, 1877-11-07
HIGH DLANrYKE.
Over $50 Lives Lost in the Terrible Min
ing Disaster in the glasgow
Coal Region.
A First Report Which the Telegraph Iias
Since Confirmed in All Its
Worst "Details,

Londnn 7tlearaph oe3. ~.
The little collicry village of High Blantyrc,
near Hamilton, to-tiay was the scenc Of = most
terrible coljicry disaster. Ivy this catastrophe,
unparalleled In the history Of Scntch mining, It
Is rcckonct that fully 2OU lives have teen lost,
though the Humber whA have pcrishcl can only
be approximately determined. Ttla morning,
about 0 O'Clock, the man employed at Mcskrs.
Dixon'a colliertes, High nIantyrc, departed To
their usual work, f26 men descending The shalt
Of the pit known as No. Z, villo lg7 entered pit
No. 3. Statutory communication cxtste bc.
tween these pits, and 1t sccsna that hcforc The
disaster occurred number Of men were en-
gagged removing atoops In the spllnt Of tho
lover seam of No. 2 pit. This operation ID nj
ways regarded M hazardous, and It appears that,
With cittpnblu anj nlIuost tncxplieablc reckless
nces. tho iIa.lIa employed to-day made use III
naked lamps. Whe the men wcro engaged In
blasting In tho splint Of No. pit, about 0
O'clock,
An ArrALLtwd KxrLos1oN or f1HE.pAMr
occurred wci, spent itaelf In the sltaft of No. 3
pit. The explosion was attended by suun,l
assembling ths loudcst thunder, flames burst
forth at the head Of shaft No. 3, md dense
volumes of smoke rolled uD from The entrance
to pit No. 2. Fragtncnts Of coal mud timber
and clouds Of dust wcrc tlen scattered around
the heads Of the shafts, large quantities. OF
dcelrla being shot for great height into the MR.
The dGalcnInE sound of the explosion lu,-
mtsliatcIy attracted large crowd to tho ncgno
Of tfc calamity, anil with all possIblc cclcrity
relief gangs were urgnnlzctl, aud crery effort
Yrs inadc to restore ventElRtlun to tlte tntnes.
An hour, however, elapsed bcforc air could uga[n
he admitted to t|c. pits, aud a'l ctIosts To dc.
sgcnl thy slLaft OF No. 3 was found to ue I'm.
Practicable. Fur inen then strove to enter No. .
Int, hut were unatla To proceed atunR tho splint
seasn IRON the daMp, and atttr pcrscreriMg nt
The imminent risk Of their lives were brought
w In fainting condition to The surfacc, al,u uf
tlic.rl,, nn,cd Thomas LaI!aw, beng. It Is
feared, very seriously Injured. Notw!tllstand-
Ing this, however, nnother relief ga,g was lin
ineulaeY forlIctf. and the new party Of yojun-
teels, after advancing sl1ort war !rotn tho foot
ut the sfIait, fund tne Gutes Vi six nlcu.
DNEApFuLLy C1IARHEb AND uIsrIGuKRp,
which were ut once drawn up to tho bauk. AZ
though cunbtant strcAm OF water wis Duurrt!
down tho shalt Tint tlio reserve pasty might 'o
Of the damp. tic new relief gaug wcre finally
Iortc c.l 10 dcsist frum their prrous lnisso1 at,I
. seriously were several Of them affected by
hcen nf,#,ng that they lud, on returning to lie
strfaee, tu be covered with cArtll tu lrge item
from tic Influence of thu etukc-&Ia,np. Frgsli
bands vi volunteers at onec took up tile task Ut
exYiofuE tlIe WORKINGS, ana several other
nere recovered. The black cloud Vi smoke
whlc ut trst lloated over tue sycnu Of the tatas-
troulic cleared Away, and Us tue Howe Of the dis
Ulster spread Ilku wiidrc thruugt the surro,,r,l-
luz districts vnst cu',eonrso gathered round
the pt-lleatls, tue wives uin! children 0f tho men
wiluwurc y! the pits exhibiting healrtren,li,x
emotion. Erry faint hopes urr entertained tl,nt
any of the ten in tic pits avc escaped, a.,d tile
,4oke-damp was at ilrst 81 strofK TIN, Il ls
feared that all of tile 22s1 mcn wno descended
the SHUTS in the nurni,,E must hare pcristlud
II y. tn.-Furtltor "details respecting tho cx-
plostol' Ut b.ntyrc make It only too sadly cvi-
dent that tic tiauster IA
III FAR rlE MOST TEnRlRLE
that ttas ever Occurred III thu Anllats of Scotch
nl.nR, ahu Ina bccn sclrcr1y less latnl to l,1-
u!an lite tllan ttlc worst ratastruphics of tl,e
slnu tint l.ave happened In England. Tic col
ifcry vi tch was tho secne Of the explosion Is
situated not fartron the left bark OF tic Clyde,
about thrcp Mills fro.n Hamilton and perhaps
ten troIn ulasgow. In a district Of whlsl tho
natural beauties, never very remarkable, lavc
uutIng tue lust few years been greatly .iflnn-
!sl,ed hy tho zest with whfcl, coal.lnti,Iug has
been prosecuted tiers. In tho Hamilton eoni-
teids, of which High Blantyre. Collfury TORN. \
!art, tas1e aro three seams q cvai the "Ei'."
