THE BLANTYRE COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 183, 11 January 1878, Page 3

THE BLANTYRE COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

X^ J AXyy^^;^-ryy^:A*A "'', ,ieT AA.' .' ' "'" ' --*- '" ''V* I " '*••.-*'.-•. V-/". - j :7-7 -7 ((^hdensOTfrom^iur Home'excKanges:} * 7 1 ; AAA. The/^ff^feleaifulrXcoiliery explosion ; 7 whichfjbasi^ Scotland ■ ;;vp_cc { urr.ea^on^Monday-.morning, Aug. 22. Jb|p^f<£iiiin*^^ . 2 ' and 3 ; : PitsfatfHigHßlantyre Colliery, belon-g-: ing; to tue>" Messrs Dixon, and Up.; (Lithitied);; 3233 -rEoeh were at work in! ithe pit at£the time of /the* explosion ,;" of y that; number =:2o' were rescued alive, but ; Jtßre^atrepwards .died ;6f -, the inj uries, so that^ the- Vjotali number of lives lost by this appalling disaster is .210." - It .Cpg'ears ithalKsub'rtly before sis o'.clo.ck^jd^Mpnday morning 107 men ;^^ujned^opk*?in^-No;*3* : Bit, and 126 in No. 2, con tipped working till a quarter to nine o'clock* when there occurred a most terrific^ £^ of : which^wksjheard at'a distance of a mile. .i fiurvied'Vfrpm ; the neig ; h.bouriri g v&elds; and from the village of Biantyre, Awhile" wives and children left their quickly made their way to 7xheWjiit7>heads.f ; For the first half-hour :?great^otffusi6n at both, and {"indeedffoiv/nearly ah houi* nothing could **be properly done in the way of attempting'^ bringing up *>2Q.rinen,-imost of^whom, had. been work*?"ihg. u in''the^orth*side,ibf :No.= 2 Pit, and i; rhad not ,experi§nc e 4: f , any severe effects ci from lithe explosion.^ Men were deR *spatched on 'horseback to Hamilton to <:wai;n |,the., county authoiuties ana to I* summon the medical men of that town. t . After a brief consultation streams of oWaterTwereTpoured down No. 2 Pit in "order to drive air into the mine. This? A somewhat, purified., the air, and a gang of men went down and rescued a * V'numher 1 of "bodies.' The work of ex;p}pring- had to be arrested for nearly an -hour v io consequence of damp couiin^* upon 0e ; party engaged in ie ; and, in ■-:. fact, , at ; jthree o'clock, so foul bad th**.air below become that the search had fo'b'e^ stopped altogether. The men : employed were brought up \n a fearfully exhausted -state, and* several .of their /friends carried them. round to the back of- the pit, . and laid :them face downwards on the 'damp earth, which is said .... to be a remedy highly prized by colliers for expelling foul air from the stomach. ; Tbis i j>recaution . had the desired effect, for the exhausted meu vomited, and so 7 emptying themselves of the foul air soon recovered. ''"-;■- SCENES IN THE PIT, The scenes witnessed in the pit are .described to us as- harrowing beyond all. descriptipu, and the work of .the ex;plorers. was rendered all. .the more VgrJuesoihe by - the fact that now. and ; ao*aih. mem Vrs of the party came acro^ -snpie comrade with whom, as it 'was . .said, they had cracked many. a joke and had v'thpny a drarn." . The bodies in : ponie. .- places lay in ghastly heaps, th^ features hardly distinguishable, .soma of them with limbs completely torn off or hanging by a mere shred of skin, and others terribly -burned ...about the bead -VamPthe face.- It -was evident that tbe ' visitariou of dfath in the ca^e of a large nuinher.. of the" poor fellows had been awfully sudden. This could be gathered from the. position, in which they wer-« found- One. man, for instur.ee, was found lying* on,- his face with a lump of coal in his d est h- grip, as if he had be-m in the. act of filling a hutch. In the • same roadway was lying- an unfortunate fellow "with: a token tightlv .grasn'.**d in .his finders, and in all probability lie bad;- been: on .the' point of affixing it to 7 his butch when • the explosion occurred. Others' were. found lying' as they Ind' •-• been employed •■; with their workingtools in rheir firm grasp, their bodies and, .arms stripped of all olothingi nnd iv many instances a terrible expression of: agony on ;.the. features. The explorers were ever aud anon startled by terrible-; cases of. mutilation and dismemberment. :: At a considerable distance from the 'shaft the leading man was 'transfixed: ; ;\^ith horror by the spectaclepf ia< man. iyipg bruised and scorched, and; s vvith . his legs torn com? .