The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-09-14 00:00:00

IN THE ISPLOSION PIT.

At an early hour next m uning, Mr. Patterson. 01111
of the agents of the Minors' Union, was amongst the first
to descend the pit by mime iif a kibble, the cage having
been entirely Cstroyed. After hating rem tined under-
yr nand for cc maiderable pet ioil, during which a painful
silence reigned at the mouth of the pit, he reportcd that
heist inspected the upcsat shafts one and two, and had
nolo el that Os boar r fires at both please were out He
had been able to penetrate about half-a-mile into the
Hatton mato, which with the Maudlin constituted the
seat of the explosion, the Hutton and the Mam.lin being
joined by small natural samba Mr. Patterson described
the fails as being mountains high, and declares that the
ruin is simply i0001"41•11hie. Duting his search he
stombled fences se y.ral dead ho lies, the first being that of
• by lying about too or three hundred yards from the
shaft Then he discovered the remains of the boy's mate,
a man, about a hundred yank further in. The two had
been engaged in making refuge bolts for the miners to
retire into, in order to allow trucks to pass them. The
inference he draws Iron the fact of the bodies being
Cs-leered so far ars•t :a that the activity of the poor
little fellow enabled hlm 'o get so much nearer the ghat
when the &arm of the explosion wee g:ven and before he
was overtaken by death, than bis companion. The body
of the master shifter was found by Me. Patterson lying
beneath a heap of ddlwis tubs about 600 yards from the
shaft; and about 20 yards further on he discovered the
body of another unfortunate miner. The furnace man was
fowl I lying near the forwice, and Mr. Patterson 'stomas
that he died at the post of duty, for his position indicates
that he was stricken down while actually feeding his fires.
Another touching nightie described by the saute gentleman,
who relates how he found • very small boy lying dead
beside the pony he had an frequently conducted through
those subterraneous passages in safety. The bodies were
all more or less blackened and cleaned. which io a great
' amours robbed them of their ghastly appearance and,
, except • broken a-in or too, be sew no other sign of
mutilation. A curious fact is that every body discovered
is completely stripped by the force of the exploeion, and
the widowed mothers and fatherless children understand
th.t they are robbed of one more chance of recognising
their dead. The survivors who were taken out of the
Harvey or bottom seam, on being questioned, stated that
they felt the shock of the explosion, but regarded it merely
as • fall of coed. A few momenta afterward., however,
they felt the evident change of atmosphere, and then
made all huts to the shaft, where they were found by Mr.
Stretton, the manager of the colliery, who was the first to
enter the pit after the accident, he being attached to a
wire for that mimeo. Mr. Patterson concluded his narra-
tive by saying—" Ire,l mitt safely say there is not • living
horse or men in the pit, except theses who have gone down
to explore. lam convinced also that there have been two
distinct explosions, one in the Hutton Dean, and the other
in the Maudlin."
. . _ . .

One of the who was in charge of the bottom of
the shaft at the Harvey Seam, and who was eventually
brought up at seven o'clock loot night, states that when
be drat beard the explosion he thought it was a puff of
wind, but soon found his mistake by the rapid change in
the air and the things that came flying about. He and
those who worked near him then made ae soon as possible
for the shaft, knowing that they would rooter be rescued
from there than anywhere. Th. y wait id and waited, how-
ever, in vain, and it Was • very bard teing, he said, to keep
up heart through all the anxiety and fear that they were
buried alive. About six in the morn rig they were joined
by four old men, who had dragged themselves to the shaft
with great effort, and were in a deplorable condition from
fatigue and after-Jansp. It W4l their duty then to
endeavour to make the old men keep up heart, and they
did solo the b:st of their power. They walked up and
down in their cage, to keep themselves warm, for some
time, but gradually, as no signs of relief came, they began
to giro up all hops, and their aged mates particularly lost
all heart. At one time it was thought that there was •
sound near them, anil there eras a cry raised that the relief
eras coming down the theft, and a rush was made in that
direcUon. The ray of hope, however, was only momentary,
for thy at once saw the impossibility of reselling their
supposed succour. Al • 111A4 resource and with • view of
buoying up the .1.1 lusts particularly, Moe amongst them
who had voices commenced to tine snatches from old and
favourite comic songs, mitts reeitationt. Ti. man added—
Although we ruedb sang songs to keep up the old one.,
we couldn't gct rid of our thoughts. We moot of us felt
thot we should nevar see the top again. 814 then Mr.
Stretton C4llll and brought with him brandy and anything
that we liked, hut whee we saw his lights that was food
and drink to IA and we di hit want none of it.'

DR. RONIMT DARWIN, FATHIR CIF CHARM DARWIN.
—ln Dr. Robert Darwin the love of children was •
striking feature. Hs would address them in his small,
high-pitched voice, and occasionally lilting them on to
a chair or table he would measure their head with his
broad hand, as though reading character and mentally
prognosticating their future fate. The writer of this
sketch remembers well being taken by h;s father
when • delicate child to Dr. Darwin's house to ask his
advice. The kind doctor's prescription was, "You may
have as many pies and puddings, apples and pears as
you can eat, and an egg every morning for your break;
fast, but," he added, "you must eat the shell of it. '
This last proviso was not so palatable, still the
prescription was for a long time obeyed to the letter,
and the shell of every egg eaten up when the contents
were finished. It was a quaint way of giving lime to
make bone, and in keeping with the doctor's family
motto, /econckis Omsk. After this advice, when the
child's father handed the usual guinea fee, Dr. Robert
received it out of his right hand and put it back into
his left with a pleasant laugh, saying, "Thank you,
my friend." He IVY often purchasing beautiful ware
for his table from the works of his father-in-law
Wesigood ; and go greatly did he feel the importance of
making the mouth do its work before sending the food
to the stomach, that he had a dinner-service made
with the words printed round the border of each plate,
"Masticate, denticate, chump, chew, and swallow."
He also mads a design for a nursery lamp for use in
feeding children, which was manufactured in &nada
and had a large min—Lain* s Hessr.