The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-05 00:00:00

-,~ ' -C G

WS

A letter, dated Salerno, Jan. 29,- alatelet=7l
"The long-expected trial of those-libele
tthioon
kin havinggdom
ofNaples
attempted
last t o sti
jruunpe a rea „_S
r ae *—
ett
mof important ornin
facts,
g. It was a day 'of impressions rater than
for all the proceedcinnigvs:wt:ernie°,n'iihtfhoirs
the most part, -of a formal character, and possessed
but little interest. The trial was conducted in a
room enlarged for the
purpose in the old monastery
of St. Domenic*. here, too,. are the barracks, and
I may say, once for all, that thie troops .were under
arms the whole of the day, nu,.
natt y. which was
special, consisted of the President, the Procurator-
General, and 10 judges, 8 being the Wild number,
but two additional were chosen in case ofg illness
of either of the others. The proceedings of the day
began by calling over thenames of the 286 prisoners,
who appeared in court, with the exception of four
who sent certificates of illness. The President then
exhorted alltou.,_e great moderation in thisiniportant
cause, and bade the prisoners speak freely when
they bad occasion to make an observation. .He
then concluded with a narrative of the facts-so clear
and truthful as not to displease the warmest parti-
san of the prisoners. More than this I dare not
say, or I might injure the President himself. The
Procurator-General followed the President by read-
ing his rate di acusa, or at least a portion of it,
for it was too long to admit of being completed
during the morning. It is remarkable only for a
distortion of facts, as will be shown- during the trial, .
and fur a style which is inconsistent with the cairn
dignity which ought to make a Crown lawyer. In
other respects the proceedings of the morning were
not distinguished by any remarkable feature ; there
were no informalities and no irregularities ; the
court was open to, all, and foreigners who attended
received every mark of courtesy and respect.
The interior of the hall was such as to strike the
eye even of the most indifferent. It was almost
lined with soldiers. The upper part was devoted
to the judges and the advocates ; beyond this were
raised seats, on
,which were seated prisoners, and
beyofid them again was an open space devoted to
the audience. Great curiosity evidently existed to
see the prisoners as they were reconducted to the
prison, aod,
.together with many others, waited
outside while they passed. The crew of the Cag-
liari were taken back in carriages ; they were not
manacled. They appeared to be in .good, health,
ar.d as happy as circumstances permitted, and
Park, whom I saw distinctly, looked florid and
cheerful ; the same may he said of Watt. As soon
as they were taken off the bu2,le sounded, and
mounted geed arrnes gallopped through the.streets ;
an officer followed, flouristiug his sword ; and the
sentinels who were placed at the entrance of every
street and lane became more on the alert, and pre-
sently two lines of soldiers appeared abreast, fol-
lowed by the prisoners, who were guarded on each
side by a file of soldier,. The accused were bound
Band-to-hand, and walked two abreast, and a long
rope extended through the whole line, connecting
all together ; the cortege was closed by upwards of
10) sol lien. With respect to the appearance of
the prisoners, some licked well and healthy and in
geed condition, and these it was easy to see derived
support from their friends ; but as to the others
words cannot describe their wretched emaciated
condition—pallid, tottering from weakness occa-
sioned by hunger or cold ; shrinking from-the in-
clemency of the weather, sUch seemed to pierce
through the prison uniform. I certainly never set
ryes upon such a collection of wretched-looking
b .ingi in my life. Four graii,s (or lid.) a day are
ed for their support, and the c:nsequences
were visible in the frames of men, who looked
scarcely human. For the present lam compelled
to finish my report. The Court will s;t again to-
morrow and every day next week, except Tuesday
and Syturd•ty. Among those who attended the
trial were the British and Sardinian Consuls.

THE C )I,LI,?RY EXPLOSION AT BAIZDS-
LEY, NEAR ASHTON.

FURTHER PARTICULARS.

Mr. Dickinson, on his arrival at Bardsley on
Wednesday, at once had an interview with the pro-
prietors of the pit, and rendered what assistance
and advice he was able.

As the deal bodies were brought to the mouth of
013 pit they were placed on bicrs and conveyed,
sonic to the Horse Shoe Inn, and others to the
houses of their sorrowing familifp. Such as were
alive were conveyed as soon as possible in cabs,
cat tq, and other vehicles to their homes.
T►►e dreadful calamity has spread the deepest
gloom over the neighbourhood, and owing to the
number of operatives out of employ in the district,
large numbers of persons visit the scene of the
accident.