--plet.ely,frpm..bis^body*, / his .lower limbs being found some teD or twelve yard-'., 'forward.-:". Another .man .was discovered completely- stripped of every vesfigo of garment with the exception of his 1 stockings and a pair of new pit shoes A marvellous circumstance in connection with.- tbis'- base is that, although the poor 'fellow ...was; severely burned and scorched,; his, stockings, which,- like bis shoes;* seemed tp-be^ -quite new, .were as : white as^.if^.they^had been newly bleached. A fatlier^and two 'son's were foiind r lying^hud_dled_together,.the lads - clinging. clo*?e to their parent's breast. as.-if-in..,the„few.jnpmfints. which came between themand : iinconsciousness they had rushed. fb^'?.succour 4 .towards the proteptor -, of rrtheip.; .childhood. StilK another *< unfortunate i'Cqljier*. was ,dis- ; covered] lvinur'^stretched' with his face -downwards, bis. left arm*;douhled. behind . him,; and 7 his? right, band a corner! of bis shirtiLwiiiclh^he had to all .-■appearanceis.tn{fed;in; his mouth in order ; • to ; prevent isuffocatipn. ..A\. very large ! number'-of tbbdies. y/.et ; e discpypred—iike • so met. of -ithosß' above referred, to -j- with :''-r:nfiHrly:/eie^ clothes- ? o^;theW,^d^j^ eyes, "^\swolieh ;.lipßusaSp^|b^ '•.i^witl^the :*3*Ba|(^api!|^S9y of , .their skins, ?■* *hadja%i^ehw^;e^^ni,ldae »l>ejb ql ders^ pit 7 ?f fate, |many; X^dH^^^^^^^^^^h'^^X.. -P/ ! their f" .slirhlis/fcajidlthe^m^ they f

'lay acrpss the jKissages .served to greatly ! iinpedef^th¥"progx2e f s?s"" : o'f the' explorers. ) The parry were -enablecf to get' so far' towai'ds shaft No.; : 3^as to see what aj terrible wreck had; been caused by thei explosion. Every conceivable descrip-' I -tion 7bf "pUint^—d6or- heads;; woodwork of all- kinds; gearing, : rails, 7 and waggons, had been blown ; to pieces, and so tightlyj jammed together near tha bottom' of tliis shaft that, from' the appearancewhich the debris presented*, the opinion was formed that some days would elapse, before a clearance could be effected in, order to get at the men who huve been killed on the south side of the shaft. SCENE -AT" THE PIT MOUTH. A large crowd of men, women and children, assembled* at the pit mouth waiting to receive the dead- as -they are being brought up" "the shaft; ' The stillness throughout that large crowd is al- , most' appalling'. Flere is a group of ten ) r oung women, every one of them bereaved since the morning, and though I settled sorrow is written ou every face, there is not a cry. One of them has her hands firmly clasped together and raised to her chin, while her eyes have a stony stare, but that is the most expressive form of griof that is to bo seen in the whole group., . A.l ittle way off two women are standing clasping each others hands and sobbing, l»nt the sound of the sobs- is the loudest plaint we hear from all this heavily stricken crowd. : Suddenly as if the pent up grief of t\v>. relatives of the unfortunate miners could not longer he subdued, and ns if a wild despsdr had conquered the. calmness and composure which had succeeded rhe excitement, of the previous hour, rh.i air was filled with ln:nentations. I'/lotbers, daughters, fathers,- sons, and wives joined in the heart-rending bewailings. The expectation that soon soma of the bodies ut least would be pr-s^uo-l to view, aud that some mouvniu:? rehsti'-'e? would at la-sc get hopss :nid il'ars alike set at rest by vie-.vifig the remains of their lov«d nn^* had op-'n-^ii afresh the overcharged Juices' of thdi* sorrow ; ap.d the pale, bright moon sl)or;e down on the huddled nias:*es ancl fpi-ckly h,7:te.uing listle companies of friends and companions in sorrow, whoso outburjts of anguish v-ould have r.udtod a h^urfc of stone. True was it, however, on tins occasion, that " men mast work nnd women must wait," and when four o'clock in the morning was reached, so many and earnest were <h& worker; tlmt. rhe most compile or jmv.tions 'possible in the circu'nstanc^s were m vie for thy rec;*ption of the b-xlins pt rhe tjlll.