Article from the Gateshead Observer, 8^th April 1843

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Colliery Calamity

Seven and Twenty lives sacrificed by an explosion

The public mind in this district was painfully agitated on Wednesday last, by one of those calamities which are of too frequent occurrence in connection with our staple industry — namely, a coal mine explosion. The scene of the disaster is within four miles of the borough of Gateshead, being the Stormont Main Colliery, at Wrekenton, on Gateshead Fell, commonly known by the name of the "King Pit." The explosion occurred at about 7 o'clock in the morning, and proved fatal to 27 men and boys. We give a list of the unfortunate sufferers,

MEN.
Mr. Matthias Gray, aged 40, the under-viewer, son of Mr. Gray, of the Felling
Thomas Charlton, aged 25, overman, (who has left a wife and two children)
Robert Spence, aged 34, deputy-overman, (wife and four children)
Thomas Moulter, aged 31, shifter, (wife and two children)
Thomas Hedley, aged 32, hewer, (wife and three children)
Humphrey Ditchburn, aged 52, hewer, (wife)
George Ditchburn, aged 21, hewer, son of Humphrey, (wife)
*John Jacques, aged 21, hewer
John Robson, aged 27, hewer, (wife and three children)
Edward Robson, aged 23, hewer, brother of John
Michael Cleghorn, aged 30, hewer, (wife and two children)
Thomas Cleghorn, aged 20, hewer, brother of Michael
*James Young, aged 29, hewer, (wife and four children)
John Richardson, aged 26, hewer, (wife)
James Waters, aged 20, hewer, (wife)
* Wednesday was Jacques and Young's first day in the pit.
DRIVERS AND PUTTERS.
Matthew Doxford	aged 19		David Kidman	14
Thomas Dixon	16		John Kidman, his brother	10
John Dixon, his brother	12		John Smith	14
John Young	12		†Abraham Field	12
George Felton	13		†John Tulip	15
Thomas Morris	16		†Hugh Hughes	11
† Alive when brought out of the pit.

The instantaneous loss of so many lives, we need hardly say, produced a stunning effect in the immediate locality of the pit, and inspired feelings of sorrow and sympathy throughout the surrounding country. Every household in and near the village of Wreckenton had to mourn the loss of a friend or relative. Wives were widowed, and children rendered fatherless.

It was a mournful sight to see the bodies of the dead brought to the mouth of the shaft, one by one, amidst the cries and tears of the living. Stiff and rigid (the muscles of the neck excepted), the dead presented themselves in sad succession — each of them, with cataleptic look, in the posture in which death had overtaken him — the greater number with outstretched arms, as though startled by sudden and unexpected danger.

Although the loss of life is great, the damage done to the pit is remarkably trifling. Not a prop has been driven from its position. A few shillings, indeed, will repair all the injury to property that has taken place. Nor did the persons of the hapless pitmen suffer great violence. Few of them were burnt. It was the "after damp" that proved so destructive, bereaving so many men and boys of life.

The workings of the pit are of great extent — so extensive, indeed, that one of the pitmen, far removed from the site of the accident, continued quietly at his work, and was not aware of the explosion until an hour after its occurrence!

But the pit, although so extensive, has only one shaft — which is therefore bratticed, for purposes of ventilation. Whether or not a single shaft be sufficient for safety, is a point which we hardly feel competent to decide — or we should be inclined to give a decision in the negative. Mr. Grace, the viewer of the colliery, is a gentleman of great experience and industry ; and, we are sure, would do all that lay within his power, to secure the safety of the men.

An inquest was held on Thursday, at the house of Mr. Joseph Craswell, the Half Moon, Wrekenton, before Mr. J. M. Favell, coroner for Chester ward. Mr. John Grace, jun., the viewer, and one of the proprietors, attended the inquiry. Mr. W. Lockey Harle, solicitor, was in attendance on behalf of the Pitmen's General Union. Mr. Swallow, of Wakefield, Secretary of the Union, was also present, both in his official character, and at the request of the relatives and friends of the deceased, and the men of the colliery. The jury sworn to investigate the circumstances consisted of the following householders :— Messrs. Simpson Rutherford, Jacob Gowland, William Simpson, John Fewster, George Wind, Jacob Ayre, John Pallister, John Miller, John Brown, Abner Lucas, Henry Drummond, and Joseph Crasswell.

