Terrible Colliery Explosion.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 164, 31 December 1872, Page 3

Terrible Colliery Explosion.

A shocking catastrophe occurred on October 7th, at Morley, a place, half village i half-town, situated midway between Dewsbury and Leeds, and containing a large! population of colliers. The largest among the colliery-works is that of Messrs W. | Ackroyd and Brothers, who employ nearly •400 men and hoys. On Monday afternoon, between half-past three and four o'clock, an explosion occuired in one of their three mains calhd the Deep ] it, and iu which about 150 men and boys were employed, in a part of the working which extends in a northerly direction beneath | the town, and in this portion of the colliery there were about forty-five persons at work. When the news became known, people thronged in thousands to the scene, and among them wera many hundreds who had friends and relatives below ground. Their agony was painful to witness. No time was lost in organising a body of volunteers to descend and explore the mine, but the operation of these brave j fellows was retarded very much by the • presence of the fatal after-damp. The ex- . citement at the mouth of the pit was in-1 teuse when, the party of explorers having 1 descended, the cage was sent up with the I first man, George Barrowclough, who was only slightly burnt. After a short interval, George Preston, of Gildersonie reached the bank in a very critical state. Just as he was removed, the cage brought up the body of a boy, Thomas Broad bent, of Morley, who, besides having his skull smashed, was terribly burnt and cut, it is supposed by being dashed against the <o 1 through the force of the explosion. When the exploring party came up for relief at six o'clock, they gave a fearful account of the sight which had met their gaze underground. The work of recovering the dead had subsequently to be carried on very slowly, owing to the presence of fir -d; ror> in the pit, and to the fact that a {.real deal of material had also to be sent town for the purpose of erecting temporary means of securing ventilation. .As rapidly as possible, however, the work progressed, one of the explorers stating that at one. spot he stepped over no less than thirteen dead bodies. Several of the men who were brought up were in a state of parti 1 i' - sensibility from the choke-damp, but after

restoratives had been applied were able to communicate particulars of the accident. One of them, named Levy Hurgreaves, states that in his drift nineteen men were employed, six or seven of whom were dead. As the bodies were recovered, they were removed to a. large room in the Royal Hotel. The explosion has lieen more disastrous than was at first anticipated. It seems that thirty four deaths have aheady resulted from the accident.