The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-02 00:00:00

SCOTCII SEQUESTRATIONS.

JAMES VALLANCE and JOHN VALLANCE,
coal merchants, Edinburgh, Oct. 2 and 23, at two, at the
Royal Exchange Coffee-house, Edinburgh.
SIMON FRASER, miller, Fodderty, Ross-shire, Oct.
7, at twelve, and 28th, at two, at the Caledonian Hotel,
Dingwall.
ALEXANDER BRECK, slater, Edinburgh, Oct. 7
and 30, at one, at the Old Signet Hall, Edinburgh.
GILL and MACBRAYNE, calico printers, Cross-
mill, Renfrewshire, Oct. 7 and 28, at two, at the office of
A. Mein, Glasgow.
ALEXANDER RENNIE, grocer, Glasgow, Oct. 7
and 28, at twelve, at the Soho Tavern, Glasgow.
DAVID MOIR, wollen manufacturer, Devonside,
Oct. 8 and 29, at twelve, at the chambers of J. Donald,
Alloa.

THE FATAL EXPLOSION AT
HAS.WELL COLLIERY.

We received yesterday the following additional parti-
culars relative to this melancholy accident :
DURHAM, SEPT. 30.—Ten of the men, who were at
the bottom of the shaft, are the only individuals saved.
The last of the bodies of the unfortunate sufferers were
brought to the bank at eight o'clock on Sunday morning,
very few of which are disfigured, and many of them
when found in the mine were in a sitting posture, with
their hands behind their heads, but for the most part
with their hands clasped, as in the attitude of prayer,
and no doubt lost their lives by the after-damp. As soon
as the explosion was heard, the wives and children of
the workmen ran to the pit ; wildness and terror were
pictured in every countenance. The crowds from all
sides soon collected, to the number of several hundreds
—the screams of women and children were truly heart-
rending—some crying for a husband, others for a parent
or son, and all deeply ,affected with an admixture of
horror, anxiety, and grief. Almost every house has
sustained some loss ; in one house it is truly lamentable
—a father, three sons, and a foster-brother, have all
perished. The whole of the underground horses are
destroyed. One horse was found sitting on his hind-
quarters, and the boy close by—both slightly disfigured,
but quite dead. At six o'clock in the evening, the flames
were still at tho mouth of the shaft. The cause assigned
for this lamentable catastrophe is a portion of a wall
falling upon one of the lamps of the workmen.

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

HASWELL COLLIERY, MONDAY NIGHT.

We are now enabled to give positive intelligence
respecting the extent of this melancholy occurrence.
On Monday afternoon an inquest was held at the
Railway Tavern, Haswell. We have received a re-
port of the examination of some of the witnesses up
to the mail leaving, but as it is so full of technicalities,
and could not be properly understood without refer-
ence to a plan of the .working of the pit, we have
thought it better to give a condensed statement of the'
facts elicited, with such other information as we have
been able to procure calculated to make the occur-
rence intelligible to our readers.
Haswell colliery is one of the most extensive in the
county of Durham. It employs upwards of three
hundred men and boys-, and it is celebrated for the
very superior quality of its coal.
The pit, though essentially one, is divided into
separate workings, called respectively the Big-pit and
the Little-pit. The explosion took place in the latter.
The number of men and boys usually employed in
this part is about one hundred, and when the explosion
took place there was ninety-nine down—ninety-five
of whom have perished. The other four would also,
without doubt, have suffered, had not the course of
the explosive current been intercepted by some wag-
gons laden with coals, in what is called a " rolley':
way—a railway used for the purpose of conveying
the coals to to the bottom of the shaft to be drawn to
the bank. The four men who escaped were at the
end of these waggons nearer to the shaft. They
saw the flame approaching, having the appearance
of forked lightning, when it fortunately struck the
waggons referred to. The horse attached to them
was killed, and thrown completely over in the form of
a somerset, falling on his back. The first appearance
of the fatal occurrence arose from a mass of rubbish
and foul air making up the shaft, when the man
stationed at the pit's mouth at once suspected the pit
had fired, and immediately afterwards gave the alarm.
The intelligence spread through the village with the
rapidity of lightning, and in a few minutes brought
the relatives of those who were down to the pit's
mouth, in all the agonies of dreadful anticipation. As-
sistance was immediately procured, and every exertion
made to ascertain the exact extent of the calamity,
and to render assistance to any who might have
escaped or survived. However, with the exceptions
stated, not one survives, of all who were down. The
works of the Big-pit are separated from the other
only by doors ; so that had the explosive current not
been checked or dissipated, as stated, the probability
is that it would have entered the Big-pit, and those
who were in it—upwards of 100—would have been
added to the dreadful list.

At the inquest upon the bodies, now being held
before Mr. Maynard, the coroner for Easington ward,
three witnesses were examined, viz., Mr. John Whittle,
an overman, and C. Brown and J. Scott, underviewers.
Their evidence as to the cause of the calamity being
altogether founded upon inferences drawn from what
they observed on examining the pit, is the-refore only
conjectural. Their opinions were essentially the
same :—that the explosion had commenced at a part
of the pit called the "Meadows," at " the ninth head-
way," about a quarter of a mile from the shaft bot-
tom. In that part of the pit it appeared three men—
John Williamson, a deputy, John Curry, a hewer,
and Henry Weettnan, another workman, were en-
gaged in what was called " drawing the judd," that
is clearing away the pillars or blocks of coal
which are left to support the roof of the mine
when the mine is first excavated. After this first
working these pillars tire subsequently taken away,
and the roof supported by props of wood. It was