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

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 snrvivors 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 less
than the complete flooding► of the workings will now
suffice. The operations at the colliery during the
week have been under the charge of Mr. Brown (of
the firm of Brown and Jeffcock, mining engineers)
and 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. In The Sun of Wed-
nesday last it was stated in the brief telegram an-
nouncing the verdict, that one of the jurymen—a
Mr. 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
mane 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 gas was
fired in the dip-boardgate by IA blast of gunpowder
on the 4th, and was again filed by a naked candle
on Saturday, the 6th inst., when the men were en-
gaged for nearly an hour in putting tie fire out ;
that 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
after the danger attending that mode of excavating
had been so frequently demonstrated was a proceed-
ing 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-
mining without the supervision of a competent
coal-viewer."

In reference to Mr. Parker's assertion that the
men 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 workings in such
quantities as to render an explosion inevitable un-
less extraordinary precautions were used. But
what were the facts ? Not only were 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 harriers and
horse-drivers were actually allowed to go close up
to the faces with their naked 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 ()tiered 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 orfour fires at the faces the week
before the explosion. On the Saturday, two days
before the explosion, there was a fire, caused by the
gas igniting at a candle, which raged for two bouts
before the men could get it out." Yet, in the face
of this state of things, naked lights wereconstantly
used in that part of the mine, and the coal was
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.
They 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 be said he should go
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 place, replied, " Thou can leave, if thou'rt
frightened, but I'll atop." 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 bean 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. R. Mitchell, the son 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 way 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. There 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 the first half-way.
which carried the air forward again to the dip-
faces and to the fire which had been spread by the
first blast. Tie scientific gentlemen examined at
the inquest were unanimous in condemning the use
,of gunpowder in a mine where there was so much