The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-22 00:00:00

ANOTHER EXPLOSION NEAR WIGAN.

It will not be a very merry Christmas in some of the
colliery districts around Wigan this year. Already we
have had one very disastrous explosion. Now there is,
unhappily, another, though, fortunately, not so very fatal
as the other. By date Monday, we have the following
advices from Wigan :—" Another colliery explosion
occurred this morning at the Norley Colliery, situated in
the township of Pemberton, about a mile and a half from
Wigan. The pits at which the casualty occurred are
Nos. 2 and 3 pits of the Norley Coal and Cannel Com-
pany. Shortly before nine o'clock a party of men
descended the downcast shaft, conveying with them a
pony, which it was intended should work in a tunnel in
the bottom of the downcast shaft. Mr. J. Peet, one of
the managers of the colliery, left the cage at the five-
feet mouthing, and just as the other two men who
occupied the cage, and pony, reached the tunnel an explo-
sion occurred, the effects of which were quickly visible on
the pit bank by a cloud of soot ascending the upcast, and
the customary indications in the downcast. The ventilation
very quickly returned to its ordinary course, and Mr.
Thompson, the manager, and other persons, descended
the pit. They were, however, able to learn but little, for
the cage had been wedged fast in the shaft, and the
replies that were given to the shouts from the mouthings
were not satisfactory. As promptly as possible a capstan
was rigged over the pit, and when our report left the
bottom had not been reached. Fortunately to-day is
reckbning Monday—that is to say, the Monday:after the
fortnightly pay—and no colliers are at work in the pit.
There are, however, a number of datalers, or day labourers,
the fate of whom is at present a matter of the profoundest
interest to the crowd that is clustered around the pit-
bank."

Further news is to the effect that the gas was fired at the
extremity of the workings, where a number of men were
:ratting across a step. The number of the dead is not
yet ascertained, but it is thought that six persons have
perished. Five others are severely burned—one probably
fatally. Only two bodies yet have been brought to the
surface. Another, fearfully mangled, is said to be below,
and the exploring party continue at work

THE ACCIDENT ON THE BRIGHTON

RAILWAY.

The accident by paraffin oil on the nrlgnton Railway
has caused a second death. It will be remembered that
the guard of one of the trains, hearing a dripping of some
kind in a truck where paraffin was stored, went with
his lamp to see the cause. An explosion occurred, which
enveloped him in flame, and he died from injuries received
a few days after. His comrade, who attempted to rescue
him, was also so much injured that he died on Sunday
night last. An inquest has been held. Dr. Letheby gave
come important evidence as to the properties of paraffin, a
resume of which we subjoin.

Dr. Letheby said : I am Professor of :Chemistry at the
London Hospital, and am very well acquainted with the
liquids known as benzole and refined naphtha, as I have
had to examine thousands of gallons for the Paris mar-
kets. A few years ago that which was known by the
name of benzole, or benzine, was a naphtha containing, in
trade language, 90 per cent, of benzole. It was the most
volatile and highly-rectified spirit of coal tar. It was used
for making coal-tar colours, and was then thought to
be the best description of naphtha for that purpose ; but
within the last few years they have found that a weaker
naphtha, containing 40 per cent. of benzoic, is better suited
for the production of analine reds, and they are now using
naphtha containing as little as 20 per cent. of benzole. In
English commerce all these are known as refined naphtha
Df British manufacture—that is the general designation ;
but in France they call the 90 per cent. benzole, and all
below 40 per cent. refined naphtha. All the samples contain
a large proportion of benzole, which is the most important
lonstituent with regard to the inflammability of the
rticle. Benzoic itself has a gravity of 0.850, but this
(in the bottle) is said to have a gravity of 0.875. Still it
is very volatile at ordinary temperature, and seven
,r eight drops went off my paper in a minute and a half.
A. couple of drops of common naphtha will in about a
minute and a half expand to a cubic inch of vapour, and
that diffusing itself through 37i times its bulk of air will
form an explosive mixture. The explosive power is many
atmospheres'—over 20. It therefore evolves inflammable
vapour at common temperature which, mixed with air, is
7.apable of generating heat enough to set fire to itself and
any common combustible substance near it, and has force
enough to blow any vessel to pieces in which it is contained.

