The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-24 00:00:00

its estimate of what was due to the public, must be
passed—viz., that the defendant be imprisoned for
21 days, that he be fined £5O, and enter into his
own recognisance of £l,OOO, with two sureties of
£250 each, to keep the peace and be of good beha-
viour for two years.
The defendant said he had attained his object,
and of course should not think of anything of the
kind again. He was then taken into custody.
The case lasted from ten to four o'clock.

TILE LATE COLLIERY .EXPLOSION AT
TYLDESLEY.

The adjourned inquiry before the coroner, Mr.
W. S. Rutter, into the causes of the explosion
which occurred on the 11th inst., at Tyldesley, was
resumed, at the George and Dragon Inn, on IVed-
nesday.. Mr. Joseph Dickenson, the inspector of
coal mines, and Messrs. Green and Holland, the
proprietors of the colliery, were present. Mr. Part,
solicitor, Wigan, attended on behalf of the- pro-
prietors. The first witness examined was
Wm. Stott, Tyldesley, who deposed—l was em-
ployed in the mine at tine time of the explosion,
and was working in a lower level. Hugh Aspinall
came to me, and asked if I had seen any gas in my
place. I said " No." He said there was some in
his: It was then about 11 o'clock. He wished me to
examine my. place. I took hold of my lamp, looked
into the 01a workings, and found gas there. His
place was about one hundred yards above mine.
Aspinall went away with his lamp, and the explo-
sion occurred in 20 minutes after. I believe that
Beswick the fireman, had not been down before me.
Atkinson, the other fireman, said Beswick, who had
to look after the workings on the west side (where
the explosion happened) had not come, and we
must look out for ourselves. I don't know why
Beswick was not down that morning. I heard he
had been drinking the night before. I did not
notice any of them appeared worse for liquor when
they entered the pit on the morning of the acci-
dent. All used safety lamps, but lam not. aware
that all of them were perfect. Moses Brook was
under-fireman, but I did not see him. The bottoms
of the lamps are left with a man to be cleaned and
supplied with oil. We take the gauze part home
to clean. The lamps are not locked.
John Brooks, a boy 14 years of age, son of the
deceased Moses Brooks, deposed—l worked in the
mine, under my father. I was at the bottom of
No. 1 jig-brow about a quarter of an hour before
the explosion, and Hugh Aspinall came and asked
where my father was. I said he had gone to the
bottom of the engine-brow. He said ;.was to send
my father to his place, and to go out with my naked
light. I went to the bottom of the engine-brow,
saw my father, and told him what Aspinall had
said. Aspinall said I was to tell my father that the
place was filling with sulphur, and I did so. He
went towards Aspinall's-place. I saw Thos. Beswick
at the bottom of the engine-brow that morning at
six o'clock. Beswick went with my father, after
I told him what Aspinall said. Aspinall had a
lamp with him when he came to me. It was then
about eleven o'clock. Open lights were allowed on
the first level, to the No. 1 jig-brow, to the engine-
brow, and up the engine-brow to the pit.
Bold Ratcliffe, a miner, said—l was at the top of
the down brow, on the second level, and worked
the coals up by a-hand-turn. I had a naked lamp,
and a lad, Thomas Stott, came and called, "Bold,
Bold ! there is sulphur," that was nearly a quarter
of an hour before the fire. He put my light out,
and then ran back. I soon after felt something
pressing my ears ; I saw a light, and called outs
" Oh, dear, what must Ido ?" My head and hands
were much burnt. I saw Hugh Aspinall at six
o'clock, and at half-past ten, but he said nothing
about fire. Six years ago I was burnt from head to
foot in the same pit. I have not had a gill of ale
in two months. I had not seen Beswick or Brooks,
the firemen, that morning.
Mr. Joseph Dickenson, the Government inspector
of mines for the district, stated that he had been
down the pit on three separate occasions since the
explosion, and had investigated the circumstances
under which the explosion appeared to have taken
place. The engine pit is 160 yards deep to the
coal called the Crombouk four feet. There is
another pit down to the seam, called the upcast
shaft. I went down by the winding pit. At the
bottom of this there are two steam boilers, the fire
under which, and the waste steam, are used as ven-
tilating power. There is a steam engine for wind-
ing up the engine-brow, the boiler fires being fed
with fresh air. Mr. Dickenson described the
workings, which generally extended about 1,000
yards, level course, east and west, and about 600
yards north and south (the dip being about 1 in 41-
to the south), and embraced galleries about nine
miles in length. He proceeded—At present all the
workings going on are to the deep of the engine
pit, the coals being drawn up the engine-brow.
This begins about 40 yards from the engine pit,
and goes down about 340 yards. The west levels,
in which the explosion happened, extend about 640
yards, also to a fault. From this first level, at
390 yards from the engine-brow, the No. 1 jig-
brow goes up • it is about 220 yards long, and. at
the top of it ;here are several narrow workings;
the levels to the west extending about 270 yards
from the top of the jig, which is the extreme point
of the workings, the distance from the engine shaft
being about 1,190 yards. The thirteen persons
spoke n of by William Gregory as being suffocated,
with the three safety-lamps burning, beside them,
were all found near the top of the jig-brow, and
were evidently making their way out. The flame
of the explosion does not appear to have extended
up this jig-brow. At about 130 yards beyond the
bottom of No. 1 jig-brow, the No. 2 jig-brow goes
up. It is about 160 yards long, and the levels ex-
tend westward rather more than 165 yards from
the top of the brow. It was in the far ends of two
of these workings that four persons spoken of were
found suffocated, another being found at the top of
the brow, also suffocated. I cannot find any trace
of flame in these far ends, nor yet on the No. 2
jig-brow ; but from the fact of Foulds being found
on the brow, it seems likely that the flame extended
up the brow, if not into the levels at the top. The
afterdamp would be at once upon these men, and
they would be suffocated, as they were found,
almost before they could leave their places. There
is another brow going down from the first to the
second level, called the balance jig.-brow. At two
places to the west of this balance jig-brow, Hugh
Aspinall and Thomas Stott, also Richard Brad-
shaw, were killed. They were working the pillars
back, leaving a goaf, which we may call Aspinall's
goaf, also to the deep of the second level to the
down-brow. Bold Radcliffe worked to a hand-turn
at the top of it. George Kay, Richard Aspden,
William Stott, Joshua Hodgkinson, and Richard
Gee worked, at the down-brow, at a goaf which we
may call Kay's goaf. At the east side of this down-
brow another small goaf has been similarly
formed. These three goaves are all ventilated
by the intake air of the west split, the east
workings being ventilated by a separate split ; the
air having to pass through them before it enters any
of the places where straight work is going on, so
that any gas coming through these goaves has
to pass through all the other working places,
which is a very bad arrangement, and it is at
Thomas Stott and Hugh Aspinall's places, and
above them, in the far end of the first level, and the
rank end above, from which the explosion seems to
have. emanated, there being traces of fire visible
there. Upon my. visit -on Monday, the 13th, the
fire-damp was then coming out so strong at these
points, that I could not get to the far end. On the
16th I got to the far end, but the air was at the
explosive point. According to the witnesses exa-
mined, Aspinall found the sulphur increasing, and
had sent for Moses Brooks, and Thos. Beswick, the
fireman, and no doubt those persons were going to
attend to the gas, Brooks being found horribly
mutilated at the bottom of No. 2 jig-brow, and
Beswick asid Aspinall, about 100 yards off, near the
bottom of No. 1 jig-brow. I think, therefore, it
may be taken that a larger quantity of gas than
usual was coming off from some of these workings.
In my opinion it came from one of the three goaves
I have alluded' to—apparently. Aspinall's goaf. I
cannot, as yet, offer any opinion as to where the
gas was lighted, but it does not appear to have
been at any of the points where open lights were
allowed. It must, therefore have either been
lighted at an open safety lamp, or through a de-
fective one. As to the ventilation, I have mea-
sured the air, and find there is rather less than
6,000 cubic feet per minute passing for the whole
of the working —both the east and the west side ;
it should be about 25,000 feet. At the time of the
explosion there would not be more than 6,000 cubic
feet of air passing from the whole of the workings,
and there would be considerable escapes. There
ought to be an adequate amount of ventilation con-
stantly to dilute and render harmless noxious gases
to such an extent that the levels would be in a fit
state for working, as required by the first general
rule of the Coal Mines inspection Act, and which
is required to be observed by the owners and prin-
cipal.agent, and is not in this case deputed to any
other person. Those who understood fire-damp,
and worked in the far ends of Nos. 1 and 2 jig-brews
must, in my opinion, have been aware that such
was the case; and it is to be regretted that they
did not give me any intimation of what was going
on.
Mr. Dickenson resumed—The responsibility of
carrying out the general rule rests with the owners
and their agent. There was no viewer here com-
bining practical and scientific knowledge.
By Mr. Part—The proprietors of this pit have
attended to any directions I gave them.
Richard Gee—l was employed in this mine, and
was in the far end at the time of the explosion.

