The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-23 00:00:00

EVENING,

ALARMING COLLIERY ACCIDENT
BRIST,L, JUNE 21.—This city and nelghttoerhood
were yesterday evening alarmed by an accident which
occurred at Vie North Side Coal-plt, Bedminster. near
this city, by the falling in of the shalt, whereby 40 per-
s.ins were at once buried alive. On proceeding to the
sp..t a scene of tho most distressing nature presented
itself. Several hundred persons, mostly the relatives and
friends of the men thus immured in the pit, had congre-
gated round the realises, and the cries and lamentations
of the women were heartrending. The following is a
detailed narrative of this shocking occurrence:—
I: appears that the woilti, which belong to 11Pssr.s.
Groulstone, S amen, G irrPtt, and Co., proceeded without
anything unusual occurring until about eleven o'clock
yesterday forenoon, when, in ascending the shaft, a ear,-
load of coal struck the side and carried away a portion of

the timber, immediately upon which the parties in at-
tendince abovw heard a qua ,city of earthwork fall, and
upon an a. tempt being matte to lower the cart it was found
that it could n•,t pass as the shaft hsd Teen hl,:cked up
Of course apprehensions of a innst painful kind were AL
once excised f r the safety of the unfortunate men below,
and all possible means were taken w repair the shaft so
as to get at them, but unfurtunately the nature of the
works was such as only to admit of three men working
at the time, se that it soon beeatne aPPar, tit that very
rainy hours must elapse before a passage dow❑ the shalt
could be obtained. As nearly a 4 could be observed
fry rn an examination of the injury, it seems that the first
pieces of timber, in their fall, must have knocked away
other sets. The stilt is about 135 fathoms in depth,
and the trailing in took place at a depth of about 90 fa-
thoms, and from this for about 30 fathom• more the nom-
fnunteation was suspended. This would bring one to
the bottom of the first vein, and beneath that again,
where it was discovered all the men but two were, was a
depth of 15 fathoms.
Immediately that intelligence of this alarming accident
found its way into the district, the wives, fatnilitts, and
relatives of the men gathered round the pit yard, giving
vent to the most frantic cries. Men were stationed at
the entrance of ,the yard to prevent the ingress of the
crowd, and as the door was opsued to let any one pass
out it was heartrending to witness the eager anxiety with
which every bit of information that could be gleaned was
received. One poor woman, sitting on the ground, with
an infant in her arms, informed our correspondent with
piteous cries that her father, son, uncle, brother, and
husband were all below,