^s. "lie police con-tablos at. the ])it mouth' perform .id' tli.'-ir duty with lii'raaev-*, yet nor. h-ii* ;!m-3ss,. u-^ t\i i i-rov/ds pressed e-!g°rly forwar 1, d j >s:v..:us of gectiMg the earli-.'.st inrialligeiicn with.reriuvnct! to tiie bodies which were about, to ba sent U!>; and whan the sign;*.} was giyrtu rh:-;t a p.H'ty, whi?-.-? jirian^rng th'--. pit. so. in"- j ns;^ was th:: inr<'rjst iri-.r{-iifV i « , ;..^d s iri rhe op.-iiTiions, and with stio'i f-.iviie did the imm^n-se of p j ..);yl'-> pra-:s to : ,V'u'--l t!*3 -:i.ju r ; !i or the mz, rh.it, to prevent :'*:::l-'! <;•)!•;, it \v;*.s ibund aacc'Ssary to clc'av a con.-sid-'V.ible spaco of i>' round :dl rotnd the pit. W.hen t-iie first body readied tlie top it was plac-ad upon a woo "len stretch'^', covered with a clorh, and" carried cKr.*i to the suiiihy in connv-odo.'i wi'.h th;j cfslllery. Tho rou'';h bier on which lay the mangled remains of tha unfortunate miner waa surrounded by rhe multitude, many of whom in hysterical tones, demand-ad to see the body, and many \vvt.'e 1 1 1 -3 .■sc- i a:-i which sliuu-i-d how truly' it is that a tough breast, is ca;>abla of the waraie--;!; aad truest r.iTe-'jti-m. Ojih ]vw- wo'na*) in h';r srtron*? Rgony held on wirh a de-j'psrate <i*rip to the wood.^a s:re*eh:u* and shrieked iv rh--; onr* of the brr,u*srs, " Oh, let roe sf-.e if it's my Johnuy ; o's, I'm Siire it's Johnny," until so estrem:-;-was the ctwte of nf-rvous ex<.:iteme;it into which she w<r- fbrovvn that she had -to b< j . gently but firm!-' removed fr-mi the crowd. Anr.ihav i'n'^u^e of afF;-*ii*Ki was givan hy n young had, roughly -clad I and unrefined' >f couiiieaimfi, bar. who eluog to one of the b •urai-.i witli a tenacity as of clivoair, a^d who, wish tears and bitier X>x, cried aloud, " Oh,' tail me if i>'s mv fai-hav." Out it is noi. nt j ces«ary to dw.dl at- l-rs-rth on tho •p'linful scen-s which were Thara ooaoti'd at early umvn, only one co-.ild n**v.--r '■ fovg'-'t, after witnossing- rb.*>m. tfiat eyyu, in tha* case of tho vough-.vu, of uatus-e.s there lie^ a preeimis wtdl-sprioir of Xfection," though it should be -almost biddim out of sight until pome dread occasion makes it bvu-rft forth SCENES IN" THE 'VILLAGE. The village on Tuesday was full of strangers, mostly miners from all quarters ; but the eager interest of Monday was lacking in most of the countenance?, for everybody knew about as much as anybody, and active operations "were in the meantime stopped at both pits. ' Uut now the great blanks left in households by the fell swoop of the calamity can ba more correctly estimated. .Who but herself can have the slightest, idea of Mrs Laiig-'s case; whose husband, two sons, son-in-law, and half-brother were fdive yesterday morning, but are now dead? Down at -Lark field 'there is -one house from which the husband,- with . his four sons, and a lodger went out. yesterday morning strong ;and healthy, never to return. Conceive who can of this desolation that has cprae up.m this poor woman ! The ramifica- : .tions. of,. the ryisitatipn are. endless ; ypu cannot speak to a miner, scarcely,with- ; 'but discovering -that he'i.s /related Neither 'nearly t qr .distantly,^^tpTSome one who has 1 7been filled. . f I attach my self.to;a-gToup

of seven men w;ho, are "talking about; mining affairs in f general ;* J dhe. of them) goes, away . and i t is . remarked "ftf'tei*. he has gone that liis brother's bod)"*- has not been recovered yet. By-and-by it comes. out .thut another member of the group; has lost His brother and his nephews by the explosion. . 