The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-01-28 00:00:00

TEE APPALLING ACCIIANT AT HARTLEY
COLLIE,B,Y,

•
After an agonieing interval of very nearly seven dap
the mystery has been cleared pp. and the fate of the
immured mem ia known. That fate realises the worst
that could have been anticipated. More than 200
human beings have been suffocated in the dreary
cavern where they had taken refuge from the water
that dooded their workings. They succeeded in elud-
ing that foe to life, and even the more terrible fate of
starvation they might have mastered ; but a more
subtle enemy than all invaded them—the foul vapours
generated in therm close, narrow, and tortous galleries
poisoned the air, and the whole band fell victims to the
stythe."
The sad discovery was drat made on Wednesday by a
courageous miner of the name of Adams, who pene-
trated at the hazard of his owe life into the gallery,
and found every step of his progress *noun bered with
the corpses. lint the leading engineers who directed
the workings had for some time before dreaded the
worst. From the Thursday, when the accident hap-
Felled, down to Saturday forenoon, sounds were dis-
tinctly heard from the imprisoned men, but after that
time they ceased altogether ; and it is reasonable to
conclude that shunt that time the deadly gas had done
its work. The state in which the tooL of the men
were found, covered with rust, though they had evi-
dently being used in an endeavour to effect their own
deliverance, bore testimony to the same effect.

It may at first sight amiel.- r extraordinary that seven
days should have been occupied in clearing away the
rubbish which enclosed these unhappy men in their
horrible tomh. But all accounts agree that the work-
men who undertook the rescue worked while they were
allowed to work, with superhuman energy. From the
confined area of the shaft, only a few could be employed
at a time ; but this of itself would not have caused such
a long delay. The fact, was, that after the ponderous
beam which did all the mischief had carried away the
wooden lining of the pit, the row sides, consisting of
loose stones and soil, was continually falling in, and •
new lining had to be construoted for the shaft before the
men could be allowed to work at the bottom, And when
at last they had cleared away the greater portion of the
stones and timber, and were almost within reach of the
men, the mephitic) vapour, which has proved so fatal to
the buried men, began to ascend through the
loosened earth, and nearly proved fatal to
the workmen themselves. Fresh precautions, involving
another long and tedious delay, were again rendered
necessary before the work could he resumed. When
this was done the work was again restuned, and we now
know the melancholy result.
About half-past four on Wednesday afternoon, by an
effort almost superhuman, and displaying a courage
worthy of the greatest hero, Adams, a noble volunteer,
descended the shaft, and entered the furnace-draft and
the yard seam, where he discovered several bodies.
Proceeding through • clack-door more bodies were
found, and on entering through another door a similar
result showed the fatal effects of the gas. Adams was
too much exhausted to remain longer, and came to the
bank. The distressing intelligence created an immense
sensation, and was received by the large crowds with
deep gloom.
At 10 o'clock, the working parties penetrated
the obstruction in the shaft end got into the
yard seam: not a man or boy were living. An awful
spectacle presented itself to the explorers; men were
lying dead in every direction the bulk near to the
shaft: Most of them appeared to have slept away
placidly, though some strong men have struggled
desperately for life within the workings of the pit. The
exploring parties saw little boys in the arms of their
fathers, and brothersg sleeping dead in the arms of
brothers.

The corn bins were empty, though a pony was lying
dead in the yard seam untouched. The air wee very
foul in the shaft and weak in the working—so much no
that most of the volunteers who have penetrated into
the pit have been brought to the bank seriously in from
4 t e effects of the gas. The men were prevented about
ne o'clock from going down the shaft again until the
ntilation was improved. The village of New Hartley
was a scene of misery, desolation, and woe, as nearly
the entire working population have been stricken with
death.

A telegram was received from Her Majesty on
Thursday afternoon asking intelligence as to the hopes of
saving the men. _ _

The Newcastle Chronicle, in a third edition of
Thursday says :—" There has been great excitement
auionpt the men working under Mr. Coulson, in con-
sequence of some foolish individual having expressed an
intention of shooting both Mr. Coulson and his men if
they did not proceed at once to get out the bodies of the
men. It is impossible to do so until the shaft is made
:secure by the cribs, which are now being put in. It
was a matter of some difficulty to persuade Mr. Coulson
and his men to remain. He does not expect to get out
any bodies till Saturday morning at soonest. Every
facility will be given to surgivors to identify the
remains of their unfortunate relatives. One hundred
pairs of long-sleeved gloves have been sent from New.
castle for putting on when lifting the bodies, many of
which are in an advanced state of decomposition. 'lb.
Bishop of Durham and a number of clergymen and
others are doing what they can to comfort the bereaved.
Lord Hastings has sent an agent with full powers to
draw
.on his lordship for means necessary for relief...

