A CATASTROPHE THAT THRILLED

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 72, 14 March 1908, Page 4

A CATASTROPHE THAT THRILLED

STUIiV OF THE GREAT HARTLEY COLLIERY DISASTER,

Uic recent terrible explosion at, Dan' I .Mine, near Pittsburg, which resulted in the death of :il)0 men, furnishes yet another poignant illustration of the iielplcssiu'ss of modern man and science in protecting miners against the dangers of underground gases. Forty-six years ago Great Uritain was plunged into mourning by the awful Hartley Colliery disaster, and in that catastrophe, as in llie case of the Darr Mine explosion, the men who were not killed outright by llie shock were entombed and poisoned to death by the merciless after-damp. No day ever dawned more peacefully over the mining districts of Northumberland, with their busy hives of breadwinners, than that, of January lOtli, 18()2; and few have ever closed on such a scene of desolation and sorrow as made this winter day the blackest iu all the calendar for the North Country. Deep down iu the galleries of the Hartley Colliery, not many miles front .\ewcaslle-on-Tyue. some hundreds of miners had been toiling through the long night, and the hour had come when they could throw down picks and spades and return for a brief spell to the upper air and to the company of their wives ami 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 1 of fate fell, swift and ruthless.

.The huge iron beam of the pumpingengine, projecting over the shaft up which the doomed men were riding, snapped in two, and its twenty tons of iron plunged crashing down the shaft, ripping oil", 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 aseendin'« iron cage with the swiftness of a shell, striking two of the men with instant death, while their companions were buried under a mountain of broken plunks 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.

Mews of the catastrophe llcw swiftly, as ill news always does, over the coun-try-side; and from hundreds of homes women and cliildren lloeked pale-faced to the pit-mouth. From all the neighbouring collieries the men thronged, eager to. help their buried comrades, until the entrance to the pit was surrounded by a dense and awe-struck crowd, who scarcely knew what had happened; they only knew that the lives of those who were dear to them were in great jeopardy. There were hundreds of willing hands and stout hearts in .the 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 work 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. lint it was slow work—tragically slow—although they toiled and sweated 1 as thev had never toiled before, their

Having strength spurred to fresh vigor by hearing the signals of their comrades. Day and night tliey worked, furiously, 'frantically; hut the fallen mass of timVr was so deep and closelywedged thai they could, with nil their efforts, make small impression 011 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 heroicly to comfort each other. And the third day the signals censed. Was it possible) that the entombed miners were deadpoisoned. perhaps, by the deadly gases or drowned by the inrush of water, for the water was known to be pouring in the workings at the rate of 1)0,000 gallons per hour, and a poisonous "stythe" had begun to accumulate, in which it was impossible to live long. 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 last a way was driven through the mountain of debris, and it was possible to explore the pit. Then the full horrors of the disaster stood 1 revealed. Three pitmen made their way through the obstruction, and lmd gone but a few steps into the yard scam by the engine drift when their eyes fell oil the ghastly spectacle, of dead men, huddled together at the? furnace—men who had evidently died ill agony.

Whcruver they went through the

works a similar spectacle met their eyes—everywhere, dead men and boysfamilies lying together as if for mutual comfort and warmth; fathers with their arms, cold in death, clasping their boys; brothers locked in a farewell erabrace; and nearly all—with the exception of men who had died hard at the furnace—as peaceful and placid as if in slumber. The corn-bins luid been emptied, and some of the miners had a little com in their pockets. It was not hunger that had killed them; it was the poisonous fumes which none could breathe and live. And of all the men who had gone down to their work a week earlier full of life, only three of those in tlxe ascending cage survived to tell the story of their experiences. One of these men,' Thomas Watson, told how, while hanging to the shattered cage, he had heard his comrade Sharp praying while buried under the heap of debris below; and 1 how lie had made his way down to him and had prayed with the poor fellow until he expired. Amos, the "overman," and' one of his deputies, called Tennant, an old Australian goldminer, laid made a gallant attempt to rescue their comrades. They had struggled up 1 through the furnace-drift after the accident, and bud hacked and hewn at I lie obstruction in the shaft until

the Sunday afternoon, when a fall of stoue drove them away and made their task hopeless. They were found lying in. death, side by side, at the post of duty. By the side of many a dead man was found a Hash or box on which some Touching farewell message to his dear ones had been scratched in the last despairing moments of life, During the long days and nights, when death had stared them in the face, the men had spent the hours in singing and praying and mutual encouragement. A book which was found on the body of one man contained this • touching entry: ■"Friday afternoon (17). half past two o'clock. Kdwavd Armstrong, Thomas

Oicdson, John ITardie, Thomas Hell, and others took extremely ill. .We had aNo a prayer meeting at u quarter to two. when Tibbs. I). Sharp. J. Campbell. If. (libson, and William Palmer . . . .

(here the sentence stopped). Tibbs exhorted to us again and Sharp also." At the time of this touching entry the men had been Im'Vied barely twenty-eight 1 hours.

No pen can picture the painfulness ot the scene when the bodies of the unfortunate men were brought to the surface and placed in its coffin with a hinged lid which could be raised so that the relatives might take a last look al the features of the beloved dead. "Almost every cottage had its coffin." says Mr. Thomas Archer; "some two. one five; and one poor women had lo<t a husband, five sons, and a bov whom -he had brought up and educated." The following 'Sunday most of them were laid to rest at Kasiou Church, in a piece of ground given by the Duke of "Northumberland. The scene was so-

leum and deeply touching th" v-ln-lives followed the coffins to th'- v-ives. ! singing the hymn commencing. "'0 0-»d. Our Help in Ages Past." Over 'h- 1 whole of "England—and. indeed, over the whole civilised world —a wave of deep emotion passed, and no one was more profoundly affected than Queen Victoria, then in the depths of her own great grief at the loss of her husband.

This caiastronhe. one of the saddest ! in the tragic chapter of mining disasters. robbed 103 widows of their husbands and made 257 children fatherless while the lof al number of persons who-e bread-winners it removed w.i« -M7 So <jTC'itlv. however, was the heart of hnntanilv touched thai the rnovmous son of GSI.OOO was raised for their relief. thj' London Stock Exchange alone subscribing CI 000 in a single da v.