TERRIBLE RAILWAY CATASTROPHE.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 786, 30 June 1877, Page 5 (Supplement)

TERRIBLE RAILWAY CATASTROPHE.

Brett's " Hastings Gazette" gives a full account of an awful Colliery accident which occurred on April 18th, 'from which we condense the followiing : On Wednesday eveiiii-r i<i last weak a.tTroedyrhiw Colliery, sutuuleu ia the greater Rhonda Valley, and at. tha entrance into Lhcj Forndalo Valley the scene of a terrible explosion some years a«-o a voar of vusliini; water was heard. Many men succeeded m making their escape to the surface, but it was soon dis-cover.-d that 14 men and boys were missing. There were plenty of brave volunteers forthcoming, «»' ( l man V descended the shaft, which is 92 yards deep, and entered the workings. They quickly discovered that all tiie workings within a few hundred yards of the I) ottioni of the shaft were iilled; with water tojthe^M, and no hope -was entertained that any one would be discover ed alive. While the explorers were consulting what -should be done, faint knocking* . . „, we ...heard on the | other side of the coal, at a distance j it was conjectured of a dozen yards. No sooner was" this heard than a score of men threw off their jackets, and with mandrils commenced cutting through the solid mass. The imprisoned did likewise. Relays of men worked with great energy throughout the night, and about four o'clock on Thursday morning they readied within speaking distance of each other. The imprisoned men were greatly excited, saying that the rising water was gradually approaching them. It came out that there were five firemen and a boy. About six o'clock m the morning a mandril struck through. The next moment aterrific explosion, as that of a cannon, = occurred, but no* of gas, aud one man was terribly cut about the face. A few minutes later, on approaching the hole made, it was discovered that a man named Morgan hail been jammed iv the hole, ana. that he was dead The. inundation had been so sudden as to imprison the akin the inner . working^,, and the force v x)f this had kept back the water from the; .five men. : The moment a ■ small hole was made by Morgan s mandrill this volume of imprisoned ; air escaped. Between eight and nine o'cl6ck Morgans dead body was brought to the surface. On Thursday afternoon, Mi" Galloway and the officers' 'of •theTroertyrlmv and other collieries, after ..penetrating as. far aspossible into the colliery, heard knocfcings ahead of them. Some of the men left m the colliery, therefore, Ayere still alive at that hour, but there "wot half-a-inile of water from the nearest point, reached, aud where they were imprispued, and owing to a deep bas'iu intervening,' filled with 'water to the roof, it was feared that they could not be reached for some days. The most intense, excitement prevailed. ,'.. •■ .. On Friday,the knocking? wore still heard, but the roadway from the shaft to the place wheretheimprisoiiedmenwerewasfilledwitll water for 300 yards m length, and up to the roof. Pumping" was 1 carried on incessantly during Friday/ and m the evening,: a pump, capable .of ejecting 13,000, gallons, of water per hour was.' laid on. Hundreds of men and women congregated about, the mouth of the pit, and terrible anxiety prevailed. On Sunday morning the knocking^ of the imprisoned; men were still heard. Two divers penetrated 500 feeE into thy? drift and got wifchiu 27 feet of the men, but were stopped by floating timber. At 3.30 p.m. on. this day the kilockings were again 'heard. -The; ; pumping was very successful On'thia day.;!'The exploring party could hear the clink of the tools of the entombed men, and feared lest they should cut out into the water, and be drowned by the inrush of the Hood. On Monday the knockings continued. In the evening, the rescue party heard a terrific roar like that of the roughest sea dashing against. a rocky beach. They immediately took to their heels along the ■way they ' had come, and, cutting up a narrow windway, the torrent dashed by along the roadway, they had left and, m the direction of the five men. They were covered with water for a few moments, but they soon made their way along the narrow windway and into another heading leading to the bottom of the incline, intending to make their escape through a small, opening one of them remembered, far up m the side of the iucline. They had not proceeded far when they heard another torrent coming to meet them. They all escaped .from this into another windway. The roar about them was fearful. All then knelt and prayed. Suddenly they saw that the water 1 stopped advancing, and : they '.