The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-07 00:00:00

THE LUNDETILL COLLIERY EXPLOSIOA.

LIINDHILL, WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

Eleven weeks have now elapsed. smut, the occttr-
•renee of this fearful calamity, and only one-fifth of
the bodies of the unfortunate men killed hare as
yet been recovered, and it is to be feared that some
weeks at least will elapse before the whole can be
Be. . . .

The falls of roof are the great obstacles which in-
terpose as a barrier to the recovery of the bodies,
all of which will have to be carefully removed be-
fore the work of recovery can be considered to be
complete.
Up to yesterday afternoon 31 bodies had been
recovered, and from that time up to this afternoon
11 more had been brought out.
A little before five o'clock yesterday afternoon
the men at work under Mr. Webster discovered
three bodies in the third boardgate on the south
Ride of the pit, which were identified as those of
Thomas Logan, of West Melon, aged 33 years ;
Richard Coa,bridge' of Lundhill, aged 27 ; and
Alfred Windle, of Lundhill, aged 30—all of whom
were found together, and had every appearance of
having been at dinner when the explosion took
Place. They were removed to the reception-shed,
and will be interred this day.
In the next relay, under Mr. W. P.. Maddison,
two more bodies were founi in the same board-
gate, a little before six o'clock, and proved to be
those of Josiah Witney, of Lundhill, aged 24, and
Daniel Chisholm, of West Melton, aged 27.
The knowledge of the working places in which
the men were employed is a means of leading to
their more speedy identification.
When the workmen come upon any bodies the
relatives of the men known to have been working
in that particular part of their mine are sent for,
With a view to their identification ; and so far many
Persons have been found in the places where they
Were known to have been working, and been iden-
tified accordingly.
This morning (Wednesday), a little before 6 o'clock,
three morebodies were found in the second hoardgate,
on the south side, one of which on being brought
-out was identified as that of Petzr M'Allister, of
Lundhill, aged 26 years, but the other two, up to
the time of my leaving the spot this afternoon, had
not been identified. _ _ _

At noon to-day three more bodies, which had
been found in the second boardgate, on the south
side, were brought out, and identified as Abt am
-Wildsrnith, of Jump, aged 18; John Malkin, of
.Lundhill, aged 22 ; and Levi Jackson, of Lundbiil,
aged 44.
The number of bodies lying in the shed at the
time our report was despatched was 19, of which,
13. are going to be interred-10 in the general grave
in Darfield Churchyard., two at Wath-upon-De irne,
and one at West Melton.
The total number of bodies now recovered is 42,
and it is expected that more will be brought out
this morning.
It seems to be generally considered that the ma-
jority of the workmen were killed instantaneously,
and were unable to leave the places where they
.were working. At the time of the explosion the
greater number would be iu their benks, or work-
ing-places, and their first impulse on the occur-
rence would be to run out as speedily as possible,
and run down the boardgates to the bottom of the
shaft. The bodies not found in the boardgates
must be in the benks, and the inference is that
from falls of roof or the prevalence of afterdamp
the miners were-prevented from leaving their work
Places, and any, inspection of those places has as
yet been impossible, owing to the devastation caused
by the falls of roof.
Every precaution is taken by the committee in
charge to preserve the health and safety of the vo-
lunteers, and no expense is spared to have every-
thing done that science and skill can accomplish in
recovering the bodies of the unfortunates, and
clearing the wine of those obstructions which pre-
vent a thorough and scientific examination of the
entire workings.
`The committee who have the distribution of the
funds collected for the relief of the widows and or-
Pbani are using their best endeavours to realize
such a sum as it is expected will be required to meet
the Wants of the sufferers, but which yet falls bhort
of What is wanted. The sub-committee Messrs.
Osteliffe, Marshall, and Hopwood, attend
Weekly at the schoolroom at Wombwell, when a sum
Of something like 701. is distributed.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL ON BAGGED

SCHOOLS.