The "viewing of the bodies" occupied a considerable time — the jury having to proceed from house to house, in the discharge of this most distressing duty. On their return to the inquest room, the examination of witnesses commenced.

George Ritchie deposed :— I live at Eighton Banks. I am a hewer in Stormont Main colliery. That is the proper name of the colliery, but it generally goes by the name of the King Pit. I have worked in the pit nine months. I went down on Wednesday morning, between 4 and 5 o'clock, and remained until nearly 7. When I went to the crane — [a part of the pit to which the men generally go, before starting work] — Spence, the deputy overman, cautioned me to put out my candle before passing the end of a certain board, which was very foul. [The "boards" are cells or recesses in the sides of a main passage way ; so that the pitmen, in proceeding along the passages, necessarily pass the ends or entrances of the "boards."] I went to work near the foul board. The pit was standing foul in the barrow-way. [That is, the foulness of the board extended to its mouth, and into the main passage-way.] I put out my candle, as I had been told, in the "headways course." I considered the pit so unsafe that I did not begin work. I lighted my candle again at James Young's, who was working near the foul board. I remained with him about a quarter of an hour. He had only come to work at the pit that morning. I put out my candle, and repassed the foul board. I then got a light from Ditchburn, who was working in an adjoining board. I met Spence at the crane. He asked me if I was not going to work. I answered that I had been there long enough. I did not mention the matter to any other person [with a view to a remedy]. I was afraid to do so, for fear I should be fined. It does not do to be complaining : one gets to be thought fractious. I met Mr. Mathias Gray, the under-viewer. He inquired if I was not going to my work. I said "No." I gave him no reason for my leaving. He said he would stop 2s 6d. from me. I said he durstn't. There is a fine of 2s. 6d. on a man who leaves without having done his work. There was no further conversation between us. We parted good friends. I think he was probably not in earnest about the fine, for he spoke laughingly. I have never had anything stopped off me for neglect of work. I got home about 8 o'clock. I had no talk with any one on the subject, before going home. The next thing I heard was that the pit had fired. I had been asleep, when my wife came in and told me. I was in bed at the time. I have been a pitman about nine years, and worked at Sherburn Hill, Wingate, and other collieries. The board in question has been considered dangerous for some time — foul to the end. The deputy overman gave general instructions for candles to be put out in passing it. I cannot say that it was this board which fired. I have never made any complaint to the owners as to the state of the mine. I went down the pit immediately I heard of the accident. I went down, and assisted to get the bodies out. I did not go beyond the crane.

By Mr. Harle : I think means might have been used to get the foulness away, as it had continued for a long time. I think doors ought to have been set at the main headways-course, with trappers at them. It is not customary to fine parties for complaining of foulness. There are fly doors at the entrance to the boards — doors hung so as to open either way ; but the slightest thing will prevent them from shutting. They are not attended to by boys. The doors are out of repair, and don't shut close. I do not know of any complaint having being made. On the previous day, when at my work in the pit, I trembled all the time, it was so foul. I do not think there was any "brattice" in the board — [a partition, to guide the current of air to the face of the workings]. The men had Davy lamps at the commencement of their work, and candles afterwards. The moving about of the men helps to clear away the foulness.

I never knew a man discharged for complaining of the state of the pit.

