The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-17 00:00:00

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I was employed on one of the leve
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fired their own blasts there, and use :It '--7.!,....,.,:__. . 0:61 V:i.lfs'
with safety. The soft coal was cut vy I: .s:ze:.-t t_ .s>vti:,
the face, to lessen the danger. I have vitakecirt s
Edmund's Main two years. I had worked in man.;
pits, both in Lancashire and the North previously,
and was never before in so well ventilated a pit as
Edmund's Main. We have never been troubled
with gas until within a day or two previous to the
explosion.
Joseph Walton, of Baker-street, Barnsley—l am
a labourer at Edmund's Main Colliery. I have
worked there on and off since 1856. George
Lawton was my '' glffer:' My principal work until
recently has been to set doors andbui Id stoppings, &c.
On Saturday, the6thinsf., La wton seni me to the tace
of the dip boardg,ites. Lawta:n told me i'he colliers
were not to fire a shot until the soft coals weise taken
down within a loot of the face of the hard, and that
the hole for blasting was to be drilled in the bin ,-;4
list—that is, bet wren the coal and shale, about four
feet from the floor. I was to stop with Ihe colliers
and see this done, but I had not orders to fire the
blasts; the colliers were to do thet. I stayed until
half-past 2 o'clock on Saturday, when G. Pickering
relieved me. He said to me, " What does thou think
of h
picke&g complained that one broadgate
was making too mt:ch gas, and said the brattice
tpeen. j”
hap job' am afraid something is going to
~
sheets should be altered ,?0 as to introduce more air.
I did not go and tell Lawtoii this, though I thought
Pickering was right. Pickering made a mark with
chalk in the coal, and said he and Clegg had agreed,
to put the bratticing there, but Lawton would not
agree to it. There was plenty of gas on the Satur-
day. There was enough to fire at the lamps all the
day, from 6in the morning until 2 p.m. I did not
send the men out, nor did I tell anybody about the
gas firing in the lamp. I did not tell either Law-
ton or his son, They would know better than me.
They were not at the place after morning. All
that I did on Saturday was to remain near the face
and see that the miners euk: soft coal within a foot
of the fall, and drilled the Nast holes into the
black list. On Monday morning I went into the
pit about 20 minutes past 6 o'clock. George Law-
ton told me to take a Davy lamp and go down the
dip boardgates, saying he would come to me. I
went there. There were three men in the front
boardgate, and three in the back getting coal at the
" face." They were getting ready for the men of the
next shift to come on. These latter men were Guest,
Dodgson, Archer, Fisher, and other hurriers. They
commenced work at 6 o'clock in the morning. They
worked for four hours. About 7 o'clock I saw Law-
ton about 30 yards from the face of the (7.l:oboard-
gate. He said he wished they were thronh to
Swaithe shaft, the point to which the boardgates
were being driven. He was very uneasy in his
mind, and was afraid something would happen. At
the time Lawton came to the dip face he gave me a
lamp key, and told me to take the lamps 30 yards
from the face to unlock them when they wanted
snuffing. There were only two shots fired after I
went on duty on Monday.,
one in the straight board-
gate and the other in the back boardgate. I fired the
one in the straight boardgate between 9 and 10
o'clock. The second was fired about a quarter of an
hour after the first. Thomas Guest fir,:d it. I un-
screwed my lamp top to light the touch-paym., and
then gave the touch-paper to Thomas Guest, who
attached it to the fuse. As soon as the fuse wits
lighted we all went into the slit. The gas fired at
the fuse before the shot went off. The fuse would
be five or six seconds in going off. The blaze covered
the whole face of the coal before the shot went off.
I wanted to go and waft it out, but Guest said it
was too far gone. We all beat the flames with our
clothes immediately after the shot went off. We
also threw slack upon them, and did everything we
could to put them out, but without succese. Gas
came from slits over the whole face of the coal,