From eleven o'clock in the morning, the time the ac-
cident occurred, till about halt'-past nine at night, the
distressing anxiety as to the fate of the poor fellows con-
tinued unabated. Mr. Goulatone, one of the proprietors,
remained the whole of the time on the spot, superintend-
ing the exertions made to deliver the poor men. He
endeavoured to keep up the spirits of the anxious in•
quirers by informing them that in all probability the
places where the men would be at work were at points
remote from the.ahaft, branching in different directions
from it; that the roads were good, and even supposing,
as there was too much reason to fear, that the fall of the
earthwork had displaced the two air trunks which passed
down the shalt, the water which ran into the'lower level
of the colliery would carry with it sufficient air to pre-
serve life even for days, as the pit extends about a
quarter of a mile round. At half-past nine o'clock at
night the men first succeeded in making any persons hear,
and Mr. Knight, of Ashton Vale Colliery, with a very
praiseworthy feeling, volunteered to descend the pit and
see how things were going on. Upon his return he stated
that he had heard some one below open the air hatch
and close it, and that ho had conversed with a man
named William Braille, who was below the stoppage,
and who, in reply to his call to him, said, " We want
lights and something to eat." All efforts were now
made to pass lights, and although the men above must
have been almoot tired out, they set to work with an
alacrity which refl-cted the utmost credit upon them;
lines were procured, and they descended into the pit
with about 310. of candles. All was now anxiety and
attention, shouting was heard below, and strong hopes
were entertained that the next hoic of the bucket would
put an end to all fears. Unhappily, however, such was
not the case. The men at a quarter past Lou o'clock
were again pulled up, when they stated that they had
conversed with two men, William Braine and Morgan
Phillips, who were in the top vein, and had passed can-
dles to them. but that these men', had informed them
that they could not get to the tip leading to the lower
vein, nor could they make anyone below hear them.
Thus things remained till past midnight in a state of
the most painful uncertainty and epprehetision as re-
garded the men in the bottom of the-level, their lives
of course depending upon whether they had air or
not.. The men who were tow in the pit were the
men who went to work at six o'clock in the morning,
and the followieg list of their names was furnished
by Mr. Goulstone:—James Peddar, James Wellor,
sen., Jos. Britton, Jas. Wellor, jun., John Tuvey, Henry
Gibbiugs, Thomas Boult, Benjamin Weaver, William
Braine, jun., William Bryant, William Samson, George
Smith, Joseph Tovey, John Britten, Henry Clark.
Samuel Sansom, Aaron Briton, John Rennolds, Thomas
Sims, sen., Henry Woodbridge, William Braine, Morgan
Phitlips, William Hoskins, Charles James, William
Gibhings, George Cole, Edward Ash, James Ridler,
James Hell, George Edwards, Thomas Iles, Joseph
Denison, Edward Woodbridge, Eli Star, Samuel Star,
George Willen, sen., Daniel Jefferies, Edward Gibbins,
George Vining, Juhn Stilman, and Robert Harris.
From midnight till after three o'clock this (Satur-
day) morning the exertions of the men above for the
rescue of those below continued unabated, when they
happily succeeded in rescuing the two men, William
Brsiue and Morgan Phillips, from their perilous con-
dition. We should state that a large number of men
from other collieries in the neighbourhood were em-
ployed, and they worked with the utmost ardour in the
hope of rescuing, or at least obtaining tidings of the
buried men, the wives and relatives remaining the
whole period by the side of the pit, their feelings alter-
nating between hope and fear. Load after load of tim-
ber was used in repairing the sides of the shaft, so
great was the mischief done ; and what made the
matter worse was that fresh quantities of earth were
falling from time to time, and some of the men below
asserted that they heard the sound of falling stones
below the first vein, which of course descended to that
in which the poor fellows were buried. At three o'clock
this morning Mr. Rannolds, son of one of the proprietors
of the Malago Coal Mines, arrived, and urged the
immediate adoption of measures to bring up the two
men, Braine and Phillips. He proposed that in addi-
tion to the ordinary pit bonnet, which is a kind of iron
shield suspended above the bucket to prevent stones and
rubbish falling on the men when engaged in the act of
ascending or descending, a second one should be pro-
cured from his own works, that these bonnet's should be
fastened to the hauling chain, and that either a small
bucket or some nooses of cord, in which the men could
insert their legs, should be appended at the end, the
whole then to be lowered to the first vein, so as to give
the two men the opportunity of effecting their escape.
Some objection was for some time entertained to this,
as it was thought that the danger arising from the
shattered condition of the shaft walls was so great that
till they were repaired the men would be safer where
they were. It was also suggested that by bringing
them up they would cut eft all chant). of communica-
tion with those in the lower vein, and many feared that
the men themselves would shriek from the rick incurred
by ae ascent under the circumstances, Mr. Rennolds,
however, persisted, urging that the two shields would
resist the fall of a ton or more of stenos and earth, and
that the worst consequence likely to happsn was the
fracture of a limb or lenbe whice would be better than
a lingering death. It was at hat resolved that a brother
of Phillips should descend and communicate the propo
sition, leaving the decision to the wen themselves.
Phillips accordingly descended, anti when drawn up be
owed that it was the wish of the trit.ri that the attempt
should be made; accordingly the additional bonnet teal
obtained and fa,teued above a small bucket; but here
a difli ulty arose. It was hecessary that some
one should d.acend in the buck •t, and th.•
majority of the men not unneturally shrank
Iron the danger. Mr. Goulatone said, of course, he could
nut compel any man to tick his lite, but he asked
ringly, " Wilt no tete try to save them?" At fitteen
minutes past tour o'clock a brave fellow, named James
North, volunteered to descend the shaft. Mr. Goulatone
said he would reward him fur his heroism, and he en-
tered the bucket and descended. The strictest silence
was now eoj Aned on those who were stationed at the
mouth of the pit, in order that there might be no diffi-
culty in catching the " bottom signal," which was shortly
afterwards given, and in a tew minutes more the two
poor men, Braine and Phillips, were landed with their
brave deliverer N,,rth._ Theexsitement tat this time was

most intense. Cries of" Noble North" burst from many
of the spectators, and a number even of the rude colliers
were melted to tears. The poor fellows, when drawn up,
looked very pale and exhausted, having suffered a good
deal from the foul air in the vein. Brandy and water
was administered to them, and, as soon as they had
somewhat collected themselves, inquiries were made of
them as to the probable
position of the other thirty-
eight men below. Phillips, who is a Welsh miner, was
interrogated through an interpreter, and he expressed a
strong opinion that there was not a soul alive in the
lower vein, for the air was so bad that it would be impos-
sible to carry a candle or to reach them. He added that
ho had crawled on his hands and knees to the " tip"
leading to the lower mine, where he had called out as
loudly as possible, and had also thrown pieces of rubble
down the shaft, but he could not make any one hear,
and he much feared that no one survived. Braine pal tly
corroborated this, and said he also used every means to
to attract attention, but without effect; but then
he thought some further effort should be made, as the
men might very possibly be gathered together at some
distance from the tip shaft in the hope that it might be
cleared and themselves hauled up. lie thought the air
was not so bad but that it was possible men might live
in it, and he suggested that a windlass might be taken
down, and, if a candle would not burn, be fixed in the
dark, when some person might descend a rope into the
bottom vein and call or grope for the missing men.
The intrepid man North again volunteered for the
work, and it was at once resolved that the experiment
thus suggested should at least be tried. His example
was speedily followed by five other men—who declared
themselves willing to share the danger_viz,, Francis
Smith, William Smith, Samuel Page, William Cooper,
and Richard Pike. Francis Smith and W. Page de-
scended first, and after retching the first vein the
bucket was returned, and W. Smith and Cooper went
down next, and after them North and Pike. The
bucket was subsequently lowered down to them,
loaded with a windlass, canvas to make an air shaft,
some tools, and a strong rope between forty and fifty
f tthoms iu length. Strict silence was again rigidly en-
forced, as. from the great depth, much difficulty was ex-
perienced in hearing the signal, and the lives of the men
miglit depend upon its being instantly oboe ed by the en•
gineer. The spectators, in order that no Bowel might
nrr.st the attention of the hauk•rnan, withdrew to a
distance from the mouth of the shaft, where iu silence
they awaited the result. A leegthened period was now