The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-01-03

! tives of the poor creatures in the pit
were quickly on the spot. The scene OF
Wednesday was again renewed. The
| poor women could be met on the road
TO the colliery fainting with excessive
/ grief, while others were seen tearing
their hair, apparently wild with e1-
citement. The scene in the neighbor-
hood of the colliery was truly heart
rending.
| THIRD EXPLOSION.
At A. NJ. the pit exploded again,
killing all the volunteers who We're
searching for the dead. Happily the
! toulness of the pit had been so great
previously that about ten minutes to
nine all the searchers, to the number of
sixteen, came back. When they did so
they were accused of cowardice by
the men who were waiting to descend,
and these latter at once went down to
continue the search. They had not
been IN the pit many minutes when it
fired, the crash of the explosion being
distinctly heard at places nearly a mile
distant.
THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-Two LIVES
LOST.
A fact corroborating previous state
ments as to the number of men in the
pit ut the time of the explosion came to
light during the Investigations, and
strengthens the assertions as to the loss
of human life. A Manchester paper
says: I'VE are informed on creditable
authority, that four hundred and thirty
| lamps had been issued on Wednesday
morning, and as only two or three had
been returned, the fearful estimate of
the loss OF life is not likely to have been
overstated." ---.----,-..f-0.
The numbers will be at the lowest es-
innate, $50 in the pit when the accident
happenedi Is rescued alive, of whom u
have since died; and . volunteers
killed; making total of 352 killed.
CAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION.
The Manchester Guardian says: "As
known; practically it is a mere sur
mise. The pit was in the hands of
rich proprietary, who were certainly
not parSimoniouS in their management.
The mine made a large quantity of gas,
which was collected in various parts of
the pit and conducted in pipes to the
engine plane, which was thus artifi-
cially lighted. In the workings the
men used safety lamps. 1t is said that
when the accident happened, a numb ber
of the colliers were driving a headway
towards some old levels charged with
foul air, and a supposition prevails
that, having tapped this air, it rushed
to the engine plane, and there ex-
ploded, just as in the case of the recent
accident at Dukinfield. Another theo-
ry is that the mine may have been fired
by the incautious use of the safety
lamps or the lighting of match"
The Leeds Mercury, however, says:
"The manner in which the pit was
worked was a fruitful subject for dis
cussion among the crowd, and it was
stated by several we'll acquainted with
the colliery that although the only
lights used in the workings were the
safety lamps, the engine plane and the
main shoroughfareS of the mine were
lighted by gas. This was natural gas,
accumulated in the pit by placing pipes
to the principal assures from which gas
oozed, and conducting it into n gasome-
ter, whence it was drawn as required in
the usual way. Some of the men who
had worked in the mine and considered
1t safe, We're inclined to attribute the
explosion to some accident resulting in
an escape of accumulated gas. 1t ap-
pears, also, that powder was used for
blasting in the getting of coal-a prac-
tice probably attended with far greater
risk than the burning of naked lights
in the main roads; and some conjec-
lures point to this practice as the proba-
BILE cause of the dreadful disaster. For
the inspection of the mine three depu-
ties were regularly employed by day
and three by night. The duty of these
men was to visit all the working and
other dangerous parts of the pit every
shift, before the men began to work, to
see that they were safe. This duty was.
we understand, duly performed, with
out the discovery ofanything to create
alarm. .t
1T seems, however, that complaints
have been made for some time of the
unusual heat in the pit 1t is even al
legged that some of the men objected TO
work in it. The heat of the atmosphere
in the pit is attributed to the long dis
tance the air had to travel through the
workings on account of their extent
and the quantity of gas that gathered
in the journey. On this point, howev4
er, 1t is only fair to say that the heat of
the atmosthere was regularly taken,
and that those in charge saw no reason
to anticipate danger from its condition.
I'm the Oaks colliery the coal, which
rises above the level of the bottom of
the shaft, has in the main been got, and
for some time the workings have been
chiefly in the coal which is below the
level of the bottom of the shaft. In
miners phrase, they are dip workings.
The system OF working at the Oaks is
that known as the long walr system.
1t is not the usual system in the South
Yorkshire district, but it is considered
to be, on the whole, safe system"
INCIDENTS.
Some of the escapes OF the miners
were very remarkable. One man,
named Bates, was hewing coal in some
new works, about a mile and a half
from the shafts. He became aware of
the explosion by a sudden rush of air,
which threw him down and rendered
him insensible. On recovering himself
he felt that he was being enwrapped in
the suhocatinS choke-damp, and, with
a desperate effort, he struggled towards
the Shafts. The roads were so blown
down that he could hardly lind his wave
and af(er climbing over heans of dahris
he at last fell helpless, and gave himself
up for lost. Some friendly hand raised
him, and once more he struggled on to-
wards the shaft, where he at last arrived.
and was safely taken to the surface.
Another man was knocked down
senseless, and one of the exploring
parties afterward found him graspin9
In his arms the body of dead cat.
Others brought to the surface alive ex-
perienced singularly narrow escapes
from falling debris and after-damp.
10 avoid the latter, many fell on their
faces, stuffed their clothing in their
mouths and crawled along the level.
one OF the most affecting scenes
Whlch the searchers came upon was
discovery of more than twenty men,
nearly the whole of whom We're locked
IN each others arms. They had faced
death together, and had carried the
friendship of life to the very threshold
of the grave. Others had evidently
been swept away while taking leave of
each other, and in the terror and confu-
sion of the moment others had still re-
membered 70 appeal to the mercy of
their God. Not few were thus found
in the attitude of prayer.
a more awful spectacle than that pre-
sented to tho searchers, on Wednesday
night could hardly be found, even on
the battlefield. Horses, coal tubs, and
in some cases men and Lads ---uy-u I,e,,,, !