New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-26


after an interval Of months, the b, ss OF the ls9
men and boys killed in the Luna Hill explosion;
they the bodies were brought to bank and carried
laid side by side Inc shed was about thirty feet
long by eighteen feet wide and high and its four
sides were OF upright laths battens about three
inches wide each and with an interval of similar
width between each, in order that from whatever
quarter the wind blew. it might sweep away to lee
ward the dreadful ehluvium arising from bodies In
such an ad anced stage OF decomposition.
Whilst | was there body was brought in 30
burnt and 80 decayed ont of all likeness TO man,
that YOU could not distinguish the front from the
back of the body it could only DO surmised from
the circumstance that from ono SIDE OF the heau
greenish matter was oozing ont from Two places or
holes which were therefore supposed TO be the
orbits of the eyes. The smell was dreadful, not,
wthstanding a free use OF chloride OF nme ana
other disnfectants There were several women
there one of them suddenly exclaimed lts ahr
jack and before anyone could prevent her, she
with bitter cry stopped over aud actually Kissed
the lOathsome object: what the eye OF love dIs-
cerned that was hidden from rs who were standing
round God alone knows" only speak OF what
| actually saw. - -,
Consider the men, their husbands, too. What like
husbands are they Remember the one whose hody
was found in the Hartley Mine. after the accldent
to the engine beam. lying with his breakfast can IN
his hand upon the side of which with the point OF
his rocket knife he had scratched dying message
of love to his wife Sarah.
Or that other husband who, going in the dark in
early morning that same c0lliery, In deep depres
sion of spirit, which he could not account for but
only felt turned back TO kiss more with ten.
derness his wife and children. and then resumed
hours became his living tomb-for they did
not die at in this case, their fate
in the balance many day. dng i in
quries about the possibility OF saving the mems
lives.
Remember the man who. escaping with his boy
and comrade only this year q think 1t was In the
seaham Coliery after the explosion, found tho
IN | q IL
sensible. They could not carry him. and the boys
father urged by his comrade. who ana escape.
to along with o Mhat was fb .nE
boy, I'll bide with the lad" And he did stay; and
father and son were found after many days lying
side by side in DEATH
When the Edmunds Main explosion occurred,
which widowed so many scores of poor women,
there was q doubt, as there often is, whether all
the men and boys the pit had been killed there
was hope very faint indeed but still hope, that
there might be some men still alive IN the pit;
there was imminent risk of second explosion
which might occur at any moment, and the peril OF
going down then was simply awful. Still some
men might yet be then alive below. what nap
penedf A..
ueedfnl number were selected II think seven mem
they took their lives in their hands, quite uncon
scous of the herosm Of their conduct because tnelI
moral attitude was simply that OF so many others;
they went down on their GRAND OF mercy, and In
short time these men Whose names even were not
given in the published accounts, so little surprising
did their conduct appear to those who knew col
liersl we're added to the list of the slain for the
dreaded explosion occurred and now, alas! there
was no longer room to doubt that all below were
numbered with the dead. ,
Take another instance. When the last dreadful
explosion took place at the Oaks Colliery, near
Barnsey, which also killed nearly two hundred
men and boys, if remember rightly. went there
Immediately, and nat had happenedf My friend
Parkln Jeffcock mining engineer had been sent for
after the first explosion had occurred; 1T was one
of extraordinary violence and had completely de-
stroyed the head gear. and they were III momentaIy
expectation OF q second, rs it was clear that tho
first had utterly deranged the ventilation but here
also the hope chung to that some of the men
might still be alive in the pit, and, after most
ANXIOUS consideration, it decided to incur the
awful peril Of descending the other shaft to see II
il were happily scores upon scores OF mems lives
have been saved by these heroic darngs OF peril.
When the decision was taken, Mr.. Jeicock said:
want eight men to go down with me; volunteers,
stand forward At once not eight but fifteen men
stamped out from the crowd they then picked out
and rejected the seven nen who had the largest
families and had to employ the police TO put them
back into the crowd out of danger lest the dreaded
second explosion should come even while they were
getting ready to go down; and MIR. Jefcock and his
eight companions (heroes every ono of them-and
this they would equally have been had they all re-
turned alive got ready and went down. they had
not been down long before another explosion took
place and they too, were numbered with the dead