I have read the evidence taken on the last occasion, which
you forwarded to me for my examination, and I have no
doubt that the refined naphtha in question had leaked or
become diffused in the waggon, and, mixing with atmo-
pheric air, formed an explosive mixture which was fired by
the light of the lamp held by one of the deceased men to the
carriage ; and that explosion resulting, the burning
naphtha was blown over them and continued to burn. I
have heard the evidence which has been given by Mr.
Thacker and by Mr. Kay, and I am of opinion that the
dangerous properties of this naphtha are not sufficiently
well-known to guard against the dangers which may
arise from its carriage, as the leakage of it into a confined
truck might at any time, by the approach of a light, be
the cause of serious accident. I think it might be carried
subject to regulations which would not at all interfere
with the commerce of the article, which I do not think
would ignite with flint and steel, or with a red-hot poker.
It would require a temperature of about 1,500 degrees to
explode it. A Davy lamp would not explode it.
Mr. Hawkins : Would the closed lamps carriers by
nards explode the vapour?

Dr. Letheby: If they had a moderate-sized aperture to
admit it.

Mr. Hawkins explained the construction of the railway
band lamps, and said they had openings to admit the
entrance and passage of air.

The Coroner having summed up the evidence, the jury
delivered the following verdict, agreeing with his direc-
tions :—" That the deceased died from shock caused by
burns received by the ignition of vapour at the flame of a
lamp carried by one John Harris, given off at an ordinary
temperature, from a product known as refined naphtha,
then being carried in barrels in a truck on the railway,
and which vapour then fired the remainder of the said
naphtha ; and the jurors further find that the said product,
called refined naphtha, is a dangerous article, and that its
carriage should be the subject of special regulations, which
should include means of giving information to the guards
and servants of any and e very company carrying the same
of what the substance is which they are carrying."

A large number of the clergy of the Established
Church, several Roman Catholic clergymen, many
Methodist ministers, the leading Unitarians, and eccle-
siastics of other denominations, walked in the funeral pro-
cession when Dr. Cooke was buried.

THE " RECORD" AND THE LATE MR. DRUMMOND.
—The Record, in a notice of the approaching celebration of
the marriage of Lord Percy to Lady Edith Campbell,
eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, pays
the following unconscious testimony to the erratic brilliancy
of the late Mr. Henry Drummond, and Lord Percy's sup-
posed inheritance of his eccentric humour. Our contem-
porary says : " Lord Percy is maternally the grandson of
the late Henry Drummond, and it is announced that there
will be a grand display of rockets at eight p.m. on St.
Martha's Hill."

FULFILMENT OF A PREDICTION ABOUT MR.
GLADSTONE. —A tradition has been long current in Liver-
pool, and implicitly believed in by many people, which is
to the following effect :—After the close of the poll for the
borough election in 1812, at which Lord—then Mr.
Henry—Brougham was defeated, the freemen were assem-
bled at the house of Sir John Gladstone, a leading Liverpool
Tory, in Rodney-street. The four days' poll and the
triumph of Toryism had excited these constitutionalists
to the highest pitch, and they joyfully appreciated the
resources of Sir John's "open house." While the revelry
was at its height, one of the freemen called for " Little
Willie." This young gentleman was then about two years
of age, and, unfortunately, history does not record the
feelings he experienced on the occasion. The honest voter
took " Little Willie " in his arms, and when the young-
ster's health had been drunk, he held him up before the
crowd, and said : "As for this little fellow, he'll be
Premier of England afore he dies." " Little Willie " is
now the first—he has long been the greatest— commoner
in the kingdom.

