Year: 1869

muAm8 COmpomseSs


Our readers have no doubt read the reports
concerning the late mining calamity at Avon
dale, Pa, with many pangs of sorrow They
have shuddered instinctively as the various
telegraphic accounts flashed over the wires
announcing the progress of the devouring
flames down deep into the bowels Of the earth
have had their sensibilities shocked as the
danger to the entombed victims became more
and more imminent, and have had their very
souls shudder when the appalling reality was
declared-when they realized that over hum
dred human beings had perished miserably,
shockingly, terribly, ay, hellishly, in that
dark aud sulphurOus tomb, the confines, as 1t
were, of the Internal regions themselves the
unspeakable terrors Of which only the pen of q
Dante could faithfully portray. And now,
when scarcely the anguish created by
the simple narration of the event
has passed in part away, or the walls and
means of the suffering and starving widows
and orphans have ceased to burden the air,
the reading community are shocked by an in
situation, apparently emanatlng from the man
ayers of the mine, that the whole tragedy
was the result Of diabolioal act Of incen-
diarism on the part of one or more jealous
miners themselves. The testimony bearing
upon this point, as given on the llth inst,
at Plymouth, Pa, is worthy Of being briefly
repeated here. II shows that in the belief Of
one witness ''the general feeling about the
mine was that the shaft might at any time take
fire"-whether from above or below is not ma
terial to our present purpose-that ''another
place of egress was talked Of being opened"
If so, why did not the company do it without
awaiting the calamity now mourned and be-
walled by so many starving widows and Or
phans? Another witness heard that ''another
tunnel was to have been driven through; :" but
the testimony showing that another mode
of egress was necessary and that 1t
was contemplated to construct one is fOrti-
fed by too much testimony to be recapitulated
in our limited space at this time Another
witness, ticket boss of the mine, supposed,
when he first saw the fire, that 1t came from
the furnace" as ''there was new fireman,
who did not understand much about his busi-
ness" Who was responsible for his ignorance
of the discharge of so important duty
Another witness, engineer in the mine, testified
that the 'brettice" was ON fire once before.
In cross-examination by the mining engineer
of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Coal Company this witness was asked If he
had ever said that If he could Not work in
the mine no other man should, and he replied
''No." This is all the testimony upon which
the charge is hinged that the mine was
maliciously fred. Another witness asserted
that all mines should have two openings, and
that ''there are other mines besides the one at
Avondale having only one place for the men to
get out" And finally an old miner declared
that 'the miners intend at this inquest to let
the public know the perils they are exposed
to"-an announcement which, it seems was
received with much applause.


Now, after all this testimony affecting the
matter of accountability, it can scarcely be
credited that corporation would attempt to
screen themselves from the responsibility of a
massacre which can be so easily traced to their
own unparalleled meanness and utter want OF
regard and sympathy for those who labored
for them in those dismal depths. Had the
company gone to the expense Of constructing
second shaft to or from the mine the unfortu-
nate victims might have escaped with their
lives. Had they taken proper precautions, at
a comparatively trifing expense, the tinder-
box woodwork surrounding and covering the
mouth of the mine might have been secured
from the accident of taking fire. Or had they
had the thoughtfulness which brute might
expect to have for its young they would never
| have permitted a contingency to have occurred
| like that which has so murderously resulted
| in the immolatiOn of fivescore human
beings. And, finally, if the agents, manager'
or directors of the company had had sparl
of genuine manliness in their compositions
| If their consciences had not smote and abashei
them by sense of guilt they could never hav'
been brought to the cruel and cowardly poin
| of charging hostility between Welsh and Irisl


miners as leading cause of the direful occur


renee and of inculpating innocent parties in 1t


dreadful results-and all this as q means o


defence and shield for themselves Blu


they are arraigned before the bar Of publi


opinion as responsible for this wanton destruc


ton of human life. aud the Grand Jury, o


whatever the competent authority may be, Q


the county in which the tragedy occurre


should indict and have them all tried for man


slaughter.


The truth is this whole question Of cos


mining in Pennsylvania has never been pre-


perly understood by the community generally


The poor and frequently half f-starved miner


are invariably held accountable for strike


and other interruptions to the regular pre-


gress of business, whereas the fact is ths


these strikes are instigated by the mir


ing corporations and monopolies then


selves, or through their agents, In ordt
| hot Ia Oivan n