The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1866-12-22 00:00:00

A TERRIBLE SILENCE!

At the batik Itself the scene was equally appalling, many
of the w,,rirpeople experienced narrow ...capes from the
falling debris that wa. shot out of the shaft, and the occur-
rence greatly damped the energies of all employed. With
terrible forebodings of the fate of thnins who had just gone
below, every one about the pit mouth was asked to be still
While a lusty collier shouter] down the deep chasm to learn
whether any of the heroic hand could be heard All readily
obeyed the injunction, and there WA. perfect silence; but no
r. sponse came from that dark valley of death, It was felt
that anther It. t bwi to he ado. d to the casual( fes, and the con-
sequences of this second accident moat heavily depressed all
around. It was drVerrnitied to send down the c lair,
hut this carne up again trap y, and all doubts. to the fele of
the right •nd twenty MCATCI,er• was painfully set at rest.
Mr Jeffeock, Mr Tewart, and Mr Smith, were three of the
hert-known mining engineers in the district, end the
news of their loss was received in Barnsley with universal
t egret.

THE TIIIRD EXPLOSION.

Notwithstanding the disheartening °waren°, that ha' put
happened, another gallant v-Innteer, earned Dow• 11, offered
hie services ; he yet had hopes that valuable lives might still
he 'pared He, however, hesitated hi go alone, and whit..
waiz Ina for • companion • third explosion happened, which
00111priltd ever. the most sanguine tit believe that not 11
living vont remained below This third explosion °come
• few Minute. Detre ten it Wa. eot so severe..
the two preceding, hut it was s uflic•ent to throw the chair into
the head-cear over the down-cast moat and to leave It fixed
there. One of the men, who hail left his coat at the
tattom of the shaft a few hours before, and who wit
standing near the pit mouth when this third explosion
happened, was astonished to see the sleeves of his nrivec,e.l
garment t down nlolenntly into the air, ant to nod, when the
smoke had cleared away, that part of the tattered coat hail
lodged by the stile of the chair 111 the bead gear. The tiara
of the viewer. now centred ott the lou and dauger arising
from the tiring of the coat. The exploalon wee, fortunately,
not followed by flame., or much smoke, se In the accident
at Londhitl, In len, and it was hoped that tf the coal hail
caught lire the vtoleuce of the explosion had to thrown down
whet remained of the air paseages that the names would not
Act°, much progrees. Fearing the repetition of other ex.
Plosione the pit bank was cleared at ten "clock, and the
attempts to get into the pit were not renewed.
-- - -

Mr. Morton, the Government- inspector of Mines,
was on the spot during Thursday, consulting with •
number of mining engineers, and the meeting was ad-
journed till the following day. It was pretty obvious
during the latter part of Thursday that the pit had
caught tire, for the current of air had been turned, and
was driving a cloud of smoke out of one of the down.
cast shafts; the smoke from the cupola was compara.
tively thin. Some of the escapes of the miners were,
wits usually the case, very remarkable.

NARROW ESCAPES !

One man, named Bates, was hewing coal In some new
works, ousut a mile and • half from the sha'ts. Ile became
aware of the expiation by a sudden rush of air, which threw
him tiOWII and rendered him insensinle On recover-
ing himself he felt that he was b. leg enwrapped
In the suffocating choke-damp, and, with a desperaee
dirt, he strugg,ed towards the shafts. The roads were
so blown down that he could hardly than his way, and after
climbing over heaps of debri.l he at last fill helpless, and
gave himself up for lost. &me friendly Mimi, he Gote not
know whose, raised him, and once more he staggered on to-
wards the shaft, where he at last arrived, and was safely
taken to the surface Anothrr man, named Talker, the fire-
man at the bottom of the up-cast shaft, was busily eng.goi
at his duties when the accident happened, the explosion fell
up -n his ear like two loud peal. of &Mintier. and a perfect
hurricane swe,S pact him up the shaft. Ile was knocsed
down tenseless, and gme of the exploring parts, afterwards
found hint grasping in his arms the body of a tioxi cat Others
of the eighteen who were brought to the surface alive, ex-
perienced singularly narrow escapes from felling debt',; and
after-damp ro avoid the latter many fell on their faces,
stuffed their clothing in their mouths, and crawl°,, along the
level. One Incident we heard, hut which rentrrea confirms-
Win, Is, that a man living 1.1 Mirek•loy, taken out of the pit
as dead, and entered as such in the no:ie.-list, was seen to
breathe WI he was nein conver ed home in • cart, and that
he u'timately recovered A bundler of men tiled on reaching
the surtace The total lots Is estimated at 352

On Thursday night, the woodwork in No. 1 shaft
became ignited, sparks were shot up into the air, and
the rouch blast isaued out of the shaft with the fury of
a hurricane. Much if not all the timber was de•
strop-of , and it was feared that the flames would ex-
tend to the head gear suspended over the pit's mouth.
The fire in the shaft was fortunately twon exhausted.
Shortly after four o'clock on Friday morning, the
policeman on duty at the pit's mouth was startled to
hear a slight movement of the signal wire in No. 2
shaft, accompanied by a slight tinkle of the bell at-
tached to it ins the engine-house.