A local paper deacnbes the following scene in the
village :—" At half-past 4 o'clock the intelligence of the
discovery of the bodies was conveyed to the village. It is
impossible in the limits of language to convey an idea
of the terrible scenes in every house of this doomed
village. Every house of mourning, and that is every
one, is filled with tympathixing friends and acquaint-
ances, and the ministering hand of woman is busy in
affording consolation to these unhappy women—now too
surely widows. In every house may be heard the
hysterical sob, the agonized wail of suffering woman,
weeping for the husband of her love and the father of
her orphan children, now lying cold and silent in the
depths of the fatal pit. It is also peculiarly painful to
bear the wailings of tender infants whose mothers are
too sorrow-stricken to attend to their wants. The street
of the village is filled with women who steal noiselessly
from house to house on their mission of mercy, en-
deavouring, by arts only known to woman, to impart
solace to these bereaved ones. Truly they ars the very
realisation of the poet's fancy,—
. " ' When pain and sickness wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou.'
So they have been, so they are, and an they will
doubtless remain to the end of time. Not women
alone, however, are engaged in this hallowed mission,
for a few ministers of the gospel may be seen, hurrying
to and fro, in the semi-darkness, engaged in the work of
their Haster,'and endeavouring, by their spiritual con-
solation, to cheer the 'weary and heavy Laden.' It is
scarcely possible to conceive a more sorrowful scene,
and it is heartrendering to reflect that every house is
tenanted by grief-stricken widows and fatherless chil-
dren, many of them left fatherless at the very threshold
of the battle of life, and deprived, at one fell swoop, of
the hand that should have guarded their infant years.
May He who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb be
their solace and stay in this their hour of adversity I In
our hurried passage along the street many scenes came
under our notice almost too sacred for us even to allude
to—here the weeping mother spasmodically pressing the
crowing infant to her breast, who was lisping out the
name of its 'dada,' and a gush of tears and a hopeless
shake of the head told too truly that the heart a that
loved 'dada' was cold death at the bottom of the mine.
There might be seen a fine little boy sobbing as if
his heart would break, and looking wistfully
towards the pit, as if he expected to see some well-re-
membered form, and perhaps wondering poor little
fellow, what his unh_appy mother meant by telling him
he was an orphan. There, too, might be seen an aged
and infirm man, with his grey hair tossed to and fro by
the wintry blast, endeavouring to comfort his little
grand-daughter, whose outstretched hand was pointed
towards the spot where her father was wont to work,
and who eagerly scanned the countenance of every
passer by, in the hope, probably, of reeognising her long
absent father. That father is now cut off from all
earthly ties, and is now where the wicked °saes from
troubling and the emery are at rest.' Here even may
be seen the strong miner, the tear in whoa, eye betokens
the agony of his spirit, endeavouring, in Ms rude yet
kindly way, to impart consolation I. the bereaved.
' Cheer up, hinney,' he says, 'the Lord is good to all;'
and perhaps the poor woman may appreeiste his homely
kindness in a greater degree than if it were couched in
the most polished language. The schoolroom of the
village has for some time past been transformed into an
office for the owners of the colliery, where tea and re-
freshments have been for many days prepared to be sent
down to the unfortunate men the moment a communi-
cation was opened up between them and the brave
hearts toiling incessantly in the shaft for their deliver-
ance. But now all these kind preparation' are of no
avail, and it is melancholy to look into the schoolroom,
and see the loaves of bread and hampers of provisions
prepared for the men, and to think they ars now so far
removed from all earthly comfort. .

SALIMUBT CATHEDItAL.—Workmen have been busily
engaged foe some days past in erecting a scaffolding
between the four lofty and meagre columns which imp-
port the tower and noble spire of Salisbury Cathedral,
for the purpose of enabling Mr. Scott, the eminent
arehitect, to thoroughly examine the leveret parts of
the 'tincture, in order to ascertain the best means of
repairing and strengthening it. It appears from at
recent order of Her Majesty in Council ratifying a
scheme for the transfer of certain estates belonging te
the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury to the Eeelesbuifioal
Commissioners for England, that by realm of the great
antiquity of the cathedral, and of the want of this repa-
ration in times past, it has become necessary to expend
thereon in repairs and in effecting improvements con-
ducive to the security of the fabric, alum of money.
amounting to £lO,OOO or thereabouts, and that this sum
together with interest thereon at the rate of £3 per
cent, per annum from September, 1850, is forthwith to
be provided and expended by the commissioners in
effecting inch repairs and improvements, under the
superintendence of, and according to plans and specifi-
cationuto be prepared by the architect of the said Dean
and Chapter, as may be deemed necessary. It may not
be generally known that the spire of this cathedral,
which is 400 feet high, has for years past been some 22
inches out of perpendicular, arising, it is supposed, from
a settlement at some distant period or other. The tower
and spire, it will be remembered, were not • part of
the design when the edifice was first built. It is thought
that their erection was the "improvement" for which
the materials of Old Sarum were used by virtue of
letters patent granted by Edward 111. to Bishop Wrril
and the Dean and Chapter in 1331. In order to enable
the workmen to erect the scaffold without interruption,
the ordinary morning genies has been suspended pro
lent.