CATASTROPHES THAT THRILLED THE WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2134, 7 March 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

CATASTROPHES THAT THRILLED THE WORLD.

STORY OF THE GREAT HARTLEY COLLIERY DISASTER.

OYER TWO HUNDRED MEN POISONED BY FOUL AIR.

OLD INC A PRAYER MEETING WHEN THEY FACED DEATH.

The recent terrible explosion at Darr Mine, near Pittsburg, which has resulted in the dcatli of 300 men, furnishes yet another poignant illustration of the helplessness of modern man and science in protecting miners against- tlie dangers of underground gases. Forty-six years ago Great Britain was plunged into mourning by tho awful Hartley Colliery disaster, and in that catastrophe, as in tho case of the Darr Mine explosion, tlie'men. who acre not killed outright by the shock wore entombed and poisoned to death by the merciless after-damp.

THAT FATAL DAY IN JANUARY. No day ever dawned more peacefully over- the mining districts of Northumberland, with their busy hives of bread-winners, than that of January 16th, 1862; and few have ever closed on such a scene of desolation and sorrow as made this winter day the blackest in all the calendar for the North Country. Deep down in the galleries of the Hartley Colliery, not- many miles from Newcastle-on-Tyne, some hundreds of miners hul been toiling through tlie long night, and the hour had eemc when they could throw down picks aud spades and return for a brief spell to' the upper air and to the com-

pany of their wives and children. Two sets of men had already reached the bank, and. the third shift had been hauled half-way up the shaft-, impatient to escape to the warm shelter of their homes, when . the stroke of fate fell, swift and ruthless. A CRASH OF TWENTY TONS OF IRON.

The huge iron beam of the pump-ing-engine, projecting over the shaft up which the doomed men were i filing. snapped in two, and its twenty tons of iron plunged crashing down the shaft, ripping off, in its resistless downward rush, scores of tons of timber and woodwork and carrying them to the bottom of the pit in an overwhelming cataclysm. The beam dashed through the ascending iron cage with tho swiftness of a shell, striking two of the men with instant- death, while their companions were buried under a mountain of broken planks and beams. So terrible was the avalanche that- the shaft was completely blocked, and the hundreds of men still in the pit were almost as effectually buried as if' the entire shaft had fallen in. HELP FOR THE BURIED COLLIERS. News of the catastrophe flew swiftly, as ill news always does, over the country-side; -and from hundreds homes women -and children flocked pale-faced to the pit mouth. From all .the neighboring collieries, the .men thronged, eager to help their buried comrades, until the entrance to the pit, was surrounded by a donse and awe-struck crowd, "'ho- scarcely knew what had happened; they only know that- the lives of those who were dear to them were in great jeopardy. There were hundreds of willing hands and stout hearts in tlie crowd; but, alas! there was no chance of enlisting them in the work of rescue. There was only room for two men at a time to work at the stupendous task of removing the obstruction ; and two gallant fellows; replaced at short intervals by others, worked in the narrow space with frenzied energy at clearing a way to the imprisoned men. WORKING HARD NIGHT AND DAY. But it was slow work—tragically slow —although they toiled and sweated as they had never toiled before, their flagging strength spurred to fresh vigor by hearing the signals of their comrades. Day and night they worked, furiously, frantically; but tlie fallen mass of timber was so deep and closely-wedged tint- they could, with all their efforts, make small impression on it. Meanwhile, at .the pit’s mouth, hundreds of sorrow-stricken women and children were waiting through the cold days and the dark and colder nights. ' They refused to go home so long as hope remained, and strove heroically to comfort each other. After the third day the signals ceased. Was it possible that the entombed miners were dead —poisoned, perhaps, by deadly gases or drowned by tlie inrush of water, for the water was known to he pouring into the workings at the rate of 90,000 gallons an hour, and a poisonous “stythe”■ lmd begun to accumulate, in which it- was impossible, to live long. THE RESCUERS ' ALMOST POISONED.