7 The ...brother, >t James Snedden, besides his. own-, two ,boys, : '. be had an orphan lad vvho' worked aiid lived with him -who. is-, killed- -also. But it is becoming swiftly apparent that the great, calamity is but "the beginning of wretchedness in many . . householils. Gilbert M' ln tyre, whose body .is still in the pit, .has left four chilren, " wee things." " They were always poor enough," is the remark which accompanies the information ; " but what they are to do now, God only knows." A m*.tn named. Oatnpbell, a widower, has ; been killed, along, with his .eldest boy ; | and, three, children, tlie -eldest a girl, have been left with no one to care for them. Jolm M'Farlane, the only breadwinner in his house, has been killed, leaving a widow and seven children, the eldest boy being only eleven years "of age. There are cases of many mouths to fill aod nothing to fill them with,. for. ( whom not only help but speedy help is needed. . Tt is stntad, and I only give if for" what it. may be. worth, that one of the three injured men who were brought out alivo last night was- visited by his .mother in the joiues's shop early this morning. Ho asked her if his two ' brothers and three brothers-in-law were home feb, and when sh« replied *■• No.' ho said, ■" Wen!, then, they're a' deed, rhey are a' lying beside me." One man, it seama to be well authenticated, was three difiarent times- on- the road to the nit on Monday morning, and so often had. to turn b ick in quest of something he had forgotten — his piece, his blasting .now der, or soma such thing, and on the last occasion it had grown so late that I ha staved in altogether, and so saved his life. Another man had two lodgers, '-vho-.u he was ia the habit of scolding < for being late in the morning. Angry at bring spoken to on Monday lust,' * they said they would not go out at all that morning, so they lay still iv bed I and saved tlr-ur lives. }■>' Some of the families in the village I have been almost completely swept ; away by the meiunoholyaccident. Thus j for instance, ten m.-m out of one family ■ have Inst tii'dr lives — namely, the father, j five sous, two brothers-in-law, and two j nephews, One poor woman has lost I her only two bread-winners — her liusj'hand and son, and in another family j five has been cut of? — in -fact, hardly a family out of the whole thren or four hundred which Stone-field coutains, re'invsanting a. population of between seven and fight .hundrwd, has escaped from bereavement' by the disaster. Many -rc*anvirkub!e. instances of useape from a lviost'melan'uholy fate are talked of in tliH 'villiigrf — of men who, for many w-'eks running, 'havo not missed a Monday's work iv thy pit; of one man who • was suddenly called into Glasgow to vide a -dying relative ; and of another who was dressed and ready to go to his work, when he became unwell, and took the ail vice of hi-? wife to stay at- home for the day. One melancholy case is that of a bay who went flown to the p.:t intending- to -ytay only a short time. j His father had made avrangeraents to leavrt the -district, or begin work at another colliery, and did not go out on Mo'-klny, but told his son to go down a. id fetch borne his tools. The unfortunate lad while on his way to th-* colli, vy iv the morning was heard to gaily itiforn 0. neighbor thnt 'he wouldn't stay long' in the pin that d,ay. - TSL.-^-it vis Fiioii ' r a:m quken. : ; X t-.-flf.gr 1 iii was received on Tuesday jby ?«Ir looro, il..'}/!., Inspector of Klines, from tiie Queen at Balmoral, I through Llajor-Generid Sir Thomas j Biddulph, asking for- full part-iouh-irs of . ; r.ha extent of the calamity, and inquir- \ ing if there v/aa any hojvo of 'rescuing i auv more of tha men. (lar Majesty, in 1 iier com-rn-nicarion alsoespvesnes heartj foi t symp:>tby with the suiffrers*. Mr I :\ioore, in the course of the day also : received a telegram from .Mr. Oros.s, ; Home Secretory, to the effact that he .1 waa much grit-wed to hear of the ex- : olo.Hiori, and desiring him to express his : kindly com-ern in the sufferers. j On Vv';-due.-;day the .following ad- ; diti-'uml telegr-*i ! u was received from her j "vi;;iesty : — " The Qaenn is anxious to . 