not from any large orifice. We exerted ourselves
more than half an hoar to put out the flames and
then pent into the level and filled a corfe with
bricks. While I was doing this Lawton's son came.
I had sent Archer to tell Lawton about 20 minutes
after the gas fired, and Henry Lawton came about
half an hour after that. My intention was to build
a stopping at the S waithe level. Henry Lawton said
it would be wise to mike the stopping. We were
going to put the stopping across the straight board
gate to stop the ingoing air. The smoke came back
upon us in such volumes that we were unable to build
the stopping. At this time all the men employed in
the boardgates had gone to the pit bottom except
me and Lawton. I saw no flames at Swaithe level.
When it became impossible to build a stopping at
Swaithe level Henry Lawton went to the pit bottom
to order bricks to build a stopping at the second half-
way, to cut off the air there. There were no bricks
and materials we could use at the halfway. The
bricks had to be fetched from the pit bank and mor-
tar from the pit bottom. I went after Lawton, and
when I got to the second halfway I saw Dick Wat-
son and Sam Tyas. They asked whether they were
to warn the men. lat first said I had no orders for
them, and afterwards told them to warn all they
could. I was quite exhausted at this time, and came
out. Watson and Tyas wanted to help me, but I
just managed out myself. Fresh men could have
built a stopping at the second halfway had they
had materials. I was exhausted with breathing
the smoke in the other parts. It was nearly 12
o'clock when I got out, and there had been
no explosion then. George Pickering was on
the pit bank when I got there. Pickering
had twice saved my life. The explosion occurred
while I was in the storeroom. George Lawton
gave orders when safety lamps were to be used and
when candles. Ido not know that he was controlled
by any other person in these matters. He did not
appear to be. Henry Lawton acted as the deputy
of his father, and was responsible when he was
absent. Both Henry Lawton and his father are
among those who have perished.
By Mr. Morton—Safety lamps had been used in
one place, about a week before the time of the ex-
plosion, in consequence of gas. The gas had, how-
ever, disappeared, and candles had been resumed.
In every other part of the pit, except the face of
the dip boardgates, candles were used, and with
perfect safety.
By the jury—When Henry Lawton returned
from the pit bottom, after ordering the bricks, he
saw me near the second halfway, and told me to go
out of the pit. I did not go in again. I did not
hear Henry Lawton, or anybody else, give orders
for the men to be warned. Archer came to me at
the Swaithe levels and told me he had warned some.
There was time to warn all the men. If Henry
Lawton had sent men round to warn them all at
the time we were driven from the Swaithe levels all
might have been out half an hour before there was
an explosion.
By Mr. Gill—Upwards of three quarters of an
hour elapsed from the time of Henry Lawton com-
ing to me in the Swaithe levels to my getting out
of the pit. This was ample time for all the men to
have got out.

William Archer gave similar evidence, after
which the inquest was further adjourned.

THE BRAZIL MAILS.

LISBON, DEC. 16.
The Messageries Imperiales steamship Navarre,
with the above mails, arrived here at 8 a.m. to-day
en route for Bordeaux.

RIO, Nov. 25.

Exchange on London, 27 to 271 ; on Paris, 347
to 352. Coffee, good first, 6,000r5.. to 6,700r5. Ship-
ments of coffee since the departure of the last mails,
120,823 bags, 54,276 of which were for the Cbacnel.
Stock of coffee, 140,000 bags. Freight, 30s.
At Bahia, exchange on London was quoted 27-1
to 28. Sugars, 2,200 reis. Cotton, 17,500 reis.
Exchange on London at Pernambuco, 281 to 294„
Sugar, whites, 3,100 to 3,200 ; browns, 2,100 to
2,300. Cottons, Maceio, 17,500 ; Paraibo, 19,000 to
19,200.
The Royal Mail steamship Tyne, with the out-
ward mails, arrived on the 28th November at Per-
nambuco.

importing tea without colour on the leaf pre-
vents the Chinese passing off inferior leaves as in the usual
kinds. Horniman's Tea is uncoloured, therefore always
good alike, Sold in packets by 2,280 agents.