The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-14 00:00:00

FEARFUL COLLIERY_ ACCIDENT IN

SAXON!.

A Correspondent of The Times, writing from Dresden, the
sth instant, has sent the following particulars of this dis-
tressieg calamity:—
Early on Monday morning last intelligence was re-
ceived here that at a short distance from this city up-
wards of 400 men had fallea victims to a terrific
colliery accident. At first it was hoped the numbers
were considerably exaggerated, but it is now nearly
certain that the figures will prove even greater, 420 or
more being absent from the roll-call on Tuesday.
The following are the details as exact as it is possible
to arrive at them during the consternation caused by
this sad calamity. On Monday scorning, at five a.m.,
a shock like that of an earthquake alarmed the neigh-
bourhood of Potschappel, a pretty little village some:
what resembling Matlock, in Dserbyshire, situate about
five miles from here amor.g the hills beyond Plauen,
and it was immediately surmised that an explosion had
occurred in one of the great mines belonging to Baron
Burg. Two men were blown out of the shaft by the
force of the explosion, but in such fragments as to be
altogether unrecognisable. The gas ignited the coal,
and for some hours the pit was in flames. At one p.m. a
man volunteered to descend, notwithstanding several
minor shocks had occurred, but when the cage returned
to bank he too was gone, nor could he be rescued be-
fore three p.m., the following day (Tuesday), when he
was found insensible and apparently dead aome yards
from the bottom of the shaft. He has since recovered,
and states that on first descending he distinctly heat d
cries for help, but this is generally considered very im-
probable. Up to Tuesday night only fifteen bodies
were recovered. Some were burnt to cinders, others
singed black with the explosion, the scene around
being past description. The crowds of poor women,
some of them having lost three or four of their family,
standing in the wildest grief round the pit, hoping
against hope that their loved ones might still be rescued
alive, the heartbreaking sobs of the childrea, and the
sterner grief of the men, made the scene agonizing in
the extreme.
On Wednesday morning I went early to the spot and
found that altogether fifty bodies had been recovered
and were placed in a neighbouring shed for recognition.
En route thither I met cart after cart carrying away
one or two coffins and two large vans loaded with empty
shells for the reception of the bodies as they were
brought to bank. I saw altogether thirty corpses, and
their state defies description. Here a long shapeless
black mass, which the miners told you was one of their
comrades, hut in which it was difficult to recognise the
slightest likeness to humanity—here one hail his head
blown off, there one his arm, one lay on his bed of
leaves with his face split open, another as though much
bruised by the coal falling on him. The sad work
of recognition was proceeded with with as much
despatch as possible, and the bodies were then
placed in their shells and their names wri:ten
on the lid in chalk. A shriek in you corner would
tell of a mother recognising her son or a wife her hus-
band lying among the long row of unsightly corpse,
while the plaintive wail throughout told of a far wider
spread grief. I conversed with one of the miners who
had just come up, and he said the labour of recovery
must be very slow (about on" body every three hours),
as the sides of the mine had fallen in, and they had to
work the coal away. In most cases they found the
men lying under the sides of the mine, some bulled in
coal, others on whom the coal had fallen, and then
burnt up. One was found near the mouth of the
farthest shaft hardly injured at all, and as he lay in the
shed he formed a striking contrast to his companions,
being extremely white and well dressed. The appear-
ance of the few recovered seems to indicate that
most of them must have been killed from aufficati
being much swollen in the face, and nearly all bleeding
considerably at the nose, only a few (at present) being
much burnt with the explosion.
Two men work at a time at each end, the two
shafts being quite 300 yards separated, but they ceased
work at the end nearest the village on Tuesday. Each
man as he descends is asked whether he is perfectly
willing to go down, and at first Mass was held for those
who were to descend, at the top of the pit. The depth
in 330 French metres, and the colliery is situated at
the top of a considerable elevation, commanding a
splendid view ef Dresden and the valley of the Elbe.
The trains daily pour hundreds out at the hitherto
quiet little station, and the pit and its environs are
guarded bya company of soldiers and police agents.
i 'the King, t is said, has given 500 thalers (about £75)
towards the relief of the destitute poor.
It seems very improvident, but the miners here only
use the open lamp, so they are altogether unprotected
from the effects of gas, &c. They aho descended when
searching for the bodies smoking cigars, but I heard