1 hear whether any mora of tbe men have been saved, and inquired how the sufferers who have been rescued are going on." A suitable, reply was at once dispatched to Balmoral. THE HOMlilct OF THE BEREAVED. At some distance from the pit the, colliers' neat little cottages, or rather cabins stretch along- a goodly -space. A portion is called " Dixon's Row," and here, as a rule, the homes were neat and clean, and some displayed a great amount of -taste in the decorations, notably the homes of the young couples who had recently set up : housekeeping ou their own account.,. -The. substantial handsome, chest of brightly polished mahogany drawers— -the shining large lool;ing : glass to . match,-, tbe,:. d.raperied , ; wiiidows, the pretty ornaments, on ; mantel-piece and elsewhere .(marriage , gif ts), and the cosy, clean fireside/ look -.-.-. . ing so cheery and in 'vitihg,",just\as : w.hen s a day ago it welcomed home a blithe young "husband from his work. ";Oh' : U. . I canua, think my man..,>yill.never;cafHie hame to me mail"," 'cried a young. wife," • as the teai'SUSbowe^ » -*gjplijshpfao.e.; i - i -^6^r^;thin'g", she; was , a„ 1 j young widow. "Her husband,- who ? was'

'-: ! .":

amongst the :dead, was; ln/diis. . twenty-, . secpiid.yearn.a'nd^.slie/was-.gust; twenty] Her • blue- eyed ::baby laughing up to her from: its cradle'/ lent .the; finishing touch to the sorrowful picture. A step or'two farther on, ;a young wife, nineteen years of. age, sat' weeping for" lier : husband. Her fatherless;, baby- "-lay at , -.her breast calmly sleeping 1 . Besides her husband she had lost her' brother, hei?. father, her. uncle,- and cousin! " Jist two days ago we were a happy family ;■■ an', noo" -But -breaking,, down, she could say nothing more, but .sobbed as if her heart was : breaking.' H :T.wo. "young' wives, sisters, .were in. the next house. Tbey had lost their husbands both. ' One, the younger, -sat at - the.'- fireside in her husband's chair crying' silently. She could hot speak. "" "Theirs is a heavy stroke,"; said : U neighbour^ looking from, one sister to .'the. other, " They are mourning for fou*- who are killed, husband, father, brother, and brother-in-law." It was pitful. t-0 see. the different phases of grief in those desolate dwellings— some, liice poor Annie B— - — , seemed utterly overpowered with grief;* some seemed dazed and terror-stricken ; some wero frantic in their, anguish. One woman, who had been -told that her husband would have got out alive if he hadn't tried to. save his little son, seemed be -lid c herself with grief. With heart rendering sobs she besought God that her husband and her two sons might be got out of the pit, that she might look upon them once more ere they were buried. It was heartrendering to hear her bitter cry, " Ob, my dear man — and mv sons — it is a long day since you left hame." Her neighbour had lost four sous. "Oh ! I am desolate," she moaned. " Tbey are v' caen frae vne~— t.hev will never come bame to me.'' Her husband, a miner, was killed four years ago at Waterloo (o vertown). Her daughter-in-law, who had.' buried her only two children six months. ago, sat trying to crush down-.the-sobs'for the mother's sake, but grief o'ermasterecl her, and . the cry' broke. i from her wrung heart — v Oh ! mv man he was a' the world to me." Tn the next hour,°, four little fatherless children stood around their sorrowing mother awe-stricken and silent. The-youngest; a mere baby, had dropped asleep rm- , heeded," and lay cuddled up tuniiing in happy dreams. The difference of a large family dependent upon one breadwinner told in the humble look of the household ; but the blacker prospect of poverty that the sad disaster of Monday had brought to the door did not seem to be thought of in the supreme moment of suffering, ".Oh, my man — my darling !" were the only words that the full heart could utter. The next mourner was a girl of sixteen. Her father and her brother were killed, and were her all. She was sitting in the house alone, sobbing loudly. You could see it had hpi-m a happy home, in which the youthful. housekespHr had delighted to •show hor taste and g»od management, ' everything was so neat and clean aud oarefhlly k-vpt. If, was hardly possible to realise that the grip of poverty had been felt there; vet so it turned out. Jennie's father had been iii, and had nor been able to work since xh», New Year until a few weeks ago, and bar brother had been laid a -si -de as well for nineteen weeks, and had just begun his work. Father and son were steady and well doing, and Jeanie was looking forward Ito better days, She was a prudent, manager, and had helped '.