Joshua Hodgkinson was with me. We had each a
lamp, and they were in good order. We did not
take the tops off. I saw Bold Radcliffe, whose lamp
was out. He said the tops must be kept on the
lamps. In ten minutes after the explosion took
place. The air was good where I worked, on the
second level. I have not noticed any danger since
I have been in the mine. I had not heard any one
say that the gas was accumulating. I did not see
Thomas Beswiek, the fireman, examine my place
on the morn.ing of the explosion.
George Ka v deposed—l worked on the lowest
level, at the ta r end. James Aspden worked with
me. Hugh As,ninall warned Aspden, and Aspden
told me to mind my lamp, for they had found some
sulphur.
Several other etllliers were examined—Richard
Aspden, Joshua 11odgkinson, Moses Yates, and
William Kay, who s.`ated generally that they had
not apprehended danger.
Henry Baxter, widerlooker and general mana-
ger, deposed that he was in the office on the morn-
ing in questfon. He had been in the mine on the
Wednesday morning before the explosion. There
were no symptoms of gas then, and he considered
the ventilation good.
The jury, after deliberativ g about three-quarters
of an hour, come to the following decision :—" We
find a verdict of accidental death ; but the jury
cannot allow this opportunity to pass without ex-
pressing their unanimous opinion that due precau-
tions have not been taken to ensure the lives of the
workmen employed in the mine, finding that the
ventilation of the pit has been generally imperfect,
more especially from the area of ,tile outlet air-ways
being much too small. They also. are of opinion
that there has been great want of practical know-
ledge of the working of the mine on the part of the
underlooker ; and also that the Areinen have
neglected their duties."