The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-12 00:00:00

SERIOUS COLLIERY EXPLOSION NEAR BOLTON.

A serious accident occurred on Monday afternoon
at one of the pits belonging to Meier,. Thomas Wright
and Son, Hanging Bank Collieries, Little Holton, about
four miles from Melton. There are about 150 men employed
in this mine, and the men went down to their work as
usual at 6 o'clock on Monday morning, and continued
at their employment until a little after 2 o'clock in the
afternoon. The mine is between :An and :l's/ yards in
depth, and has an upper shaft and a downcast shaft, the
former being on the northerly side of the workings.
From the bottom of this shaft there is what is known as
the " down brow "—a long road extending some 1660 yards
along the workings, at • decline of about one yard in
seven. At a distance of nearly VA yards from the top
of this brow (the bottom of the north shaft) there is •
waggon road which branches to the right, and continues
on to a large open bay, which has an area of about thirty
yards ; and at this spot an explosion occurred. It is stated
that a few minutes before the explosion took place
the underlooker, Thomas Grundy, visited the whole of
the workings, tested the various places, and found them
perfectly free from gas. Shortly after 2 o'clock in the
afternoon the workmen prepared to leave the mine, and
many had been sent up the shaft, whilst others were mak-
ing the best of their way up the brow. A fearful explo-
sion was beard. Those who were on the ground outside
the pit were alarnied by a loud report and by seeing an im-
mense volume of smoke issuing from the mouth of the
north shaft, and large stones and pieces of coal thrown up
a great height into the air. As soon as was consistent with
safety several parties descended the pit, and found num-
bers of wounded men strewn about in all directions. The
explosion hail occurred in the open lay previously de-
scribed, where there were at the time about seven men
and boys working. They had a few minutes previously
been warned by the usual cracking noise, which invariably
precludes such events, that • fall of earth was about to
take place, and they immediately proceeded to prepare
fur it by removing their tools. While they were busily
engaged doing this, an extensive layer of the roof fell,
and this was followed by an explosion. Some of the men
saw the flame and instantly threw themselves on the
ground with their faces downwards, but all the seven
working in the bay were shockingly scorched. The gas
and sulphur rubbed in a stream up the pit brow, cany-
ing some of the men along with it by its violence, whilst
others fell on the ground and lay as dead from its effects.
As the gas rushed up the shaft a number of men who were
just waiting their turn to ascend were more or less
burned. Another set of men who were engaged further in
the workings narrowly escaped suffocation, and bad to
scramble over the injured bodies of their fellow-work-
men unable to assist them. One youth was blown a
distance of fifteen yards by the force of the explosion.
Many of the persons were burned all over their bodies,
others have sustained injuries chiefly on the face, chest,
and arms, and in some cases the back. The following are
the names of the 24 most seriously injured :—Levi Rush-
ton, John Glynn, Thomas Grundy, underlooker, and three
sons, Henry, Thomas, and James (the latter was married
only a fortnight ago) ; Emmanuel Hodgkiai, Peter, John,
and William Swindells ; Joseph Smith, John Langshaw,
James Topping, John Clegg , James Southern, Samuel
eoucill, Thomas. Ridings, Thomas and .1 oseph Nuttall,
Joseph Reathcote, Joseph Hodgkiss, Joseph Hodgkin
(nepuew of preceding one), John Jack-un, ami Lot Welke..
All the injured live in the neighbourhood of the colliery,
or at Farnworth. The injuries received by many of the
persons named arc of a very serious nature, :it'd it is feared
that at leeat from six to ten of the cases will terminate
fatally. How the gas ignited is at present a mystery, as
the men OW/ there were no naked lights about at the time
of the accident.

ALARMING ACCIDENT TO SIR FRANCIS COLD-
SIHD, BART., M.P.—We regret to hare to recoid an alarm-
ing accident which happened on the 26th ult. to Sir
Francis Goldsmid, Bart., M.P., while hunting near
Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Sir Francis has been oc-
cupying Hewnham Paddox, the rest of the Earl of
Denbigh, and on the day named was out with one
of the local packs. He had ery good horse undir
him, but the animal stumbled and ftll when in the
act of taking a small " grip" between two fields.
It went down on its fore knees and milt d over. Sir
Francis slid off ; but while still on the ground
received a blow from the bead from one of the fore-hoofs
of the struggling animal. The blow, if given direct,
would probably have been fatal; but it reached Sir Francis
in an oblique dirmtion, smashing in his bat and inflicting
a serious scalp wound. His right eye WAS also injured
from his spectacles, which were crushed and broken in the
fall, but no permanent injury, we are pleared to add, will
i result to the sight. Sir Francis was immediately taken to
a farm house near at hand, where Imedical assistance w: s
forthcoming. He was afterwards removed home in his
carriage and placed under the care of a local physician.
He is now, we are glad to say, fast approaching convales-
cenos.—Brighton Guardian.
CHILI.—The census of Chili was taken last April,
and has just been published. According to this census
the area of Chili is 132,000 square miles ; the population
is 2,084,945; the foreigners resident in the country num-
bered 23,220 ; 832 of the inhabitants are from 100 to 140
years of age, and 9,636 are physically or mentally helpless.