Even the rescuers were overcome by its deadly breath, and had to leave their work until a ventilating apparatus could be arranged. For seven days and seven nights the heroic work went on; and at lard a way was driven through the mountain of debris, and it was possible to explore the pit. Then the full horrors of the disasterstood revealed. Three pitmen made their way through the obstruction and had gone hut a few steps into the yard-seam by the engine-drii t when their eyes fell oil the ghastly spectacle of dead men huddled together at the furnace —men who had evidently died in agony. HORRORS OF THE DISASTER. ■Wherever they went through the works a similar spectacle met their eves —everywhere, dead men and boys —families lying together as if For mutual comfort and warmth; fathers with their arms, cold in death, clasping their boys; brothers locked m a farewell embrace; and nearly all—with the execution of the men who had died bard at the furnace—as peaceful and placid as if in si umbel The corn-bins had ail been emptied, aiul some of the miners had a little corn in their pockets. It was not hunger that had killed them; it was the poisonous fumes which none could breath and live. And of all the men who bad gone down to their worn a week earlier full flf life, only three of those in the ascending cage survived to tell the story of their exT VLES TOLD BY THE SURVIVORS One of these men. Thomas M atson, told how, while hanging to the shattered ca>'e, ho had heard his comrade Sharp° praying while buried under the heap of debris below; and bow lie had made his way down tfl |-f m a ' u : had prayed with the poor fellow until he expired. Amos, the “overman, and one of his deputies called lenInant. an old Australian gold-miner, Fad made a gallant attempt to iesS their comrades. They had struggle* un through the ' iurnaee-ilnlf after the accident, and had hacked i and hewn at the obstruction m the : shaft until tbe Sunday afternoon, when i fall of stone drove them away i and made their task hopeless, they were found lying in death, side by m'de. at the post of duty _ FACE to FACE WITH D3i,£TIT. Bv the side of many a dead man was' found a flask or box on which some touching farewell message to bis dear ones had been scratched 1 n

During tho long days and nights, when death had .stared them in tho face, t-lio men had spout the hours in singing and praying and mutual encouragement-. A hook which was found oil t-lio body of ono man contained this touching entry: “Friday afternoon (17), half-past two o'clock. Edward Armstrong, Thomas Gledson, John Hardio, Thomas Bell, and others took extremely ill. AVo had also a prayer-meeting at a quarter to two, alien Tibbs, H. Sharp, J. Campbell, H. Gibson, and William Palmer ..... (hero the sentence stopped). Tibbs exhorted to us again and Sharp also.” At tho time of this entry the men had been buried barely twenty-eight hours. 'FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE AT THE PIT MOUTH.

No pon can picture tho paiiifulnoes of tho scono whon the bodies of theso unfortunate men wore at last brought to the bank. Five thousand people were densely clustered around the pitmoutli, on which nil eyes woro focused —many of thorn pitifully weary with seven, days’ weeping and watching. Tho silence of these white-fac-ed thousands was broken only by tho quiet sobbing of women and children, by ! tilled groans or hysterical cries as .onie well-known face was eeen slowly omorging from tho dark oliasm. But for tho most part griof had spoilt itself, laud 'had given place to the mute resignation of despair. As it was impossible to lower the cage in tho dismantled shaft tho bodies woro raise d in slings passed 'under tho -armpits, and as each body came to tho surface it was -tondorly wishing, wrapped in a shoot, -and placed in a coffin, on which tho name of tho dead man was chalked. Tho coffin was then wheeled away and given into tho keeping of relatives or friends who stood waiting outside the barrier. MANY A POOR COTTAGE MADE DESOLATE. Thus the pitiful work wont on, until the last body had been brought to tlie surface and placed in its coffin with a- hinged lid which could bo raised so that relatives might take a last look at the features of tho beloved dead. “Almost every cottage -had its coffin,” says Mr Thomas Archer; “some two, one five; and one poor woman had lost a husband, five sons, «incl a boy whom she had brought up and educated.” \ TENDER MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN. The following Sunday most of them wore laid to rest at Easton Church in a piece ot ground given by the Duke or Northumberland. The scono was solemn and deeply touching as tlie -relatives followed the coffins to the grtves. singing the hymn commencing, “0 God, Our Help in Ages Past.” Over the whole of England.— and, indeed, over the whole civilised world —a wave of deep emotion and sympathy passed, and no one was more nrof-ouniliv affected that Queen Victoria, then in the depths of her own grief at the loss of her husband. Xu a singularly beautiful and touching lctt-.r slid coinmuiiicatcd her sorrow and her sympathy to the bereaved ones. “The ’Queen,” her letter ran, “in the midst of her own overwhelming grief, has taken the deepest interest iii the mournful accident at Hartley .and up to the last had hoped that at leist a considerable number of the poor people might have been recovered alive. Tlie appalling ne\\s lias affected the Queen very much; Her Mahsiv commands me to say that her" tciidcrest sympathy is with the poor widows and mothers, ami that "her own misery only makes her feel the more for them.” This catastrophe, one oi the saddest- in the tragic chapter of mining disasters, robbed 103 widows ot their husbands and made 257 children fatherless, while the total number ot persons whose bread-winners it removed was 407. So greatly, however, was the heart of humanity touched that the enormous sum of £Bl,000 was raised for their relief, the London Stock Exchange alone subscribing £I,OOO in a single day.