B4tween twelve and ts:c o'clock, five other bodies
had been recovered; and one of those recanted
alive, Thomas Co )per by name, had died. It was
also stated that five other dead bodies were collected
at the eye of the pit ready to be raised to the sur-
face. The catalogue of ascertained deaths is thus
swelled to the fearful number of 34, and some six
or eight others are supposed to be still in the
workings. - The sufferings of some of the survivors
are said to be most agonising, and in one or two
cases death might be regarded as a happy release,
and terrible rumours are afloat respecting scenes
said to have been witnessed in the pit by some of
those who have been most active in making the
search. Amongst other statements, one is to the
effect that four or five men were seen wriggling in
the fire which shortly burnt them to death without
the slightest possibility of saving them. It is to be
hoped, however, that herein rumour is guilty of
invention, or at least of gross exaggeration. A con-
siderable proportion of the deceased are young, some
of them mere children ; but, on th© other hand,
there are too many instances in which wives and
large families are left to mourn the loss of husbands
and fathers. Most of them, we understand, were.
found in the lowest working.
Up to the present time the cause of the explo
sion has not been ascertained ; and, indeed, those
who had taken part were unable to say whether the
explosion had occurred in the Tvvo-foot Level or in
the Peacock Level, which is seven yards deeper in
the pit.
The following is the nearest approximation we
can obtain to a correct list of these.who have beer
recovered from the pit :
KILLED. —By burning : Win. Lees, Wm., Har •
greavee, John Howard,- Ralph Ibbotson, George
Ibbotson, Thos. Robinson, Jonah Taylor, Jos.
Bennett, Hy. Bennett, Jos. Loma., Jon. Wardle,
Peter Knight, John Brierley, Wm. Yardley, Jos.
Barber, Jas. Bradbury, John Roberts, Thos. Staf-
ford, Thos. Cooper.—By suffocation : Samuel
Tayloy, Joseph Taylor, E lwird Taylor, James
Dessert, Wm. Qttarraby, Ralph Matley, Isaiah
Newton, Samuel Hampton, Jas. Stringer, Samuel
Ogden.

Amongst those injured or otherwise seriously
affected by fire-damp, but still alive, are the follow-
ing :—J. Shaw, S. Stepney, I. Stepney, Kavan-
nab, Moors, Jonah Greaves, —Yardley, Rat-
cliffe, Henry Cooper, Isaac Parry, John Davis,
sen., John Davis, jun., Hopkins, P. Howarth,
David Robinson, Jobußobinson, John Robinson,
John Greaves, and Henry Ratcliffe.
The following are supposed to be still in the pit::
Robert Davies, Thos. Rigby, Jas. Wint€rbottom,
Robert Hyde, Joseph Hall, Abraham Woodall,
Samuel Leach, Benjamin Gie3cwood, John echo-
field, Peter Dunn, jun., John Clark, and Edward
Bradbury.

THE INQUEST.
The official inquiry was opened on Wednesday
afternoon
R at
ntter and a respectable the HorseresrShalo jury,
foreman
Inn,
Rivers Vale, was Bardsley, before
Aury,ofa Nn viiemrr.
the iSdheanwdficaottion of 10 Lodies depositedo at. After
the inn,
Henry Aladin, a young man, was sworn as a
witness and examined. He said—l live at Bardsley,
and am employed as bankaman at a coal pit at
oßfalrvdhsileel A
yl,brir.
elonging to the Bardsleyroal Company,
`Vild is proprietor. It is called the
Diamond Pit." About fire o'clock last night I
was at the brow of the pit, when I heard the report
of an explosion in the mine, and at the same time
felt the force of it by the wind, and by being struck
With several pieces of coal, which were blown up the
pit. The depth of the pit is about 430 yards.
Isaac Taylor was on the bank with me, We pro-
ceeded to wind up the tub, which was at
the bottom. Henry Cooper came up in
it. He is a coalatiner working in the mine.
We found he was badly burnt. After
that four men went down in the tubs to make in-
quiry, at d were shortly afterwares brought up
again. Soon afer that they went down aga'n.
After that a number of living and dead workmen
were wound up. The process was cmtinued at
this and another pit connected with it ;until this
forenoon. Some were dead, and others seriously
burnt and injured ; and, in all, np to the holding
of this inquest, 29 are known to be dead. All the
deceased persons had gone down the pit to work,
between five and six iu the morning. They had
no specified hours of work, but worked. as long
tha:
they thought fit, and were paid according t
quantity of ork they did.
No other evidence was t.
view the other bodies,
This /ta
tion occupied them till
their relgtivos.
which time the inquest
The jury afterwards proceeded
t;ikeen
after
easnooemcunpiibedus by
six o'clock,
when the jury will re-assemble at the Half-
o'clock,cottialgi
House, Oldham-roa.',
was formailyßabZottliYrn. adjourned 611 Friday morning, at ten

.APE
\
, COMMENCEMENT OF THE P-OL
TBIA LS IN NAPLES.'

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