Connecticut western news., 1871-09-29
The English Mine Disaster. |.

n - E
 From our English papers we have details of, the sad disaster. which took place at Wigan, England, and in which 69 persons lost their lives. These col lieries have only been at work a few years, and the pit in which the frightful disaster took place was only commenced last October, with view of working the Wigan nine-foot seam, or the six foot seam, as it is called in other parts of the country. -s.- -..
 Although everything that skill and science could accomplish to render its working secure has been done, yet it must be admitted that the miners go down to work it.with their lives literally | in their hands. The men, had, however, great confidence in the management.
 The nine-foot seam is worked at Q depth of 480 yards, but the depth of the pit is about 700 yards. Below the nine-foot, which travels north and south, is the | camel seam, which is some hundred yards below Both these seams are
 worked by the downcast shaft, and the owners are extending the upcast work ings to the Arley seam, which lies to a still greater depth. A party of sinkers were at work at the time in the upcast shaft The explosion occurred at Il
 o'clock in the morning, sixty-three men
 and boys being employed in the nine foot level, fifty in the camel seam, be-
 sides six sinkers. Three of these sink
 CTS were in the act of descending the
 upcast shaft to join their fellows at the
 bottom, when from the downcast shaft
 came that terrible sound, like the dis
 charge of cannon, which told the fear
 full tale of the occurrence of another ex-
 plosion. There followed almost inn
 mediately fearful discharge of soot and smoke from the upcast, which hung like pail over the surrounding district
 At the downcast shaft the stage, which was standing on raised platform, was
 hurled from it's position, and the banks
 man had most narrow escape, while
 at the second shaft the gearing suffered
 so complete wreck that the brownman,
 Oaks, is at loss to know how he escaped
 from the wreck with his life. As it was,
 he suffered severe bruises, and had to of workmen were quickly set to work.
 At the upcast shaft the winding appara-
 tus was repaired, soSthat the '"hoppett''
 might be drawn up, which was still
 hanging in the shaft. It took over an
 hour to accomplish this work. When at
 last the cage was brought to the surface
 many anxious eyes were directed toward
 it, as faint hope was entertained that
 the sinkers might be still in it.. It was,
 however, empty, and no further doubt
 could be entertained of the fate of the
 men. A cap which was found in the
 gearing above the shaft was supposed to
 have belonged to one of these men.
 The "hoppett" was then lowered with
 great caution with three men as far as
 the camel seam. After a short interval
 the cage was raised, and it brought back,
 amid the breathless silence of the spec
 tators, five colliers, who announced, to
 the relief of some of the anxious re-
 latives who crowded the bank, that all
 was safe in the camel seam, but that
 the explosion had occurred in the
 "nine-foot." The fifty men who work
 ed in the camel seam were quickly
 brought to bank, and every-one's ener- gies were then directed to the establish
 ment of communication by means of
 the downcast shaft, by which means
 alone the "nine-foot" could be reach
 ed A short distance above the nine
 foot is the four-foot. It was believed
 that there were no men in this part of
 the collery at the time of the explosion,
 but when the first exploring party de-
 scended they found at the mouthing
 the underlooker, the fllrnaceman, and
 bricksetter. These were all alive,
 and were at once sent to the surface.
 The explorers then descended to the
 nine foot, where terrible scene was
 presented. Here the full force of the
 explosion appeared to have taken place.
 Timbers and broken curves were ,strewn
 about, and here and there lay the dead,
 the majority of whom were most fear
 fully mutilated by the scathing force of the 6re-damp and the violence of the proiectiles which were hurled along the causeways. The living were crying bitterly for water, which, with other re- storatives, was supplied to them by the willing hands of the brave men who ere risking their lives to save them. The exploring party was in charge of MT. John Bryham, son of the manager of Rose Bridge Galleries, and MT. William Pickard, miners agent. The living were at first sent up, and one of the men in the agonies of his dying struggles, ! nearly threw himself out of the hoppett. His agony was so acute that it took foul men to hold him. He died shortly
 after he got to the surface. MT. Pickard, < on coming to the surface reported that
 the pit was on fire in both levels o! !, the nine-foot, but especially in the south level It was then determined , to. send down a number of extincteurs ? and supply of buckets to quench the fire. Up to this time ten men hac
 been brought up, seven from the nine foot and three from the four-foot, one of the former having died. Everything Q appeared to go on favorably for z : further examination of the workings 7 when, shortly after 3 o'clock, those who
 were standing on the bank noticed {
 cessation of the smoke in the upcas ). shaft, followed by two gusts of wind s which indicated that another explosion ', had occurred. Great fears were felt fo - the safety of the exploring party unde 8 Mr. John Bryham, consisting of abou :; ten persons. The cage was in the shaf at the time, and it is needless to ado '. that the winding was carried on al
 quickly as safety would permit. I'm ;- excitement was now most intense. The n cage, amid 8 suspense in whichsminute ' seemed like hours, was quickly brough V to the surface, but it was not until tn g third ascent that MT. Bryham appeared ! in the hoppett. The entire exploring z i: party reached the surface in safety, bu .' some of them had made some very nar row escapes. They reported that ther n had been great many falls of roof, an' l. the blast had overturned everything ant e extinguished the lights. MT. Bryhan ', was, at the time, examining an opening [ and he might have been lost if he ha'
 not been in company with some on' st conversant with the workings. Tn ;" matter was anxiously debated. and tn y engineers came to the conclusion tha " they would allow no more explorers t e go down in the pit, as it would be run it ming @ serious risk to life It was fel