The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECE \II3ER 30, 1862.

LAW INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

-•-
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.

There was a long list of cases today, but principally
before the Registrars for first meeting.

IN RE 8. F. BERKELEY, ESQ.

This bankrupt was described as Swinburne Fitzhardings
Berkeley, Esq., of Curzon-street, Mayfair, and this was a
meeting for proof of debts and choice of assignees.

Messrs. Hart Brothers and Hayles are the accountants
to the estate. The debts are stated at £15,000; assets
nil.

IN RE G. GRAY.

This bankrupt was described as of Kensington, licensed
victualler, and this was a meeting for proof of debts.
Mr. Chidley is the solicitor to the estate.
The debts are stated at about £3OO ; assets, £2OO.
TN RE HADDEN.

This bankrupt was described as a corn•dealer, at Ham-
mersmith, and this also was a first meeting.
Mr. T. Beard was appointed solicitor to the assignees.

The bankrupt was insolvent in 1860, and now owes about
£2OO ; assets, about £3O.

IN RE R. CLARKE.

This bankrupt is the accountant in bankruptcy, and
now came before the Court. This was a meeting for choice
of assignees. The amount of debts and assets was not
stated, but the bankruptcy is attributed to bill transactions.
The bankrupt's salary is £1,500 a year. Assignees were
chosen.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE---This Day.

BOW-STREET.

ROBBERY AT DRURY-LANE THEATRE.— Charles Gray,
carpet planner, was placed at the bar charged with stealing
a quantity of felt carpeting, the property of his employer.
➢ir. Lyons, of Bell-yard, Temple-bar, upholsterer, said
the prisoner was in his employ, and was engaged with a
number of other workmen at Drury-lane Theatre. This
morning on his arrival at the theatre to superintend the
carrying out of his contract for carpeting the lobbies, cor-
ridors, and boxes, he found the defendant in custody of the
fireman of the establishment for having attempted to take
away a quantity of scarlet drugget, which he was engaged
in laying down in tho boxes. When he was engaged he
was expressly told that no perquisites would be allowed,
and the bundle produced contains some very large lengths of
material which had been tied up inside a lot of smaller bits,
There was enough drugget to furnish one of the boxes.
Mr. Corrie asked the prisoner what answer he had to
make to the charge ?
Prisoner said it was quite true that he had taken the
cuttings, but they were his perquisites, and to which he was
entitled by the rules of the trade. A planner was always
allowed his cutting.

Mr. Corrie —But you don't mean to call the large pieces
" cutting ?" If the case was mine I should not allow such
pieces to be taken away from my house.
Prisoner—Yes, they are all cuttings, and I am entitled to
them by the rules of the trade,

Mr. Corrie—You were expressly told when you were en-
gaged that no perquisites would be permitted.
Mr. Lyons—l have now upwards of 30 men employed,
and if each one was to take away such "cuttings" as those
now in court, I should soon feel it very seriously. It was
only yesterday morning I stopped a man taking away some
of the same material, but nothing like the quantity now in
court.

Edward Hamilton, one of the firemen engaged at Drury-
lane Theatre, said he stopped the prisoner with the bundle
as he was leaving the theatre this morning. He asked him
for the pass authorising him to take the things away, and
as he could not produce ono he was detained until Mr.
Lyons came. Prisoner said he was en itled to the carpet
by the rules of the tr..de

Mr. Lyons said he was certain there was a ready receiver
for such goods, and if the prisoner would only tell him
where any of the cuttings that wet() at present missing had
been disposed of he would not press the charge so strongly
against him.

Prisoner consented to do so, and the case was adjourned
for a week, in the meantime defendant being admitted to
bail.

I homas BoT was charged with stealing a large portman-
teau from the shop of Mr. Bengough, in Holborn.
The prisoner, in the most impudent manner, entered the
shop, shouldered the property, and was deliberately walk-
ing off with it when he was stopped by the porter,
Mr. Corrie committed the prisoner for four months, with
hard labour.

divisional surgeon of police, and physician of Spital• square,
said that Fletcher had a severe lacerated wound on the
scalp nearly an inch long, and the tissues were completely
broken. It was such a blow as would be given with the
hammer produced. It cut a piece of cane in the police..
man's hat, and if that had not been the case his skull
would have been fractured. There was another lacerated
wound on the left temple an inch and a half long, dividing
all the structures down to the bone, and a wound on the chin
a quarter of an inch long. Michael Malony and Thos. Flynn
were committed for trial under Lord Campbell's Act, for
unlawfully wounding John Malony, who was engaged in
the original affray, was sentenced to 7 days' imprisonment
for being drunk and disorderly, and Thomas Smith, an
Irishman, dwelling at No. 35, Royal Mint-street, who in-
terfered with the police, and was terribly beaten, was fined
55., on which he exclaimed "Is that all, yer honour's
wortchip ; I am thankful to you."
MANSLAUGHTER.—RandaII Stone, the captain, Louis
Lane, mate, and Henry Francis, boatswain of the ship
Martha Pope, charged with the wilful murder of a lad
named William Curtis, at sea, on a voyage from Honduras
to London, were brought up on remand before Mr.
Wool r 3 ch.
Mr. Charles Young, solicitor, conducted the prosecution
for the first time; Mr. l.ewis, son., of Ely-place, appeared
for the defence.
Mr. Young said a coroner's jury had returned a verdict
of manslaughter against all the prisoners.
The case was proceeding when our messenger left the
court, and is not expected to conclude unti► a late hour.
We believe the magistrate will commit all the prisoners for
manslaughter.