thu ".Matn, u aill tho "apiint,h y ranging from
saven aud half tu live fest III thickness. They
lie Ut considerable depth from the surface,
and aro separated Iron, ono a,'uther oy ten
tu get Ut tue tn4ertlost bed tue psts l,aye to DO
sunk 10 a depth of G00 feet. High Hlaniyre
Culiicsy was thc property Ut Slessrs. ". i.
DltKson y LOs AlltnltoLt KHo own co!lhtuEf-
'ablc humber Ut pits I'll tl1e west OF Scotland.
particularly In the Vicinity of Glasgow, an1 arc
ulsO large manufacturers Ut pfg.ilon. The Qlure
at night FROM THUR furnaces Oh the south Bfue
of uiasgow y faulIlhr To all rcaldcnts u TINT
city and to those accustomed ~ visit It. There
arH two shafts to the intnc, distinguished iron.
otncrs In tho locality simply Us Nos. . aud u.
NJ. q, tho dowtl-cast. was sunk In lo7l4 No. u,
tho ultcass. about 7D yards away, has been III
operation about twelve suut,t!ls. Thu lattcr il
soEle oO0 feet In depth, And No. 9 78J feet, 80
that fll thu tnaln working which connccts the
two shafts the incline ID to*ards No. j. Tho
nano has alwa1s bccn regarded In tho district ~
ONE or THE nEsr VENTILATED AND SAFEST,
and it Is 0nIy due to tho owhcrs to state that
the unsolicited Testimony Ut tho collers who
have worked IN tho pit IRON tho time It was
sunk IL That no scientific appliance for. securing
thorouGh ventilation aud general good working
eunlttlun l,As been o'nltscd. Accidents from
lrs.damp hnyo been extremely rars aud trivial
in tho llafnilton coal-llel and so great has bcen
t!o et'''t!denss cngenicrcd By tlls sta!e Of mat.
hare bcu,s In regular use III this a. we'll asin other
tullieries tn tho neghborlooti. AT prrscnt, sincu
lheru eau only b. conjecture concerning the
Is Impossible to say w!,etherlt has been brought
atuslt by tllu prcsento Ut naked lIxhts In the
workings. In aucurIauca with tho usual practics
at voal-snlncs, 1t has been customary to srnl
wusk IL commenced every morning In order to
see that all Is safet aud thcFu u n0 uouht that
the Inspection was matlc ~ usual this morning
by tho foreman, aud that he returned With q
rcpurt that everything was III good orler. Tbs
lIilncrs accordingly descended to their work
ahout q, ill.,, l0s n,en aud Toys gul14 down by
NJ. } shut anil II, BY No. 8. Work was being
chiefly carrleu on ln tho southwest purtluu ot
the mine, III the vicinity of M. . shaft. At
TINT point therliners were ''working backward"
Is IL t. tcraed S ~ tue ;plint S,ai ssa and TX;
wuut on ~ usllsI tIll aouut O'Clock, when
tnoso who were abuut tue mouth Of the SHAFT
were startled by heariuE rum1|ing sounds. as Ut
thunder, oolow, and almost immediately aftrr-
war1s
VOLUME OF FLAMH
shot up tho up-ca4s, instantly destroying tho
plt-heaa tta1ns and knocking the &lues Vt the
ahalt itself 10 pfccca. Hcycrai pcrsuns who