Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1880-07-22
THE DEADLY FIRE DAMP
A Terrible Accident in a South
Wales ColIiery.
OVER ONE HUNDRED DEAD
Heartrending Scenes About the
Mouth Of the Fatal Pit--No
Hope that the Miners Can
be Rescued Alive.
SOME PREVIOUS EXPLOSIONS

Colliery Company's mine at the time of
the explosion, and it is believed that all
persisted.
Tho explosion occurred in the new
Black Vein Pit of the South Wales Col
iiery Company at Risca, town of the
county of Monmouth, six miles from New
port. Newport is place of upwards of
10000 inhabitants and is the outlet for
the coal mined at Risca and other COL
lieries, and has magnificent docks and
wharves and an immense export trade of
COAL iron and tin. At the time of the
explosion there were, according to various
estimates, from 107 to 12S miners at work
in the pit. Immediately all was excite
ment and confusion. The explosion was
very heavy, and shook the earth around
for long distance. The sullen roar far
beneath told the story of disaster. 1t
does not appear as yet that there was any
thing new in the character of this great
disaster nor in the cause which produced
it. The gas in the pit, which is very deep
and winding, became ignited, and the
explosion occurred. The plain fact is all
that is yet known.
The news of the explosion spread
rapidly, and as soon as the dreadful It'd
ings reached the cabins of the miners the
whole above-grouud population rushed
pell-mell to the mouth of the pit. Nothing
could then be seensave the dull smoke which
issued from the mine. The wives and re-
latives of the men known to be in the
Black Vein rent the air with lamentations.
The scenes are described as heaftrending
in the extreme. Women tore their hair
and shrieked, while children ran about
crying and wringing their hands. There
did not seem to be the least possibility of
saving any of the miners, but nevertheless
work was Immediately begun to restore
ventilation. Towards morning this work
was partially accomplished and prep
arations were at once made
to send down an exploring
party. This is, says dispatch from
Newport, most hazardous service, as the
gas may still be lingering in the workings
in dangerous quantities, but volunteers
have freely offered and the party has been
organized. The crowd around the mouth
of the pit is immense. 1t is regarded as a
fortunate circumstance that no signs of
fire have as yet appeared. After the
examination of their lists the overseers of
the mine express fears that the loss of
life is much greater than at first supposed
and that probably 1913 miners persisted.
Nothing that can be surely known respect
ing their fate until after the return of the
exploring party. Old miners at the mouth
of the pit who are familiar with
its 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 probably been imprisoned
hopelessly by the mass of fallen rock and
coal and suffocated by the foul air. The
| excitement in the neighborhood is intense,
and the authorities and constabulary are
at hand to prevent any violent outbreak.
| If the speculations as to the number who
have persisted shall prove only approx
mately true, the Black Vein disaster must
be set down among the worst that have
recently darkened the annals of coal
mining in England.
AT about s o'clock yesterday morning,
the bodies of three unfortunate miners
were found near the bottom of the shaft,
and the exploring party discovered that
the force of the explosion was terrific.
blowing to atoms the ventilating fan in
| the upcast airbast. When this news came
to the surface the grief of the women and
children gathered around the pit became
even more intense. Old miners said that
| there was now no hope that any of the
men could exist. Many denounced the
|
better ventilation, and for all manner of
real or presumed offenses but it is proba-
BILE that the Black Vein pit was as safe as
the majority of mines.
Meanwhile the crowd grew larger and it
was piteous to look upon the agony of the
relatives of the victims. Some were very
violent and their grief was expressed in
shrieks and wild outcries others sobbed
mournfully and others stared fxodiy at the
black pit and ouly their white cheeks told
of their agony. The suspense was some
thing awful. They were hoping against
hope and awaiting the report of the ex-
ploring party.
A careful examination of the company's
books shows that 12O men decended into
the pit for the night shift.
A Cardiff correspondent telegraphs as
follows There is some confusion re-
garuing the number of men in the pit. A
recent calculation lessons it to so, but am
informed that that it is not impossible that
over 200 golfers had gone down. The pit
is $40 feet deep. All the Machinery was
new, but the Black Vein seam is su old
one and is well known in connection with
previous explosions
Sir William Hsrcourt, Home Secretary,
replying to an inquiry in the House of
|
is men perished by the explosion.
PREVIOUS EXPLOSIONS.
Some of the most terrible accidents ever
recorded are those which have taken place
in the English mines. The Risca Colliery
has met with accidents before. Its greatest
disaster was 20 years ago and resulted
from carelessness. A miner uncovered his
lamp for the purpose of lighting his pipe.
The result of this reckless violation of the
rules was an explosion, which caused the
death of 1+2 of the miners.
In 1917 the Oaks Colliery, near
Barnsley, was the scene of the death of
20 miners. But this was nothing to the
explosion in the same mine on the 18th of
December, 1866, which resulted in loss
of life reaching the appalling total of 3l2.
A second explosion followed as the
searchers passed into the pit, and 2S of
them perished Explosion after explosion
succeeded, making it impossible to enter
the pit, but at q. m. on the 1fth the
signal bell at the top of the shaft was
ruug, and two men, Mammoth and Emble-
don, going down, brought up Samuel
Brown, one Of the searchers, who had
been wandering in the inclines for "a
hours, falling over the bodies of the slain
at every turn till at last he CROPPED his way
to the shaft. The fire ragged so furiously
that it was necessary to fill up the shaft.
Yet so little effect has a calamity of this
! kind that on the next day, at Talk-o'.th'-
Hill, North Stafford, man went to his
J work with an exposed light, and So lives
J went out in blast of flame and poison.
The last serious explosion that occurred
t in England was on January 21 last, when
} 62 out of 6S men in the Lycett Colliery,
at Newcastle le-under-Lynne, Staffordshire,
! were killed by an explosion. The coal in
this colliery belongs to the Banbury, or
fiery seam, ip which all the great Stafford
shire explosions have occurred. From the
last return of accidents and deaths in
| British mines, compiled by one of the
) Inspectors, it appears that during the five
Q years ending 1876 the total number of
persons killed was 5,504. or these fatsli-
9 ties, 977 arose from explosions, while no
5 fewer than 2 225+ were caused by falling
roofs and sides, 7T5 from shaft accidents,
and 1,055 from other miscellaneous under
ground casualties, the remaining 443
deaths being caused by accidents above
ground, The loss of death by mining sc-
!. cidents in 1876 was $685. in 1877 it was
= l POS, and in 1873 it rose to 1,413.
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