The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-08
IN EXPLOSION IN ENGLAND.
Workmen shot Out Of n Tunnel rs though IL
had been n Gun Barrel.

from nc lohooH lsNcH ADTH 70.
About half past on Friday night an ex-
plosion Of dynamite In n new railway tunnel,
which Is being formed at Cymmer, near Maesteg
resulted In the death of thirteen persons; The
tunnel was - be about 1000 yards long. IL was
worked rignt and day, aud at t1e time Of the
explosion the might shift" men had been at
work about two hours and a half. The inbab-
itsnts ~ the valley he ring loud report from
that direction, the village was instantly oe-
r fse way o%srd s he anSs r sE
was little to be seen but Thick white
smoke. with which the tunnel seemed
TO be filed. 1t was known that number
Of men-rbOut thrIy-were inside. and IL was
supposed that all were killed. william Blliot
rdshed into the tunnel when the smoke had
scarcely begun TO clear away. He was inside
only few minutes when he was overcome by
the fumes, and had to be carried out He, how
ever, retained consciousness long enough 10 see
that dreadful work had been done. Before he
had proceeded far he stumbled over. the body
OF man who. though Frustrated, was not dead.
II was while endeHvJring to take this man to
the mouth Of tie tunnel that he bee me inssn-
about. Alter he had been brought out, n
party, hesoed by MsjIr beaumont, who
happened to be STAYING IN the ncighbor-
hood, and Ar. Hanson. junior the contract n for
the section Of the railway leading UP 10 the tun-
TWO meu out awe. men ten dead bodies were
broush out rapidly aud lai0 noar the mouth Of
tue tunnel OIL heap Of straw. Fifteen more
were then brought out from the inner workings.
There still remained two men aud a boy. whose
bodies tue scar hers could noi md, although
they worked until far into the night. The bodies
the bottom OF the village.
r. ~ He Hiiiy Ieis0TdbA. dprH 20.
On Saturdv afternoon. when the catastro-
phe occurred, there were IA this eXtempOrary
magazine some hundred aud lity pounds Of
dynauite and about ten pounds Of gun-cotton.
I he work was going on hrishly, NUMBER Of
men being engaged IN drilling the face Of the
rock, when suddenly most terrific explosion
took place, the noise Of which, IL Is said, was
heard twenty niles OF. Sixty Yards of the tun-
melting WIS completely wrecked; assive beams
al timber used TO support the now roof were
wnirled this way and that like straws before the
wind, ana when the excavation was searched,
thirteen men were found dead ana horribly mu-
tilated.
Inc urly wonder IA that 10 much as q solitary
survivor was leil to tell the tale. tunuel Is, Of
couTs sc. only gun ba rel on large scale. ana
charge Of dynamite eSulodiug under =. Oh COM
ditons produces effects precisely analogous to
those which occur when a charge of powder Is
Ired III a cannon. The unhappy men between
the month II the working ana the actual spot
of tue explosion must nave been-if We may use
the onlN phr W len adequately expresses
what took ulacc-shot out of the tunnel irto the
open air Those, on the other hand. VINO were
behind the magazine must have been driven
back by the recon against the face u the rock
with a violence of which we can form some
slight conception when we recOllect that solid
masses - stone weighng several tons seem to
have been .orn out ana tossed to aud frO like
small pebbles swept before IL by hurricane.