-, conclriddd that their prayers had been answered. The , explorer's got the water suiliciently under this afternoon to enable 16 picked men to commence cutting- from the centre. heading, the 38 yards intervening between ,it and the front of Morgan's stall m; which the men are confined." On:' Tuesday relays of men were engaged^ cutting through the intervening groundi The water was being reduced at the rate of 20,000 gallons per hour. Operations were energetically pushed 'forward, and. the men were rescued. ' T}he following is the NARRATIVE OF ONE OF THE EXPLORERS, ABRAHAM TQ£D. " Up to about half-past eleven on'iFriday morning we had been working, with the gas flaring about m our ipayy lamps, and at intervals it had interfered with our work. We could hear the men inside calling out to us as plainly as could be, "We don't want any, food."' They said, " Cut us out as soon as you can. Never, mind about trying ; to /put food through."' They called out to lis frequently, saying " Keep to the left, keep to the left." About. ©ne o'clockl should think it was, when we drove the hole through, though I did not think much about thcitiine,. for we had not', much time to bother. about that. All along we could hear George Jenkins calling to us, " Take plenty of time, and be careful." Isaac Pride, one of our party, tried to get through the hole after that, but Pride is a bigger man than I am, and he could not get m, so he turned round, and said to me, "you are smaller than I am, a little bit — you can go m." And so \ went m. I called out, "George, George, I am coming to you." " All right," he replied, "go on, my dear ; I have given you up this longtime." And I jumped through, caught him m my arms, and he caught me round the neck aud kissed me. Then Moses Powell came up to me almost at the same time. I had gone through m tde dark and he squeezed me as well. As soon as I could, I asked. them where I could turn the coal. I asked thfcnV what side they were standing en, so George Jenkins said to me, " If you keep on going at the righthand side from me it will be better." Everything we had been doing till we could hear from them had been to the left. The .i I asked Moses Powell and Jenkins where were the other men, and how they felt, and if they were m n more exhansted stato than himself. Thoy tolcl me the y were' farther back inside, lying down. -I could not see them. Groping for them, I felt them, and I caught hold of j)avid Jenkins arid John Thomas at the same time.- — John -Thomas .was leaning with his head against the coal, and I caught him dnd put him on my knee. Then Gwilyn Thomas met them coming out at the hole. So the men were passed out to Gwilyn Thomas, and I got back through the hole— for I myself was very weak, having been working there many hours. Pride handed them to Mr Thomas. They were put on the stretchers which had beer) brought up right close to the hole. Then they were carried out. I carried out the last man to the level heading. NARRATIVES OF THE SURVIVORS. " We burnt the candles two at a time as long as they lasted, and some of us ate bits of them. I tasted one, sir, but I did not

like.lt. We got water to drink m tlu heading." He had evidently expected tc see his father among the rescuing party, foi the moment ho Avas conveyed to the lighi hq looked around upon the dusky and I sympathetic faces about him, and asked, j." Where is father?" He was told that he j had not come. Alas, the poor lad's fathoi I w;is undor water m the dark pit. George Jenkins, the stronger of the two, supplied j the following :—" We were drilling a hole j m tlie rock for the purpose of blasting. .Moses said, ' C.ome on ; it is only the No. 8 door open and the air escaping along the ' heading;' _ Wo then heard another rush, j- with peculiar sounds m our ears. David j Jenkins called out, M,ads, something has I -happened.' All live .of us ran up the heaaing m the. direction of the door on Thomas Morgan's stall: Before we had got more than half way we found fwater- meeting us and reaching to our knees. The lad was about falling— sthe water being too strong for him, when he called out, ' Catch hold of me, George ! T 'can't come.' Moses and I took him by the hand, and pulled him along. We 'were getting deeper m the water, until it was up to our throats, when the little boy called out, ' Oh, dear, George, I cannot hold on any longer. Catch hold of me, will you !' I too hold of him with one arm, and with the other guided my way after Moses. We, however, soon found it was of no use advancing farther, for the water was up to the top. It was coming m great Avaves, just as you have seen the tide rolling m. We at last to our great joy, discovered the sea had ceased advancing. We were then feeling very cold. We had left our jackets behind us. We went into the tram and huddled together, so as to gain warmth. We had not been there long, when we heard the roof cracking and roaring, as if about to fall oh our heads.' , We jumped up and pushed back the tram a distance of lo yards. Ou next going to look at the mark on the wall Aye found that the Avater had receded a little, and you can imagine our joy. Moses took off his clothes and entered the water, aud avo lost sight of him. He returned after some time, and said that the water Avas just like the sea everywhere. Soon after this our stock of candles' became exhausted, and v/e were m the dark. We slept occasionally. I nursed the little boy nearly the Avhole of the time. He now and then cried ; at other times lie would sing Moody and Sankcy's hymns m 'Welsh, ' V niae gwlad sydd ! yn harddach na'r haule,' &c. We could occasionally hear distant thumping. At last Aye could hear the click, click, click of mandrils. Our joy then was- iudescribable.. After a bit avc heard Masting. We frequently shouted to those coming to meet us, and at last Aye Avere heard. When , ths drill came near through the coal there was a tremendous rush , . of wind, and we heard the. Avater coming. We shouted, "Shut the hole," as loud as 'we could. This Avas done, but it Avas opened again, and something pushed through which! 