The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-25 00:00:00

TIM FEARFUL COLLIER' _EXPLOSION.

A letter dated Newcastle, Saturday night, gives
the following details of the disastrous accident :
" All the horrors of the Hartley catastrophe have
been broughc to our remembrance to-day through a
fearful explosion of gas which occurred in Walker
Colliery, three miles from this town, about 6 o'clock
this morning, by which 16 men and lads have lost
their lives. Walker Colliery is among one of the
oldest in the coal trade, having been at work nearly
a century, avid is about the last of the famous old
Wallsend collieries working, all the others having
been drowned out. It has two pits, the Ann and
the Jane, the shafts being about a quarter of a mile
apart, and the depth 160 fathoms. The shaft of the
Jane pit has only been reopened about nine months,
after being widened and enlarged, and the coals are
brought to bank by that shaft, which is down-cast,
The seam which the colliery is working is not the
old household coal seam, which has made Wallsend
famous all over the world, but the lour seam ; the
coal taken from it being principally for manufac-
turing and steam purposes. To-day was pay
Saturday at the pit, and the pitmen were not
employed in the mine ; it was laid off, and pre=
parations had been made for a large Sunday school
tea party, to be held to night. It is usual, how-
ever, when the pit is laid off, for the shifters,
atonemen, and others, to' red it' up, as it is termed,
doing any odd jobs in the air-ways and other parts
of the workings; in fact, to put it in good order
for the meo resuming work on the Monday morn-
lag, Between 20 and 30 men and lads employed
about the pit in this way had gone down about two
o'clock ; and, so far as can be at present ascertained,
the explosion occurred between half-past five and
six this morning. Two banksmen, named Charles
Robson and Joseph Richardson, heard the sound of
a tremendous rush of air up the working shaft of
the colliery where they were stationed, and on
looking in that direction they observed steam and a
cloud of fragments flying from the pit's mouth.
They informed Charles Cooper, the enginewright,
of the fact, and the alarm that an explosion had
occurred spread to the village. Before seven o'clock
three men were brought up at the up-cast shaft.
They were named Chambers, Knox, and Collins.
They were all alive, but each was suffering from the
effects of gas and fright, as well as from the shock
they had received by being thrown down when the
explosion occurred. From their statements it seems
that there would be 25 men in the pit, some of
whom were working in-bye' at a considerable
distanee from the mouths of the shafts. It is sup-
posed that some of these men had been at work
in a trouble,' and had fired shots, from which the
explosion may have occurred. The injured men
were taken home, and were attended by Dr. Rich-
ardson, who reports that ali who had come up alive
are likely to recover. They describe the first warn-
ing they had of the explosion as like the sound of
a hurricane, and its effect on themselves was to
throw them violently down. The stoppiugs, brat-
trees, &0., in the colliery workings are all destroyed,
and the mine is thrown into confusion. Mr. Cole,
the resident viewer, was among the first to descend
the pit. Mr. Jobling, the principal engineer, aad
one of the owners of the colliery (which is the pro-
perty of Messrs. Lambert, Nicholson, and Co.), Mr.
M. Dunn, inspector of Coal Mines, and Mr, Potter,
of Cramlington, mining engineer, have been down
the pit. Those who have walked as far in the
workings as they possibly could had seen three
dead bodies, and it is feared that several others had
shared the fate of their unfortunate comrades.
" The miners who descended to explore the mine
came up much exhausted, and state the air to be
very bad. All the horses, nine in number, and 21
ponies, are killed.
" From the nature of their employment, the men
and lads who are killed would be scattered about
the pit when the explosion occurred, and that it was
violent and sharp may be inferred by the fact that

the bodies which have been found were lying not
far from the shaft, and that a portion of the seam
of coal was set on fire. An exploring party who
went down the pit this afternoon reported that they
found a collyman dead, very much charred, and
lying to the north of the shaft at the branch-way

ends; also the boly of a boy shockingly burnt, at
the entrance of the waste. Mr. Telford, Mr. Hurst,

and other colliery viewers, were at the pit this even-

ing assisting, and every exertion is being made to
thorough!) restore the ventilation, so that the pit-
men may be enabled to pass through the pit in
safety, and send up the bodies. But there was a
good deal of stythe in the pit to-night, and it may
be a day or two before the bodies are all discovered.
6' As is usual at colliery explosions, there have
been many providential escapes. Geo. Mitford, one
of the shifters, was working in another part of the
pit at the time of the explosion. As soon as he felt
the concussion of the air, which is unmistakeable in

cases of explosion, he ran for his life, but was over-
taken by the fire-damp and struck down like a shut.
He gave himself up for dead, but was fortunately
rescued by some men who descended the pit at the
first alarm of the explosion to save as many as they
could. There has not been so large a crowd about
the pit as has been noticed at former colliery explo-
sions in the district, and the people have been very
well-behaved and orderly.

" The poor man Holt is supposed to have occa-
sioned the explosion by bring a 'shot' while making
a drift through a trouble,' close to the air-way.
The pit must have been extremely foul ; but it
is said that if it had been at work the explosion
would not have occurred, as extra precautions would
have been adopted if it had been found necessary to
'fire a shot."'

SUNDAY NIGHT.

The bodies of the 16 men and lads have been
, and despatched in carts
t
pit is little the worse for the
accident, ugilt
their
h to
homes. h
andb n
will'kc
bee:P nade fit for work in a shift
or two. The cause of the accident has not been
ascertained.