The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-14 00:00:00

t 4

DEE IRRND.4LE COLLISAY EXPLuSION.

MERTUYR TYDV IL, Trcn.t ]:VENT .

The wisdom of lighting the tires of the upcast
shaft yesterday was apparent in a very few hours,
the operations for the clearance of the fall having
been carried out with an activity which was phy-
sically impossible before. Several hours elapsed before
the extent ebbe fall could be ascertained, hut about mid-
night, to the great relief of the workmen and engineers, a
hole was made through which the bodies of several roes
could be seen inside. Neverthelear, it was not until three
o'clock this morning that the !Arlie' were reached. There
were eleven persons lying there closely huddled together,
all burnt and some to a frightful extent. To avoid an
increase of anxiety to those above ground it was
agreed that the whole of the bodies should be removed to
the bottom of the shaft ant sent up in two or three lota,
and this was accordingly done, the first lot arriving at
the top about 5 o'clock. They were not to be 'recognised,
except by the remains of the clothing about them, and
were put into coffins immediately. Is their further pro-
gress along the workings the men were again interrupted
by • fall, and throughout the whole affair the falls have
been so numerous and extensive that not more than twelve
or fifteen corpses are found in one place, great masses of
rubbish, shale rock, and coal separating them from each
other. By $ o'clock this morning, nearly all the men were
brought out of the east or dip headings, and at the
time we write only four, it is believed, remain there.
Parties then set to work to clear the workings in the rise,
and in consequence of the communications being totally
destroyed in some places very slow progress was
made in the recovery of the bodies. They were
found in twos and threes, and sometimes eight
or ten together, but the spectacle presented
by them was of the most harrowing description. Trunks
were found without heads, arms, or feet, and in one
instance a boy was sent home without an arm, which was
subsequently found and sent afterwards wrapped in paper.
No more ghastly sight can be conceived than that which
met the gaze of the spectators and explorers. The poor
fellows had not only been burnt, but blown by the force
of the blast against the ragged sides of the mine with
terrific violence, the flesh being torn and bones broken in
a sickening manner. Decomposition had already set in,
and the stench exhaled was frightful, the very clothes of
the workmen being so impregnated that it followed them
wherever they went. By 10 o'clock twenty bodies had
been brought up, and this number was gr &dually increased
until 1 o'clock, when twenty-nine bad been raised. A fail
was then enoountered, and some delay arose, but about
three o'clak five more were sent up in • tram,
each separately wrapped in canvas, the bodies being too
bad to be exposed to view. An hour afterwards three
others were brought up, including cne whose head had
been blown off the trunk. This poor fellow, about 26
years of age, was recognised by his wife at the bank ; and
she, poor thing, uttered • scream of such agony that it
was heard a long distance off. She was led away, crying
" Murder ! Murder !" with a horror that cannot be ex-
pressed. The scene at this time was most striking.
Fathers and mothers, who had been lingering around the
pit in the cold raw air, stood expectantly, anxiously waiting.
Coffins lay about in al! directions, some beautifully deco-
rated and bearing the name and age of the pour collier
whose body yet lay underneath the rubbish in the mine.
The expenses of all the funerals, from the coffins to the
graves, are borne by the proprietors of the colliery. Their
kindeess the people commend in the warmest manner.
Mr. Lionel Brough, the government inspector of mines,
arrived from Bristol about mid-day, and descended the
colliery, his solleague of the district, Mr. Wales, being
then down the pit. His long experience will be of great
assistance in the clearance afire workings and the renewal
of the entire ventilation. Up to 4 o'clock 37 bodies have
been brought up, making in all ST dead, and it is feared
after all, that when the whole of the bodies have been
brought up they will be nearer 200 than 170. Several
more dead horses have been brought up, and one of the
two stated in our previous report as blocked ups by a fall
has been got out safe and sound. The engineers who came
up to-night are of opinion that a succession of falls would
be met with from the beginning to the end, and
that it would be at least two days more
before the last of the bodies would be got out.
Some of the dead were taken to Merthyr and Aberdare for
burial, but all that are brought up in future are to be
buried in the par nib graveyard on the top of the mountain
as quickly as possible. It is sad to state that many of the
bodies have been so burnt and mutilated that identification
was impossible. These were placed on the mountain side
In coffins with the lid unfastened, so that the curious
might lift it up and examine; but in all eases they were
more like a lot of animal remains than anything like
humanity.

On Tuesday the government inspector, Mr. Lionel
Erough, had a most narrow escape. He wax in the act of
descending by the cage, and had stepped therein, when,
on account of some mistake in the signals, the cage was
tossed violently up, and Mr. Brough thrown with some
force back into the drift. But for the mere accident of
his having a loose hold his head would have come into
collision with the arch above, and certain death would
have been the result. The escape was a most narrow one.
In connexion with the explosion a singular case of super-
stition has transpired. A lodger told the mistress of the
house a month before the accident that he bad "found a
warning " of the explosion, heard the screams, raw the
dead, sad in fact had the calamity presaged to him in a
most remarkable way; and this he told to the men at the
time.