'did my best to push back, because the water was rapidly advancing upon us. I 'little thought that it Avas food I Avas pushingback. Other holes •■ were, -made, ,a,nd Aye shouted, but, not a, word, could be heard, owing to- the, roar of the air escaping through the holes. . The Avater came against the face of the coal, and Aye crouched m it m a' space of about 27 iiiches above water. We could hear busy working on the othor side. At last Sve got out of the Avater by climbing to a ledge above the roadAvay. Mr James Thomas, the manager, called out to Us that Aye should Tbe out soon, and that we should have food m a short time, but Aye were m for a few hours after that. Ihe last thing I asked Mr James Thomas was if they had food or anything to take ready for us when we came out of the watev.- " Yes my dear boy," lie said, " sufficient for you." They were then trying to push through some ttibes Avith food m them, but we had no food until Aye came out on to the level. We could hear a loud roaring uoise caused by the air as they bored the hole through, so I plugged the hole up Avith tAvo of our japs and some coal. We were afraid, and ire did not know then it Avas food being passed through. I was afraid of the hole being opened, because the hole Avas draAV[ng m the air, and so alloAving the Avater to jome up to me. I Avas very much afraid of ;hat. We Avere Aery glad Avhen -Happy focld (Abraham Todd) came m to tis." A.WFUL DEATH, AND RECOVERY OF MISSING BODIES. Late on. Saturday night the explorers were ible to penetrate from one of the headings above into a heading below, under water, m Avhich it was known Edward Williams, the father of seven young children, and a lad named Robert Rogers, 'were :■ working ; oft the day of the accilent, and from Avhich no knockings had been heard. When the face of this heading was reached from above, it was discovered; that the water had receded along the roadway. .On descending from between the rocks 'above, to where the tram stood, placed there to be filled with coal, the first object that met the gaze of the explorers by the aid of the 1 flickering light of the Davy lamp Avhich one of the party carried was an immense stone nearly a yard m thickness lying upon the tram. On looking under it betsveen the front of the tram and the standing coal, a man's legs were seen hanging over. The body was discovered to be that of Edward Williams. Lying on the ground m a narrow space between the tram ami the side of the stall Avas found the body of the lad, with a stone on the lower portion, of his legs. It was found that the man had been crushed m a horrible manner, and that the lad had died from suffocation. ■ On Monday the bodies were buried at the Glya Rhondda Church. There was a procession of about 2,000 nien and women. After tame plaintive singing the biers were lifted on men's shoulders and the procession moved clown the A'alley towards the church, hymns being sung at intervals during the whole journey. When near the fatal shaft, which is about ioo yards from the cottages, the leader gave out the hymn , "In the deep and mighty waters," which was sung by the five men firs! liberated on the night Avhen the waters Avere gathering about them' m the mine. The coffins Were laid m two graves parallell with .' each other. When this had been done the throng quietly separated. THE QUEEN'S ANXIETY.' , The story of the entombment of the miners aroused the Avhole heart of England. ' Prayers Avere offered up m all the churches. Her Majesty the Queen sent several telegrams through the Home Secretary, and a thrill of joy passed through the House of Commons when the safety of the men was announced. The poor fellow* were extremely gratified when .they learned that the Queen had taken an intrest m their fate. ' ' We little thought, " said one of them to me m Welsh, "when we were m our prison below, that the Queen of Eno-land was interesting herself m our behalf." They requested Miss Jenner to send a telegram to Her Majesty, expressing their gratitude for the interestevinced m the fate of her Welsh colliers. The message," which was subsequently sent, was translated by Miss Jenner, and was couched m the same terms as delivered by the sufferers. Collections Avere made for the relief of the sufferers, and to reward the gallant rescuers Thanks giving services Avere held. Several artists for the illustrated papers Avaited upon the survivors, but Avere informed that the men wished, first to have their likenesses m their colliers dress sent to the Queen. The Queen Avas graciously pleased to express Her Majesty's desire that the Albert Medal hitherto only bestoAved for gallantry m saving life at sea, shall be extended to similar actions on land, and that the first medals .struck for j this purpose shall be conferred on the heroic rescuers of the Welsh miners. The Home Office instructed Mr Wales to send :■ to the Government the names of those who distinguished themselves m the mine at Troedyrluw.