The Calamity at Edmund's Main Colliery.

WORSBOROUGH, SATURDAY.

The bodies of the 60 men and boys who were the
victims of the explosions at Edmund's Main, con-
tinue immured in their gloomy sepulchre, and there
are but faint hopes that they will be recovered for
some months to come. The terrible explosion—the
third and most destructive in its effect upon the
mine of the series—which took place on Wednesday
week, and necessitated the complete flooding of the
pit, has deprived the survivors for a long time to
come of the melancholy satisfaction of paying the
last sad offices to the dead. The first explosion, it
will be remembered, was caused by a fire which
originated at the extreme "dip point" of the work-
ings, at the bottom of a long incline, and engineers
hoped that the flooding of that part would be all
that was required, but the third explosion showed
conclusively that the fire had been spread over a
large area by the first and second, and nothing lest
than the complete flooding of the workings will now
suffice. The operations at the colliery during the
week have bier, under the charge of Mr. Brown (of
the firm of Brown and Jeffcock, mining engineers)
,tnd Mr. Mitchell, to whom the task of recovering
the bodies of the entombed miners has been dele
gated. Water is still being poured into the mine
in large quantities, and the three shafts are
sealed against the admission of air. The opera•
tions exactly resemble those which were carried
on after the great explosion at Lundhill, three
miles from Worsborough. When the pit is full
will commence the tedious and laborious operation of
pumping it out, and then the restoration of the brat-
tieing, so as to reinstate the ventilating apparatus,
and then the search for the bodies of the dead.

The inquest has been concluded this week, and
the statements made by some of the witnesses, re-
echoed as they are throughout the district, ought to
be productive of good results in the future manage-
ment of mines in this district. Jr. Me Sun of Wed-
nesday last it was stated in the brief teleAam an-
nouncing the verdict, that one of the jurymen—a
111 r. Parker—dissented from the verdict. We have
been furnished with the reasons which induced him
to take that course. He says he was of opinion
" that the quantity of gas in the dip-boardgate
was increased by the unjustifiable vapidity with
which the coal was excavated, the men work-
ing in shifts or sets, which followed each other
in regular succession day and night; the exer-
tions of the main being stimulated by a bonus of
£l, which was given to each of the sets that suc-
ceeded in excavating 50 yards of coal within a fort-
night. This mode OF working resulted in the con-
stant liberation of a large quantity of gas, which
mace the use of gunpowder highly dangerous. That
the evidence conclusively proves that gas issued in
blowers and in considerable quantity from both faces
of the dip-boardgate for several weeks before the
Bth inst., and had been repeatedly fired by the men
in the prosecution of their work ; that the gals was
fired in the dip- boardgate by a blast of gunpowder
on the 4th, and was again fired by a naked candle
en Saturday, the 6th inst., when the men were en-
gaged for nearly an hour in putting the fire out ;
'hat the use of gunpowder in the dip-boardgate had
been attended with great danger to the men em-
ployed in the colliery for several weeks before the
Bth inst., and its continued use in blasting the coal
Liter the danger attending that mode of excavating
had been so frequently demonstrated was a proceed-
,ng reckless on the part of the men, and highly
culpable on the part of those who either authorised
or permitted it." The concluding paragraph blames
the managing partner for leaving " 238 men and
boys engaged in so dangerous an occupation as coal-
fining without the supervision of a competent
coal-vie wer."

