The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-22 00:00:00

THE ÜBBERLEY COLLIERY ACCIDENT

On Wednesday morning the iequest on the suf-
ferers by the late catastrophe at the Übberley coal
mines, Staffordshire, was opened at the Saracen's
Head Inn, Crown Bank, Shelton, before William
Harding, Esq., coroner. The Government, although
apprised of the event, as directed by the statute 13
and 14 Viet., did not appoint any person to appear
on behalf of the public.
The jury having viewed the bodies of the deceased,
Mr. John Ridgway, of Cauldon-place, was exa-
mined—He said : I am the proprietor of these works.
They are called the Übberley Colliery. My orders
are, that no man shall enter the mine in the morning
unless a butty precede him with a safety-lamp, to see
that all is right.
Richard Edwards, of Broom-street, Upper Hanley,
a collier, deposed—l am employed as a butty at the
Übberley Colliery. Was at the work at half-past five
o'clock on Monday morning. Mountford and three
other parties came an hour afterwards. Thomas
Jones did not descend with the first party—
Edward Forrister, Ephraim Mountford, Joseph
Knight, John Goodfellow, and Henry James, a boy,
went down in a second lot shortly afterwards. From
the second descent more than seven or eight minutes
did not elapse before the explosion took place. A
partner of mine and myself descended as soon as I
knew what was amiss. At the time of the explosion,
a great noise and stench came up the shaft, and I let
the chain down first, then, after the chain came up
again, John James got a waggon out and he and I
got to the bottom of the pit, where we discovered
four men and two boys uninjured. We then pro-
ceeded to ascertain where the fire had taken place.
At the south and in the ten feet mine, Ephraim
Mountford had made a rash attempt to save his bro-
ther, and finding him overpowered with the sul-
phur, I rescued him. We found Thomas Jones,
Goodfellow, and Hopkins close together quite dead.
I could get no further, and returned to the top
of the pit, and advised that some water should be
thrown down, which was , done. I went down
agai❑ after that, and proceeded to search for the
rest of the men. Edward Forrister and George
Sumner were found about au hour afterwards—
they were quite dead. About two hours afterwards,
two others, George Mountford and Ralph Hancock,
were found. They were further in the workings. I
discovered the furthermost man. I assisted in get-
ting the bodies taken up the shaft, but I remained
down. I was in the pit on the Friday previous to the
accident.

By the CORONER—The men had worked for the
last month with naked candles on the south side of
the mine. I did not consider it dangerous. May
found the lamp, which was driven in the direction of
the shaft.

By Mr. Pierce—l account for the accumulation of
sulphur by the state of the weather. The air-ways
were in good order.
The CORONER remarked that at a previous inquiry
Mr. Tremenheere had urged the necessity of keeping
a fireman, whose duty it should be to enter the mine
with a lamp daily, to ascertain if the mine was
clear of sulphur, and it was to be regretted this was
not done at Übberley.
Ephraim Mountford, who was so weak that he was
accommodated with a chair, was next examined. He
said—l went down into the pit with the second lot of
men, but went north two or three minutes before the
explosion. I was about fifty or sixty yards from the
deceased men when the explosion took place. I went
to look after my brother, but the smoke prevented
me. I saw one man dead and then went up the shaft.
William Cooper, a collier employed at the works
generally, corrobarated the evidence of the other
witnesses, and swore that the south air-way was
cleaned out about two months since. He said We
made a good job of it. I should think that air-way
was sufficiently large for the purpose."
By Mr. Pierce—The north side, in which I worked,
was generally considered the most dangerous. We
worked with candles at times. The air came to us
torn the south.
George Perrin, ground bailiff at Übberley, sworn,
said that on Friday Hancock brought him all the
lamps in use by his gang except his own. He told
him that any day or any hour he could have them.
On Saturday about eleven o'clock witness was down
in the mine, and found it the same as usual.
After about a quarter of an hours' deliberation, the
jury gave a verdict, "That George Mountford, the
deceased, came by his death at the Übberley Colliery
accidentally," and accompanied that verdict by an
expression of regret that an inspector had not been
sent down to investigate the cause of the accident.

A similar verdict was taken in the cases of the six
others, and the jury retired.

THE WASHINGTON COLLIERY
EXPLOSION.

The inquest upon the bodies of the persons wbo
perished in this dreadful calamity—no fewer than 34
in number—was commenced on Wednesday, although
the Government Inspector of Mines in the district
had not arrived. It was stated that Mr. Cruddace,
the viewer, who was in London, had intrusted the
management in his absence to an underviewer, John
Bell, but that he was in a public-house from five
o'clock in the afternoon till ten at night, at which
latter hour "he was the worse for liquor, but was able
to walk." The night shift went down between four
and five o'clock. About half-
past six o'clock one of
the workmen, John Bird, observed, by his candle,
that gas was accumulating; he became alarmed, and
told Hall he was afraid to stay. Hall replied thatthe
gas was not so bad as it was on the previous Friday
night, and Bird was quieted. A few hours after that
two or three of the men, not including Bird, left the
pit, because they considered it in a dangerous state
to work in. Between 11 and 12 o'clock Bird became
alarmed again, on noticing the gas at his candle
elongating the flame. He then determined to leave ;
and while he was making his way . out of
the pit the explosion took place. Bird was
thrown down, his legs were hurt, and he was very
much cut by the force with which he was thrown
against the walls of the mine. He, however, es-
caped. The noise of the explosion was, of course,
heard at the mouth of the pit, and an alarm was im-
mediately given. Bell was sent for, and he and
several others, as soon as it was practicable, descended
into the mine. Two of these resolute men perished
in a noble attempt to save their comrades ; and of
those in the pit when the explosion took place, thirty-
two were taken out dead ; making,with the other
two, thirty-four who have perished by this calamity.
It was nearly twenty-four hours after the explosion
took place before all the bodies were recovered ; and,
dialog tin wholo of 0* period, the excitement et