The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-26 00:00:00

LUNDIIILL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS
• FOR EMPTYING THE PIT.
Contrary to expectation, the drawing off of the
water, preliminary to reaching the bodies of the
victims of the late explosion, did not commence
until late on Tuesday afternoon.' On Monday the
water had reached within 15 inches of. the height
fixed by the engineers. as that required to overpower
the burning matter. Great disappointment was felt
by many of the relatives of the deceased, who, de-
spite the unfavourable state of the wea' her, had come
from a distance to be present at the commencement
of operations which would lead to the speedy re-
covery of 'some of the • bodies. This anxiety was
greatly increased by it•having been made known
that some of the men who had descended to the
water.in the pit bad observed some bodies floating
on the surface. This, however, on more minute
inspection, was found not to be the case. At an
early hour on Tuesday morning the water had
reached the maximum height,of 60 feet, and during
the forenoon it was stopped from running into the
pit. It was then expected thee, as 'everything had
been ready for some days past for drawing off the
water, operations would be at once commenced.
This, however, was not the case, as it was nearly
four o'clock before the iron buckets could be said
to have commenced drawing. • The delay was oc-
casioned, in a great measure, by it being found, at
the eleventh hour, that the buckets were too large,
and that other essentials, although trifling matter 3,
had been overlooked. Loud were the complaints
of the poor.women,' who came towards the pit, on
bearing of the apparent dilatoriness of the parties.
`Their grief, however, had no effect upon the police
etatioried at the pit, who rudely sent them away
from 'the ground upon which their husbands,
fathers, and brothers lie. .Thairon bucke:s having
been lessened they were let down, and were found
to do their work admirably, discharging ab7att 500
gallons of water in five or six seconds under a
minute. A quantity of lime was placed close to the
shaft, some of which was thrown into the water.
This was found to be necessary as a disinfectant.
good deal of gossip has prevailed on the subject
of the water during the past week.
There is little fear that anything injurious can re-
sult from it, for, besides the disinfectant thrown
into the water from the shaft, a large quantity of
pure water is mixed with it from the Abdy bed.
During the operation'. of drawing . it is atranged
that men shall go down to the water's edge at short
intervals, as it is expected that bodied may occa-
sionally come up to the surface.
The difference of the temperature of the water at
the surface andsbottom of the upcast shaft still con-
tinues nearly the same as it has been for the last 10
days—the bottom being 60 degs. and the surface 66
degs. ; and doubts have been expressed as to the
tiro being extinguished by some of the best autho-
rities. It is to belopcd, now that operations have
commenced, that no time will to lost in reaching
the bodies, and'thus allaying the excitement and
easini, the mindsof the relatives of the unfortunate
men, the great wish of all of whom seems, to be the
seeing of their remains interred ; and, until this is'
done, the painful scenes already witnessed are sure
to occur. An instance of this was' given on Tues-
day. Doubtless from want of thought, a waggon
load of coffins was sent down to Lundhill, from
Barnsley, in the middle of the day, when a scene
occurred only equalled by the day the explosion
took place. The women in a body left their houses,
rushed up to the waggon, and on witnessing its
contents—the sad spectacle bringing to their minds
SO forcibly the great loss they had sustainbd—a
most agonising and painful scene was the reSult.
It is to be hoped that such scenes will in future be
obviated, as they easily might be, by the transit of
such articles' being made at night, and thus spare
the feelings of those who have already suffered
so deeply.
Two powerful fans, for exhausting, the eases in
the cupola shaft, are just being erected, to be
worked by steam-power. As soon as the water has
been drawn off, the fans will be'brought into opera-
tion, so as to allow parties going to the bottom to
do so without the risk of another explosion, as the
vast body of gas accumulated in the pit would ren-
der such a thing probable, if not carried off. The
men on whom will devolve the onerous task of
searching for the bodies' will be selected from the
various pits in the district, and will embrace the
best and most experienced miners to be found in
the Yorkshire coat fields.

The small amount of dollars brought by the lot West
India steamer has been sold at 61d,, being an advance of
OAd. on the price realised for those by the preceding
packet,