In reference to Mr. Parker's assertion that the
inert were stimulated by the offer of bonuses to in-
creased exertions in coal-getting on the Swaithe
level, it may be stated that one of the colliers, Wm.
Fisher, said at the inquest that the proprietors gave
the men an additional sovereign every time they
worked 50 yards in a fortnight. It was also con-
clusively proved that gas had been issuing from the
coal at the extreme end of the workirgs in such
quantities as to render an explosion inevitable un
less extraordinary precautions were used. 13u,
what were the facts ? Not only we re the men
allowed to use gunpowder to blast the coal, in pre-
ference to the more laborious but secure system of
getting it down by wedging, but the hurriers and
norse-drivers were actually allowed to go close up
to the faces with their oak, d lights, thus rendering
altogether nugatory the order for the coal-getters
to work with safety lamps. The use of gunpowder,
as a means of getting the coal more cheaply and
expeditiously, is the real cause of this fearful cala-
mity. The seam is well known to be unusually
fiery and dangerous, and one in which naked lights
should never be used. The danger seems to have
occurred to the mind of the underviewer, George
Lawton, some months ago, for he told the men that
he did not like the thought of blasting in that
coal, and ordered them to begin wedging. That
was done, but the men found they "could not
make wages," although an increased price was
given, and murmurs ensued. The result was that
the use of powder was again permitted ; hence the
explosion. It was proved beyond doubt that the
state of the dip-boardgates a few days before the
explosion was such as ought to have warned any one
of the imminence of the peril• Said one collier,
There were three or four fires at the faces the week
before the explosion. On the Saturday, two eiys
before the explosion, there was a fire, caused by the
:!as igniting at a cantle, which raged for two bouts
before the men could get it out." Yet, in the face
of this state of things, naked lights were constantly
used in that part of the mine, and the coal war
constantly blasted with powder, until the inevitable
result took place and caused such a fearful sacrifice
of life. Indeed, the recurrence of these fires at the
dip boardgates seems to have contributed to the ex-
tent of the calamity, by inducing carelessness on
the part of the men in other parts of the mine.
l'hey said, when questioned as to their singular tar-
diness in escaping, " that there had been fires be-
fore, and they thought the men would get this out
as they had got out the others." One of the men
was warned of the danger, but he said he should ge.
on with his work until he " heard more of it," and
he continued to work for an hour until he was fairly
driven from his bank by the increasing volumes
of smoke and gas. Another, on being warned
by a collier who was running past his work-
ing pace, replied, " Thou can leave, if thou'rt
frightened, but stop." That man is yet in
the mine.

Considerable feeling was excited in the district
by the statement that many of the men could have
got out of the mine if they had been warned during
the long interval that elapsed between the breaking
out of the fire and the first explosion. It is clear
that the two Lawtons did scarcely anything to
warn the men, but Mr. It. Mitchell, the eon of the
managing partner, gave evidence in vindication of
himself, and stated that he did all in his power to
hurry the men out before the explosion. The last
time the underviewer, George Lawton, was seen
alive, he was on his wsy to the Sweithe level to build
a "stopping" to cut off the supply of air from the
fire raging beyond. It is a curious fact, but vouched
for by a scientific gentleman who formed one of the
daring party of explorers who were last in the mine,
that the building of this stopping, if it did not ac-
tually cause the explosion, greatly tended towards
that result. They e were previously about 11,000 cubic
feet of gas per minute passing over the burning
faces, and the combustion of such a quantity of air
would make the place a vast furnace for a consi-
derable distance up the clipboard. When he put
in the stopping in the ingoing aircourse the gas
evolved from the coal by the heat would cease to
be consumed, owing to the absence of air, and the
dipboard -would be converted into a huge gas retort.
The gas would accumulate until it got into the re-
turn aircourse, and would then fire at the first naked
light, of which the evidence showed there were
plenty in the mine. In the opinion of the same
gentleman the second explosion was caused by the
restoration of the air-crossing at :he first half-way,
which carried the air forward again to the dip-
faces and to the fire which bad been spread by the
first blast. The scientific gentlemen examined at
the inquest were unanimous in condemning the use
of gunpowder in a mine where there was so much

The Late Fire and Loss of Six Lives.

CORONER'S INQUEST-THIS DAY.

Mr. Bedford, the coroner for Westminster, opened an
inquiry this afternoon into the cause of the lamentable loss
of life which occurred at the fire which broke out a few
days ago in Portland-street, Soho.
The jury having viewed the bodes,

The Coroner said all he proposed t. do at that sitting
was to have the bodies identified, and after heating the
medical evidence to adjourn for a few days. He did not
think, after the sickening sight the jury had just wit-
nessed, they ware in a state of mind to go into the in-
juiry, which promised to be a very lengthened one.
Henry Hitchens was then called, and proved the bodies
to bo those of Samuel, Sarah Ann, Emily, Joel Walter,
Edward and Alfred Spencer.
Dr. Buzz ud, of Great Marlborough-street, said that be
had seen the bodies of the unfortunate children, and found
the burns not very deep but extensive. The faces were all
bronzed or blackened by the smoke, and the bodies were
covered with broken blisters. Tho eldest had sus
taieed the most severe injury, as one of the
hands had been entirely burned off. He had made a post-
mortem examination of the body of the boy Edward, aged
six, and ha was of opinion that death had been produced
by the shock occasioned by burning.

The Coroner—Not from suffocation
Witness—No; not from suffocation. I think all died
rom iujurics from burning.

One of the Churchwardens of St. James's said the
authorities of the parish took great interest in the present
inquiry, as four of the deceased children were inmates of
their Parochial school at Wandsworth, and had only come
up from the institution a few days previous to their death
to spend the Christmas with their friends. He felt exceed-
ingly gratified at hearing that all the circumstances con-
nected with the fearful calamity would be thoroughly in-
vestigated.
The inquiry was then a•tjourned until Tuesday next, at
the Vestry-hall, St. Jam s's

LONDON GAZETTE---This Evening.
BOROUGH OF TOTNES.

The Gaze(te contains the Speaker's warrant for issuing
a new writ for the electing of a member to serve in Parlia-
ment for the borough of Totnes in the room of the H n.
George Hay, commonly called the Earl of Gifford, now
deceased.