M.P.'s AND THE SUNDAY QUESTION.—In 1855
and 1856 there were 75 members of Parliament who voted
in favour of the proposal to open the British Museum,
Crystal Palace, and similar institutions on Sundays. Of
that number 23 have been returned to the present Par-
liament; 10 of the 75 members who held seats in the last
Parliament have failed to secure seats in the present
Parliament. Both of the promoters of the Sunday Lec-
tures Bill, Lord Amberley and 111 r. J. S. Mill, have lost
their seats. Mr. J. A. Smith, who introduced the Sale of
Liquors on Sunday Bill, has also lost his seat, and the
chief opponent of this bill, Mr. Roebuck, has been
unseated. Mr. Baines and Mr. Bazley, who co-operated
with Mr. J. A. Smith on the Sale of Liquors on Sunday
Bill, have been returned. Mr. Thomas Hughes, Lord
Claude Hamilton, and Mr. Alderman Lusk, who intro-
duced the Sunday Trading Bill, have each secured seats
in the present Parliament. There are four members out
of the fifteen composing the present Cabinet who voted in
1855 or 1856 for opening the British Museum and the
Crystal Palace on Sundays, viz., Mr. Bright, Mr. Lowe,
Mr. Bruce, and Mr. Chichester Fortescue, and there are
two other gentlemen, Mr. Layard and Mr. J. A. Otway,
holding office in the new Ministry, who favour the opening
of places of amusement on Sundays.—hock.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
COWARDLY ASSAULT ON A WOMAN.—Richard
Gamble, a costermonger, living in Newport-market,
was charged before Mr. Tyrwhitt with assaulting
a female named Hayes, also residing in the same
place.

The complainant said that on the previous night
she met prisoner in Prince's-row, Newport-market,
when he said, " You got me fined 205," she having
been a witness against him that day week, and he
then struck her and kicked her in the eye, and the
blood on her dress was the result. (The complain-
ant exhibited her blood-stained dress to the magis-
trate.) She gave the prisoner into custody, and
while she had gone to the station the prisoner's
aunt burst open the room door with the intention
of, if she found her, fighting her, the aunt, on
the last occasion, having got up a subscription to
pay the prisoner's fine.

The prisoner denied striking the complainant.
James Hemming, 159 C, proved finding the com-
plainant bleeding from an injury to her eye.
The prisoner called a witness who was of no bene-
fit to him.

Mr. Tyrwhitt said he believed the prisoner had
assaulted the complainant as she stated, and he
could see a motive for it, she having been the cause
of his being fined for an assault. As the prisoner
had been fined for an assault, he was still in the
same mind ; he would send him to prison for a
month with hard labour. It was no use in such a
caes inflicting a fine, as a subscription would be got
up to pay it.

The prisoner,' who is a member of a family noto-
rious for their quarrelling propensities, was then re-
moved from the court.

A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION—CRUELTY TO A
HORSE.—Francis Matthews, a carman, living at
Tufton-street, Westminster, was charged before
Mr. Tyrwhitt, by the Royal Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Animals, with cruelty to a
horse, by working it while in a totally unfit state.
Inspector Temperley, of the Royal Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, saw the de-
fendant driving a horse which was trying to draw
a load of rubbish in Burlington-gardens, but it was
unable to do so, it being dead lame of the off fore
leg, and having both its hind legs diseased. The
horse was poor, old, and quite unfit for work, and
its near hind leg appeared to be paralysed. The
defendant said his master had taken away a good
horse he had been driving and gave him one in its
place.

The defendant said in his opinion there was
nothing the matter with the horse —it only had a
contracted foot and stood a little over.

Barns, the gaoler, said the horse could scarcely
walk.

Mr. Tyrwhitt remanded the defendant on his
own recognisance, and ordered Inspector Temperley
to take out a summons against the owner of the
horse.