Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-16
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. DISASTERS IN ENGLAND. Deadly Explosion in a Coal
 Mine. The Miners Blown to Atoms. One Hundred and Twenty eight Killed Outright. Northampton Sunk in a Flood. The People Driven from their
 Homes.
Northampton Sunk in a Flood.
THE OLD WORLD.
Great Britain.

A Mine Horror-Terrifc Explosion in a Couiery-12s Miners Killed Outright Scenes at the Mouth Of the Pit-Harrovv- ing Outbursts of GriefPitiable Condi- ton of the Wives and Relatives.
 LONDON, July 15.-An explosion occurred at twenty minutes past o'clock this morning in the London and South Wales Co11iery Com pany's new Black Vein pit at Risca, six miles from Newport. The shock was very violent.
 One hundred and twenty-eight men were in the pit of the mine at the time of the explosion, and it is believed that all have perished. One body has been found at the bottom of the pit.
 The violence of the explosion jared the earth and was felt some distance from the pit As soon as the dreadful tidings reached the cabins of the miners the whole above ground population rushed pell men to the mouth of the pit. Nothing could be seen, however the mine The wives and relatives of the miners known to be in the Black Vein rent the air with lamentations, but no help could be offered them save the sympathy of the by islanders. Many denounced the owners of the mine for not providing better ven- tilation and for all manner of real or pre- stunned offences. But it is probable that the Black Vein pit was as safe as the majority of the mines. An exploring party was immedi- ately made up and though the service was hazardous in the extreme, owing to the fact that the gas might still be lingering in the workings in dangerous quantities, volunteers freely presented themselves. Old miners at the mouth of the pit, who are familiar with it's workings, galleries and passages, say that the chances are all against the hope that any of the miners will be found alive, and that those who were not killed outright have prob ply been imprisoned hopelessly by masses of fallen rock and coal and suffocated by the foul air The excitement throughout the neighborhood is intense and the authorities and constabulary on hand to prevent any violent outbreak. If the speculation as to the number who have perished shall prove only approximately true the Black Vein dis aster must be set down as among the worst that have recently darkened the annals of coal mining in England. Newport, the scene of the disaster is situated on the Usk river and is parliamentary and municipal bor ough and river-port town of about 5000 in- habitants, on the line of the Monmouth and Cardiff railways, twenty-four miles south west of Monmouth.
 It appears that two previous explosions have occurred in the Black Vein coal mine. Black Vein is situated on the side of Myn- dislyn Mountain. The last of these earlier explosions took place in December, 1860, when 145 persons perished. The theory is now advanced that the terrible calamity of this morning may have been caused by cleo tricity setting on fire gas through some Assure in the mountain side, as the atmosphere was observed to be unusually laundering and heavy a short time before the disaster oc- cured This idea, however, is not received by the more experienced miners who hold that the true cause was the contact between the firedamp and the lamps of some of the workmen in the pit.
 Later dispatches from Newport confirm the report that one hundred and twenty min CTS were killed by the explosion of fredamp in the Black Vein.