Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1858-10-19
from the London News, October 2. I
An English Colliery on Fire.

/
| s,oBTY-oSE PERSONS SMOKED ALIyE-rEs KILLED.
Pho catastrophe which we are about to chrun-
| Gle took place ut Page Bank, one u the Byers
Green CoIIer,es. Page Bsuk 10 about four miles
from West lIartlepool.
II seems that the night shin had gone in at
,vo O'clock on Thursday, numbering from forty to
seventy men and boys With them WINS an over
man named John Mould. This man duties ceased
At g A. NJ, at which time he had completed thor.
ough inspection Of the workings, and had arrived
at the bottom of the shaft ready To be relieved by
| his successor The second overman, named Thomas
Kellett, arrived at the pit mouth about the same
time and was lowered. On his way down he smelt
or saw fro in the woodwork, and reported the
fact to Mould. Accordingly they sent information
| round the works. requesting the meu to assemble
at the bottom Of the shaft, and, in the meantime
began them selves to ascend for the purpose of in
spec,ion. Mould rode inside the" cage" or box
which holds the small coal Wagon in ascent and
| descent and Kellctt sat on the outside. They had,
il would appear. been drawn up q considerable
distancc--ten fathons or mOre-when some por
ton of the brottce, which had been set free ly
the fire, fell and knocked poor Keliett from his
seat thus precipitating him to the bottom, and in
Nil probability killing him. Mould wns drawn to
fire suddenly got such hold that it was impossible
to render any assistance to the men below, although
their cries for help could lie distinctly heard. The
fire very soon got hold Of the appears" or wooden
arms and piston of the pumping-engine, and thus
this was brought TO standstill. The Flames rush.
ed M the pit and burnt u considerable PARTON Of
the woodwork over its mouth and even when
this had heen cxtinguished, the dense smoke ssl-
ing from the pit gave terrible indication Of the fire
TINT still raged below.
The engines arrived in short space of time,
and pumped II great volume of water from the nv
err Wear which was directed to the burning tim
Der. and all To the drift the coal in which WINS
r t.l IL 1ut,1
fl reached his drift the explosion spoken ofrok
placc Had the fire originated from the explosion
ia tie works. it is difficult to see how Mould could
he ignorant If it, or how he could have escaped.
the braticrs hcing certainly on fire when kellett
was gong down, and. therefore before Mould be-
gan to ascend.
The incilentc Of this day were of an nnyarying
description aud 50 also Of tho night. Dense vol
umes of pr,'Nke continued TO he emitted dense
that the repeated attempts Of men to get any
distance down the pit were quite frut'ess. Brat
tice cloth was put over the pit mouth with II view
TO creating nn artificial current, but there lit
tie hope that this would De of any avail, the in
PRODUCTION Of fresh air only making the fire burn
more fcrcely, without relieving the poor fellows
down below.
The idea Of the engineers was that they will be
able in time to cut II the fire in the drift from
TINT in the SHIFT nld that the latter will then ex
haust itself There s, however the possibility
THAT thc roal III tho WORKINGS VIII 'hkc HTc, u IL
hns not done already; and still further, there s
the certainty that in five days Mt the most the
whole colcry will lie full ofwnter the quantity
ordinarily pumped out being nearly 10000 gallons
per hour, and the pumping engines being totally
disabled
As to the chances Of escape for the poor fellows
in the pit, opinions vary. The viewers rest upon
the inc that the workings cover 50 acres land that
these workings ARE sufficient magazine of air To
sustain life for several days. But this area will
every hour he diminished By water; and other ex-
p"rienrcd men are of opinion that the descent OF
carbrnr acid ms will he considerable rs speed
ils TO destroy li.c whilst the ptmen say that the
air in the workings is sclfittlo better than chUkc
damp
The fire must, ms it appears. have originated
from the furnace. 1t is suggested that spark
had been carried up the shaft and rested upon the
tnnhcr; but b,utticng is of too massive charac-
tr to take fire from spark, unless rendered
highly combustihlc by intense and longcontinued
heat.
Durham, Friday Eyening.-The number of men
il, the Page Bank Pit was larger than stated yes
t- riny. They have MI been got out to-day. The
last was got out AT & o'clock this evening, after
having been in forty hours. Seventv-one alive
and ten dead. The pit il still on fire at blower
in the shaft.