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

TER EFFECTS OF THE FIRST EXPLOSION.

Deese columns of smoke and dust shot Into the air from
each of the shafts, and iti a few reconds the pit bank was
wrapped ID a thick black cloud, that hung like a funeral
pelt over the ill-fated spot, the shock of the •xplosion
Earthed the people living in the neighbourhood. and a rush
was male to the pit bank. Frantic women, terrified chil-
dren, and collier@ from W joining works, eagerly crowded
round the place, to ascertain the cause and the results; and
the anxie,y and despair depicted by that motley throng was
a scene that no pen can describu On recovering from the
Ant shock of alarm, the viewen and unotr-viewsrs, several
of whom had fortunately Wines to the surface a few minutes
before the occurrence, Inspected the gear and machinery of
the down-cast shafts, and intitnneion of the accident was
simultaneously forwar, el to Mr Dymond, the managing
partner, and to Mr. Superinteneent Greenhalsh, of Barns-
ley, who shortly arrived with a number of policemen 'the
examination of the surface n achinery shove., that the
expleMon had made one of the dowmcast shafts entire Iy
unavailahle ; anti the chain or rope nelonatt g to the second
was so ii anti Injured that in the course of Inc afternoon it
had to be supplied with a new one.

THE DESCENT INTO The PIT.
As koon as ysorirlhie a party of men cautiously descended,
aid at the bottom of the shaft they found ahont ergoteen
meu and bye, much affected ny the after-damp, &int many of
them seriously burned They were at twee sent to the sur-
face, where they were attended by a staff of medical men,
placed in carts or on stretchers and taken home. A
te nr•h was made for others of the living, who it wait sop
',tett might he entombed below, ano on It was also
touportaat to learn whether the coal had caught fire, Mr
Dymond and a party of wera and colliery managers from
tuloining works, pro 7tedert to make an exemio• 1.. n of the
pit. Toy penetrated about 600 or 700 yards, to the bottom
of the up-cast shaft but it could not he d•scovered that the
pit had anterhme fired. The air wan loaded with noxious
ppo, Ci sech an extent that one of the party, Mr. Wilson, of
barley M oin, was overfewersd fly it. It was Vend
that an immense amount of ..amage had been clamed to the
WEISS son riots of tile workings, that the air-way• were
literally blown to piaci- a and that not a living malt wag to
I, Pond to, the pit. Of dead they o.unted many. within •
p of fifty yards there were not /ewer than thirt, -eight,
sill at every few paces the romber was increased it was
a'so lound that the stablel were desir,yed, and about
e:ghteen or twenty horses killed.
PLENTY OF VOLUNTEERS !
Mime of the party returned to the surface and called for
nr.re volubteers to repair the sir-ways and get out the dead
P.enty of willing hands Need heartily in the danger or
task, and in the or nese of the evening sod night more than
Ore hundred men were thns employed. One of the most
affecting scene, which the persons so engaged came upon
was : he tisc,,rery of more than twenty men. nearly the while
Of whom were locked to each other's arms. They bad faced
.!eatll together, and had curried the friendship of life to the
) I hreeho!rt of the grave. 0 hers had evidently been swept
an y while faking leave of each other, and lathe terror and
ii naion of the monv-pc rinses end snit remenrwred to
appea to the mercy of tin le GO. Not a few were thus found
in the ettiture of prayer. A 11.0 Tel aw.ul apectiscle than that
presented to the rear, hereon We,ireeday night Could hardly
fiaind, «yes WI battlefield intense, canal tom, arid le
•ome cases men and lads Were heap. d tt g'-ther in /111.1 0011.
fused mos, and tome of the oodles were no much
more Gy nit, then mutilation, that their friends 1.1.411.1 hardly
recognize 'beta; some iswi to be Identified by • hit too kw
a shf,e, or senile pan of their tattered garments by mid •
night nearly May billet hod teen brought to th“ surface,
and the dense and inmost!. g thr-ng at the pit bank to-re
painfully trailed hat-rent In the ditty if frlectit, trig time
ho tot, At times the bodies were broaeht op an rapid.), that
the at ace reserved for th.ma at the tit mouth was quite
611.1 as relatives and friends claimed the dead dr- y
wire carted sully, covered with blanket., evil In malty
rues foil-wed by weeping women and children, by an
early. hour in the morning the work of conairneting Mr-
tr ay. will rapidly progressing, awt all abroad. the Moira
1,1..3 a 01 roett were sthl, down to expedite the duties of We
men below. •
THE SECOND EXPLOSION.
by eight o'clock on Thursday morning nearly 800 pirdslot
temporary ad.wos had been cous:incted, and searchers listd
peretrated Imo the more distant parts of the mine.
Ono of the levels was disheveled to be ou tie,-, hut the
ilava ha, mate trifling progreas, and after • little tier' ion
they were mit golthed. Soon after rigid o'clock, at least
thirty reven men were In Ite pit, end sem. of these, who
were It. the lower part of the works, observed that the air
was !Mae r‘epidly draw. Irem then, 030 or two of the

counter, 9.1,0 W te more exp.rienoed inhere, grimed tie
cum), and wicked a r,tr,at for fear of another centurion,
son the piny ten hack.. fart rot poin,l-.le to the downoa4t
abit't. the) aathercd otherr on the way, and altogether
ste,efm ••,ame out f the pit, William Sugoen, flee of the under
nein', viewers being taming the tiuroher. Wlten they
reached the slarfsee toey reported the Olinger to another
relay of Me. who were about to deetiend, but the latter per-
detect In going, and Snadan Wm Induced lo accompany than,

The Party thus made up consisted of the following :—Mr.
Jeffcock, a well known mining engineer ; Mr. Smith, the
manager of the Lipid hill Colliery ; Thwart, the principal
steward or manager of the 0 tks Colliery Sudgen end
Christopher Soldent under deputies; and Thomas Nadin
toitiWtllia,u •:enhenson. firemen. It Is also hell, vett that
twenty-one other scorchers •ete In the pit As soon as the
Party just named had arrived at the bottom, It Icing then
.hint nine o'clock. another explosion occurred, Inmost sta
serritic as that on Wednesday The shock was telt at many
of the ne,ghhourlng cottsges, and it was • painful sight to
we the women rush screaming Info •he rind and up the
hill to the pit hank to ancertain whether any ot the searchers
bad been killed.