The 15th annual meeting of this institution was
held last evening in the Lecture-hall, Aldersgate-
street. At 6 o'clock the Eatl of Shaftesbury took
the chair. Load John Russell and many other
_well-known stpporters of ragged schools were
preFent.
Mr. TAWELL, the secretary, then read a very
long report, the graater portion of which consisted
of a dissertation on the utility of ragged schools and

. .
of places of refuge for the homeless.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL then came forward to move
the first resolution. His lordship was received -
'with enthusiastic cheering. His lordship said that ,-,
the resolution he bad to move began by stating L'

that the success so manifestly attending the various
operations of that institution during the past year
demanded the 'expression of their warmest grati-
tude to Almighty God. That statement he thought
Was fully borne out by the details contained in the
re,. Port, which described the various benefits that I
It been conferred on the objects of the institution.
-1-t Was f,,und that those who appeared to be the
most abject and wretched. outcasts of society had,
17 very means possesse blind institution—for
.416 committee were note so as to look to nne
'ans only—been brought to consider what were
their duties, and to become good subjects, good .
lien and women, and good Christians. (Loud Lt
t`eere.) Among. the means thus used was furn- 1t
iisung, at an easy rate, persons wi h clothes ; for '
Which
who were ragged and who lived at a home
was filthy with every physical and moral
''n,tamination, soon lost all respect for themselves '
,e7tia fell into the ways of vice and crime, feeling as
there was no one who cared for them either in
416 world or the next. But, happily, they were ai
111 error in that respect. In the physical world
they
t were told that see3s, after having been em- I
aimed with au Egyptian mummy for thousands 1.1
rs
.4,' Years, had been sown and had shown that ,
vitality was undiminished, and that the
Wheat corn from those seeds had again sprung
111) to fertilize the earth ; and could they for a
lt/1131neut think that the Almighty Being who
'4l preserved vitality in what apparently was
a Worthless piece of wood should not preserve
aft,'Titality in the soul of man ?—(cheers)—and that
the
should not, when the person seemed sunk in
eue lowest depths Of wretchedness and vice, be an
tlnher in that soul which might produce a flame
i,at might finally lead to an imnnortallife ? (Cheers.)
ue question was whether or not it was possible to
. redeemof those beings who seethed to have no sense
tl, What was due to themselves,—either in regard to
due
present or their future state,—or what was
'ne to the Almighty who created them ? Thera
blight be objections made to the efforts of such
tieelPties as those they were then advocating, and it
ftlight be said that, although in some particular
b:t3lice, arising from certain peculiar influences,
a
;,,"1:7 hundreds Of people might be thus rescued,
some might find refuge in the,e schoi is and
teinPorary homes, yet the great mass would still
t ehbl,ain unaffected by all the efforts of these insti-
tLen°. That argument might be good at the pre-
B -"
moment, but there was no reason to think it
ivrenid be the case at all future time. On the con-
'l7, there was every reason to believe that if the
forts now making were to become general, andif,
the
individuals only, but the whole community and.
State itself, were to take proper methods to in-
sure that education should everywhere be extended,
at
'eine future time, not very remote, they might
rescue
W society in general from those dreadful evils
o rich, whether they were looked upon as physical,
as metal, or as political, or, lastly, as religious
eal
amities, were of the gravest and most serious
le''. (Cheers.) Persons engaged in the benevo-
lent work of preaching temperance hal calculated
latt). lal'ge amount which was expended by the popu-
li ten of the kindom for spirituous liquors only.
et believed that if one-tenth of that sum were de-
e, to educating the people and teaching them
her duty to God and man, a great result iudeed
Wjetbe gained ;' and although crime would
1e..! cease, and although persons would, doubt-
Ct still fall in the way of temptation, yet a far
thetiter result would be exhibited to the world, and
„t_y_ would have the satssfaction of knowing that the
t",wou.°lien,t criminal and vicious part of the population
be sensibly decreased in number. He was
ii k_ !need that by the constant operation of asociety
ae'j the one he was then addressing—its members
i_log day by day and not as in his own case giv-
'an occasional attendance only—a general result
:to uld beproduced greater than any person could
epresent anticipate. (Cheers.) The noble lord
;:amoved—" That the success so manifestly at-
dTc.titig the various operations of this institution
rrPthe
the past year demands that the report just
of a`t be •t d and circulated under the direction
ui e
e Coprmmittee."
froagreed to, and after an address
he motion was
u the noble chairman, the meeting
separated.

t:ATTEMPTED MURDER AT LITERPOOL.-At an early hour
14 Sunday morning a man named Kelly was knocked
r°"11 in Waterloo-road, and fired at with a pistol. Re
eceived a wound on the left cheek, but fortunately it is
not of a dangerous character. The poor fellow is now in
re,e24_°ElPital, whither he was removed after the occur-
„
-,,aktown". The perpetrators of the outrage are at present