mines where the coal is hard most of the
loosening up is by blasting, and it is one of
the most dangerous parts of the process.
i THE BLAST HOLES ARE DRILLED
/ to the depths of from IS to sc inches, and
often are filled to the depth of Is inches
! with blasting powder. When blast is
about to be fred all retire from the cham
4 Der except the man who Is to apply the
h match As soon as he lights the fuse he
q flies to the shelter of the heading, place
Fl cut in the side wall of the mine for such
q purposes, and there waits until the Shot
4 goes Off Should it hang fire any length of
time he must go back to examine the fuse,
and to do this he must place his life in the
q greatest danger. Many a poor miner has
been blown to atoms by blast going off
Just as he leaned over it to ascertain the
cause of delay. There is another danger
that overhangs him after the shot is fired,
and that is the top rock which
may have become loosened by the jar of the
blast, and may at any time fall and crush
his life out. In every mine in the Schuyl-
kill region quantities of sulphur gas accu-
mulates along the roof of the chamber, and
to insure safety this must be famed out.
This gas is highly infammable and explosive,
and to it many of the mining disasters are
due. Whenever it's presence is detected tho
Humphrey Davy safety lamp is used to
work with, for an open lamp would be death
lation was and perhaps to number of the
men employed in the other parts Of, the
mine. When an explosion of this nature
occurs in the gangway it generally spreads
death and destruction, extending to all
parts of the mine. Many of
THOSE WHO ESCAPE
the fire are killed by the air pressure that
follows, and, after escaping both, the
miners are in danger of succumbing to the
deadly after-damp. There is the ever pres
emit danger Of the caving roof, which may
occur at any time, and often without warn
ing. The most recent accident we have had
Of this nature was that of the Nanticoke
mine, in which twenty-six men were I'M
prlsoned by the roof of the mine falling.
The accident was caused by the tapping of
a heavy body Of water which had accumu-
lated in the old working, which lay above
the chambers where the men were. The
twenty-six bodies are still buried in the
mine, all efforts TO rescue them being baf-
fed by the quantity of culm and water
winch PUSHES in every time the mass is
touched. One of the most appalling acct
dents of this nature, and one which cost
more human lives than any that occurred
before or since in this country was the
Avondale disaster, in which 1903 men and
boys were suffocated. The Avondale mine
was a shaft straight down into the coal beds.
Inc buildings at the mouth of the works
TOOK fire one day while the mine was in full
operation. The fire communicated to the
tlmDers in the upper portion of the shaft
and they fell into the opening, completely
choking it up, and cutting off all chance OF
escape to the men and boys below. At
tsmptS were made to reach the bottom and
ma means, if'possible, of rescuing those
imprisoned there. Two
MEN LOST THEIR LIVES
u one Of these attempts, and the idea was
abandoned. After the fire was extinguished
a rescuing force organized. They found
INA every man and boy in the mine was
Iead, smothered by the deadly gases that
nao accumulated. A number of the victims
were found lying behind a barrier which
uey had built to keep back the fire and
anoke. Others were found in positions that
INDICATED that they died suddenly at Their
worK, some of them kneeling by their drills
ooaers with their picks in hand. The
NITe country was shocked when the
lul extent of the destruction became
AnoWn. Such are few of the dangers
~ the presence of which a miner labors
rom rom o'clock until 3 or 4 o'clock in the
afternoon, when he leaves his work to re-
urn 70 his poor home. Frequently the place
wnere he works is wet with the water that
Instantly oozes through the crevices in the
coal, and he walks mile or more 10 his
rutl In his wet working clothes If the