, 1875-12-26
FOREIGN.
Additional Particulars of the
Late English Colliery Ex-
p1Csion.
Accounts Of the Recent Damaging
Floods in the South Of Spain.

| Floods in the South of Spain.
MacMahon's Government Denomfnated
| Limited Monarchy.
Prince Bismarck on the Won Amin Case
GREAT BRITAIN.
TIE 8HAITHE C0LLIEHY EXPLOSION.
| London Times, Dec. 8,
| The scene Of the explosion is in the Vale oI
Worsboro, about miles from the Town al
Darnsley. Two adjacent coleries, the Ell.
mund's Main and the 6waithe Main, are the
| property Of the same owners, A1esars
Mitchell, Bartholomew i Tyas; and al.
| though these collieries are essentially dis
tinct, it WAS thought desirable eon.e years ago,
| to stablish subterranean connection between
them. The borings for this purpose we're in
progress in December. 1862 and to these bor-
ings Was attributed the escape OF gas which ut
that tim Q led to an explosion in the Edmunds
main colliery, by which ffty-nine lives we're
lost. In due time Tho communication was COM
pleted, and door OF escape was opened from
either mine into the other, adoor which has jus
|. tilted the wisdom Of those who designed it BY
saving on this occasion probably 100 lives.
On Monday morning the mine VAS viewed, or
inspected, in the ordinary way. and WAS pro-
nounced to be safe and in good working con-
dition. The strict observation Of the Monday
holyday has lately been much relaxed in the
district On account Of the high rate Of wages
which has prevailed. and SO the men and boys
who went do1u we're moro numerous than Ii
usual at the beginning Of the week. Be-
tween 9 and 10 o'clock-for there ia no Ere
Afn1$ Nh 1~E7I
explosion vas heard, speedily followed by an
outpour Of volumes OF smoke from the mouth Of
SWathe shaft, SO that the winding-gear was for
tune concealed from view. WhIle the alarn
thus given soon attracted great concourse Of
people to the pit. it also occasioned the workmen
IN Edmund'a Main to open the door OF com num-
cation to which reference has been mada, and
BY which many fug1tyts made their escao.
These fugltives knew little OF nothing
about the exoiosion. They had heard and teis
their lives from the poisonous gases which An
explosion produces, aad which, under the name
Of after-damp, are usually tho chief sources Of
danger to life. Tho fugitiycB were completely
and some were entirely naked. having di-
vested themselves even OF the scauty covering
ia which they Wers working in order to expedite
their fight. Unfortunately they Etre per-
mitted to depart without being either CO .nteI or
identified; and they hastened away TO their
homes.
In the meantime, not only had hundreds Of
the neighboring mining population hurried to
Swaithe, but the engineers aud officials of other
cof1es1es, the medical men Of Bafnaley, aud the
OF Mines for the District. Mr. Wardell. had also
proceeded thither. After d hurried con-
sultation, the command Of an exploring
party was taken by afr. John M*ohe!l.
the certidcated manager OF tho mine, aud
sou OF one OF the propr;etors. They we're very
al jrB 1trk ha 4F$
was arrested about nine feet from the bottom OF
the shaft by tho ruin caused By the explosion.
Not only ere the timber ''conductors or guides
to the cage blown away. but the lower
part OF tho shaft was filled by uaass
Of broken corves and other woodwork, piled
there by the shock. The party resscended
to fetch . ladder, and by means OF this tbey
at last succeeded in reachiug the bottom, wher
they found thirty or more of tue survivors, yari-
ously ecotched and in come cases completely
overcome by the prospect of escape from the
death which they had been expecting every mo-
ment When all were brought up another ex-
ploriug party descended, and prepared to creep
cautiously along the workings. The explorers
The command Of Mz. Mellord OF the Stafford
Main Coihery, the other under Mr. Wilson, Of
the Oaks ColLcry- They pursued different paths
to meet at an appointed spot, and they soon
found the corpses Of como who had been torn
mud mutilated by the explosion. and Of others
who had died painlessly from the effects OF after
damp. Among the latter was one lad who had
put his arms round the neck Of pony, and
they had fallen together in this po-
sition J., the boy vas dead. but the
pony. although bosa siuged BY the explosion aud
s:upefed by the gas, WAS still alive an0 Was
brought to the surface, where it recovered.
Fire WAS found in one Of the workings. and waa
promptly put out by the use Of IN - extncteur."
The two parties put their researches as Tar as
possible, and to an extent which involved great
danger to themselves. Except the group col
lected at the bottom of the shaft they found
only corpses, and they arrived at the certainty
that no life could exist in the paris into which
they we're uuaole to pcnetrats.
With regard to the cause OF the explosion
nothing is known, and the voices Of those who
could tell have been forever sl1enced. The |
Barus1ev coal ia rich in 1ntiommable gas. which !
seems most liable to accumulate III the mines |
when the barometer is low: and when this gas |
il preseutln certain proportion, and IL exposed
to q naked light, an explosion follows. swaithe !
is only 2 miles from the Oaks Col !
liery, where the came seam il worked, !
and where 1868 lives we're destroyed by an explo~ |
sion on tho 18th Of December, 1866. It is also |
near Luudhill. where 169 lives we're destroyed in |
February, 1857. The Swaith colIery is worked |
under strict rule and discipline, and no naked t
lights are permitted but some Of tho coal il !
brought down by blasting. 1t Il possible that the
firing Of blast may have been ooincident with |
The escape Of sufficient gas to cause the e1plo- |
sion; but it will never be known Whether
blast Was fred or not. Tho only remaining sup
positions are that safety-lamp had been injur-
ed 80 that it's flame was exposed, or that one Of
the miners used naked light for his own
pu1poses So careless arc gome Of these men
that q miner has been known to make q hole
through the gauze OF bis aafety-1amp with tho
point OF his pick in order to get i light for his
pipe. Fusees hnve been found in the pockets Of
Ewo Of the deceased, and the probability seems
rather TO incline in this direction
Lo.dor, 1an7es Dee. -. |
About 10 o'clock on Tuesday night selected
exploring party, numbering upwards OF thirty,
vent down the shaft, under tbs eupelintendence
If Mr.. James Wilson, of the Oaks Colliery. The |
party visited the dip workings, where many Of
he bodies we're known to be lying, and then re-
turned to the pit-bottom. For more than
h1ee hours there was no signal given t
~ them to those above, and serious
apprehensions began to be entertained for their
,atety. Happily, however, these were set at
est about o'clock Yesterday morning, when