The morning call., 1893-04-12
DEATH IN A MINE.
Three Hundred Men Below
the Fire.
IT CAME WITHOUT WARNING.
There Was an Explosion, and Then
Flames and Smoke Shut Off the
Buried Workmen.
special to THE MORNING CALL

LONDON, April 11-This afternoon the
little village of Pontyprdd, in the county
of Glamorgan. Wales. was startled by a
duh roar. followed by cloud of smoke and
flames that came from one of the coal pits
on the hills near the town.
In few minutes the news had travelled
to the village and into the country sur
rounding the mine that there had been an
explosion OF coal gas far down in the earth
and that 800 miners had been entombed
alive. AT once a crowd began collecting,
but flames and smoke were still belehing
from the pit, the engine-house was on fire
and burning fercely and it was for time
utterly impossible to attempt TO go down
into the mine or to rescue those who were
known to be below, dead or dying it might
be, OF possibly alive and yet knowing them
selves cut off from all hope of rescue.
How the accident occurred was not clear
at first, nor even vet can it be known detin-
itely. 1t seems, however, that there must
ave been gross carelessness somewhere.
for there is no doubt that, unknown to the
officials, the shaft over which the engine
was working became filed early in the day
with gas and coal dust. There had but to
drop into it then spark from the engine to
GhhoC a NhhdSAluBHCs anu WIS hUN4u SCGlu ~
be precisely what happened.
AS soon as possible after the occurrence
Of the accident volunteers were called TO
60 down TO the rescue, and from out of the
crowd where wives and sisters and mothers
and sweethearts and little children were
sObbing for those who were below, brave
men stepped forward to the mouth Of the
pit from which volumes of smoke came
thicker and thicker, and literall" fought
their way down against the fire. The effort
was vain. II might have been fOreseen
from the first thar 1t could not succeed.
Five bodies were found in the first drift,
aud then the attempt at rescue was aban-
doBed. The rescueTs were literally driven
back by the volumes of flame and smoke,
for in that pit nothing human could have
lived.
The men returned to the surface, bring
ing up with them FIVE burned and blackeEed
bodies. and then in the attempts at identifi-
cation the scene was heartrending. Women
and children gathered about the cOrpses,
and those who found their dea there knew
that TO them the worst was over, while those
who found not their dead had still upon
them the gloom Of uncertainty. 1t was an
uncertainty, however, in which there was
little of hope.
Meanwhile efforts were making to food
the mine anP TO resume the work of rescue
but in the nature of things these efforts
would be long in the carrying out The
coal mines near Pontypridd are miles in
extent and aside from the difficulty of
locating the fire. it would still be difficult to
secure a sufficient quantity of water to give
the work promise of success.
While these efforts were being made, and
ui;Iia Othpr raCaufnp narfiaS hain
made up. there was shout from the hill
side at little distance from the burning
shaft, and then it became known that
seventy men had succeeded in reaching the
surface through the main dip working, led
By miner who knew the roads. They had
a frightful experience in getting out. liter
ally fighting their way through fire and
smoke, and when they reached the open air
many Of them fell exhausted, to be carried
to their homes by tiiends and neighbors.
too much overcome to tell of their suffer
ings. or In many cases to speak at all.
Many more, however, we're yet below,
and these it was necessary to reach that
they might be saved if any were yet living,
OF that their bodies might at least be
brought to the surface for burial different
from that 10 a burning niue. The attempts
at rescue were not abandoned, therefore,
though fraught with small hope. At 9:45
O'clock this evening il is still impossible to
OBTAIN more than meager details of the acci-
dent, and the men who saved themselves
were loo much confused and frightened to
observe the positions of their fellow-wOrk-
iuEmen- They were unable to give any
clear account of the distribution of the
miners, and the work Of rescue must there
fore proceed with ali the difficulties of un-
certainty.
AT present The flames and smoke would
render any attempt at rescue vain if not
fatal to the party making the descent
There is little doubt. moreover. that most
If not all of the men left below have been
suffocated or burned to death.
The second attempt TO enter the seam in
which tie FIRE started proved fruitless, and
although The rescue party saw six dead
bodies they were prevented by smoke and
heat from reaching them.
The number of men stiIl in the burning
mine cannot now be ascertained, although
it IS known that the number will reach over
20O
The fire is above the places Of refuge,
and, anyway. the men were working at
such a distance from these places that it is
doubtful If any could have reached them
alive.
The town of POntypridd is on the Taft
River near Lanwit, and has coal and tin
mines and manufactures of chains and
ca bles.
At midnight the FIRE is burning in all the
sections Of the mine near the shaft. The
service pipe, which is used to pour water
into the mine, has burst. and the difficulties
In the way OF quenching the fire have in