The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-10 00:00:00

The. Colliery Explosion in Northumberland.

The whole of the 11 men rescued on Thursday
from Seghill pit after the explosion were more or
lees injured, and three or four of them were in a
somewhat critical state when the last advice came
from the pit. The men who are suffering the most
are Thomas Hogg, Robert Wood, Henry Milis, and
William Richardson all advanced in life. It teems
that the pit was worked with the Davy lamp, and
the men had the strictest orders not to employ a
naked light or smoke in the workings. The place
where the explosion took place is known as the
" old flat," beyond the Californian way. The men
who were in there were killed ; but the 11 men and
lads who were subsequently rescued alive were
some distance from the scene of the explosion, and
are suffering from the effects of " stythe," or choke-
damp. One of the men rescued states that the ex-
plosion "knocked him deaf." "The pit putter lad,"
03113 of the rescued men, Rutherford states, came
back and said "Rutherford, she's fired." We came
directly towards the shaft as fast as we could. We
got behind the door in the cross cut in the Cali-
fornian way which leads towards the Burrdon
workings. We got behind the door when we met
the stythe: Me and Wedderburn put some small
coal and clay in to stop the stythe coming in
through the door, and I believed this saved all our
lives. About 30 yards off the door we met a little
return air which supported us all the time we were
in. I did not become insensible until about half-
past 8 o'clock, nine hours and a half after the ex-
plosion." The working parties during Thuraday
morning laboured with great energy to reach the
men; but some hours elapsed before the ventilation
was restored, and it is a perfect miracle that any
of the rescued men had retained life under the
circumstances in which they were confined in the
pit so many hours. Until tolerably well in the
forenoon there was no hope that any of them would
be brought to bank alive. Ina stable in the
‘, Californian way," not far from where the bodies
of the dead men were found, 18 ponies were
destroyed by the explosion. The ponies in a stable
nearer the shaft ?vete uninjured. The killed are—
Thomas Heaps, hewer, a married man—Henry
Whitehouse, hewer, a young man—William Taylor
a putter, a young man—Richard Robinson, shifter,
a married man—John Hand, shifter, a young man
—John Miles, a boy, a timber leader—and George
Jackson, a married man, a timber leader. About
400 men were employed at the pit. The foreshaft
men go down to work about 2 o'clock in the morn.
in, and had they been below when the explosion
occurred the loss of life would probably have been
much greater. A fortnight ago Mr. T. E. Foster
and Mr. John Taylor, the well-known mining
engineers, inspected the mine, and everything they
examined was to their satisfaction, both as regards
the ventilation and general arrangement of the
workings, and Campbell, the master shifter, and
made a minute inspection of the workings only
three hours before the explosion. As is usual on
these occasions, there was a large and prompt at-
tendance of medical men at the colliery as soon as
it was known an explosion had occurred, and the
viewers, with the pitmen from the neighbouring
collieries, also flocked to be in readiness to proceed
to explore the mine in search of the lost men. Mr.
Carson, the under-viewer, and the other officials
were very active in making arrangements below
for the rescue of the men.

A SAD OCCURRENCII.—An inquest was held on
Monday evening at the Town-hall, Cardiff, on the
body of a boatman named Thomas Evans, 25 years of age,
who met his death under the following extraordinary cir-
cumstances:--A little before 12 o'clock on Saturday night
deceased was in conversation with-a young woman, to whom
he would have been married in the course of a fortnight,
and was sitting on the parapet of a bridge that crosaes the
canal. It is said that ho had been drinking, and his future
sponse had just previously induced him to leave a tvern"
Whilst in the act of kissing and bidding her " Good ma. ght,
deceased's head suddenly fell back, and his overposed body
fell into the canal, his head striking an abutment of the
bridge. Horrified at the sight of the body in the water, the
young woman roused the neighbourhood by her screams
as she ran round to the landing steps, and resolutely jumped
in to rescue her betrothed, but from the shock she had
sustained she was powerless to bring the body ashore.
Assistance came, and medical testimony certified that death
had been occasioned by a fractured skull, causing contu-
sion of the brain?. Verdict, " Accidental death.",