- them •to weather through hard times. But, alas ! ali was changed now, ' " I am waiting for them," sobbed the, poor lassi'i. looking towards the window through blinding' tears ; :c they are coming back, but it's .long to wait."-- (She meant the bodies were to be brought back.) In every bouse there seemed to-be a hungry longing for the dead to" be .brought horne — "Jist to kon where. they will be laid that wo may gang* to the irviWaA was the explanation ; and. the fear that husband, or brother, "or - father, or son, would not be " gotten frae the pit," intensified the anguish of the bereaved as it came up like, a nightmare., In another house two were, wailed for, : fa ther and .son. The boy, a bright little fellow, had gone off with his father in high- spirits on -that fatal morning, ami da is -mother' sat, thehnage of mute despair, • brooding over her double lo?s with that dry-eyed sorrow .that i«*' so "painful-' to -witness. Her. beautiful expressive face looked, like breathing marble, * and a glance , at it told that her heart was broken.' Passing on, another sad picture presented itself. A woman sat weepingfor her husband and three sons — -all of whom, had left her hearty and well in the early morning ; and a touching in--cident was connected with this family.One of the. sons had " listed," and was home on furlough. Tired of being* a soldier, he,., was trying to : get m orie v ' raised by his friends to buy him off, and to help,' he bad- gone to work in the pit' .along; with .his father and brothers'; "but he-wenVto meet -his' death,'' said his mother with a quivering 1ip,.." find r.h.nt iq all that js of him," she added,. ' pointing to the soldier's . coat' "that was lying as. he "had -flung it bfT before goinrto his" work, '"'Tn 'the" next' -.'hopse, -the, ■ . family. Jiad -.come -from f Bnglapd.: just, a fortnight, ago, and ' the two-bovs^that bad -been^thV ! ;fJrlda , '''-q'f; r theii*-^Ei)glish". . ;hQme.;vha;d-V.'.j^Qr|sh.e v d r{ ,^ith jtbeiiv new . comrades. y'" See," cried the distracted'"' ' mother," f fainng : 'uj^'.a'. cl'aribhe't ' andga - brassjinistru mept, ?AssXslly that's left , ; us " ; They, ; vvere;;^a;ndsmen, and; first- ' rafe%usii;i^

"a few-6f the" ; histories. the? explosion hasleft ; t-o te11 .;.. but, fWith ope. niore, I shall close the dreary detail. It was the last ' house visited. .They had lost five. The little group ;of * mourners." comprised mother, daughter, -and two younger children,; one a, bonnie boy of four summers. Bella (their sister) could not control her " grief/ but '-burst into tears 1 again whenever she recovered from the stupor that long watching had produced. Her- mother, seemed as if she had no more tears to shed, but her voice shook as she counted' over her lost ones! " Five taeh", awa-— my husband, my son, my daughter's' husband., my brother, and my wee nephew." " It's like a dream," she. said. "My. quid dear man. left me hearty and weel in the morning,' and I tied his cravat round bis neck ere he gaed awa. , He had worked forty-seven years in a pit, and" never had a' mishap. >■ But," she added, lifting her sorrowful white face and looking upwards with calm fortitude, " f know that Godcloes all things well. I will hae tae daunner alane, but it canna be for lang ; and we will meet again in Heaven." It was thus she tried to bear her sore trial, with a simple dignity that bespoke the humble Christian ; but how deeply she felt the stroke was too plainly told in the quivering features. and exhausted frame. No thought of the loss, of the breadwinners seemed to strike the mourners — it was only that tbey were bereft of the beloved ones who were dear to their heart. " What would poverty be, if we only had them back to us in life?" Again and again was that repeated. What though there was not bite or sup, if the loved and lost were rthere.