Mr. Robert Davis, of Wrekenton, surgeon : I was called in immediately after the accident :— soon after 7 o'clock in the morning. The messenger said a boy was burnt. A second messenger, who came quite quickly after the first, said they were afraid the pit had fired. I found this to have been the case. Tulip, Hughes, and Smith, now dead, were brought up alive ; also, Young, Rankin, Menham, and Aynsley, who still survive, but are severely burnt, and some of them labouring under alarming delirium. The cause of death in nearly every case, was the after-damp. Some of the deceased parties are much burnt, but they might have recovered nevertheless, had it not been for the after-damp. The quality of the gas varies in different collieries. It is of a very injurious description in this pit. I took care, when on the pit-heap, to keep the lamps in proper order for the men, as they went down the pit to bring up the bodies. One of the lamps, having a glass tube, answered better than the others, inasmuch as it extinguished itself, when the bearer reached the limit of safety. The Davy lamp allows a man to go farther than he can bear.

Robert Rankin : I live at Wrekenton, and had worked at the King pit nearly four years. I was in the quarter where it fired, when the accident took place. This was about 7 o'clock. I was at work in a board about 200 yards from the crane, near to Young, and I knew nothing of the cause of the explosion. The only thing I noticed was a door out of repair, about 60 yards from the place in which I worked. I saw the deputy get a hinge, and suppose it was to repair this door. The part in which I worked was dangerous. We had to work with lamps at first, and then got candles when the foul air had cleared away. We had lamps as long as we considered them necessary. About six weeks ago, I named to Mr. Gray that I thought the western district of the pit was in a dangerous state. Mr. Gray said he knew it was. The west district was then in a deplorable state. On the day after I spoke to Mr. Gray, the deputy came to that part of the mine, and I saw him attending to his duties, remedying what had been complained of. The men were cautioned to avoid the dangerous parts. After the explosion, I was brought to bank insensible. When I became conscious, I felt languid, and as if I had lost all my bodily powers. I raved about my son, who was in the pit at the time.

By Mr. Lockey Harle : I do not recollect what repairs the deputy made. He stopped persons from going into the dangerous parts with a light. Lamps are kept in the pit for the use of the men. There were two lamps in use where I was working. I did not observe that they were out of order.

John Burn : I live at Wrekenton, and have worked at the King pit about a year. I was down on Tuesday. The part where I worked had been foul for a fortnight. It was the second board from the crane. A week today, my companion was at home ill, and George Ditchburn was set to work with me. Two lamps were given to us, one of which was unsafe. I made trial with the other lamp, and found the board foul all the way from the mouth to the other end. About three yards up from the entrance, the lamp filled with flame. We could not stop at our work. I went to the crane with the faulty lamp, and found Spence, the deputy, there. I said, "Spence, this is not a proper lamp to go up the board with." He replied "What's the matter with it?" He took it to pieces. The gauze was covered with oil and small coal. He held it to the candle, and it flamed for a considerable time, like a "low rope," i.e. like a lighted rope]. This was in consequence of the lamp not being kept clean. The gauze was filled up with oil and small coals. Spence cleaned it. We met Charlton the overman, and told him the reason of our leaving. He only laughed at us. I went to work the next day (March 29), and found the pit not so foul. The lamps were then cleaned. Spence said he thought the air-courses had been stopped the day before, but he had been through it, and it was all right. There was no door or brattice to the board where I was working.

William Richardson : I live at Wrekenton, and have worked at the King pit since Christmas. I have been 21 years a pitman. I made complaints to Spence about the doors. I don't think the fly-doors are proper things. The door at my board-end was out of repair. When any one passed through it it frequently did not close. There was a large vacancy between what it was hung on and the pillar. I could have walked through between the post and the pillar. I complained of this to Spence, who said he would have the space built up. I can't say whether it was repaired yesterday. I never made any other complaint that was not attended to. I have frequently used lamps. They are never kept in good order. I have never seen a lamp in good order yet. There was a man sent to bring lamps yesterday, to enable us to get the men out of the pit. He brought four, not one of which was fit to trust a man's life upon. They were the lamps in general use. The were generally dirty, and we had to sit down to clean them, or lie idle.

By Mr. Harle : About six months ago, I heard Spence tell the overman he could improve the air, by hanging two additional doors, and mending another. The overman said it would cause too much expense, and would require two additional trappers — [boys who open the doors, to allow the carriages and the work people to pass, and then close them, so that proper ventilation may be kept up.] My brother was present at the conversation. Both Spence and the overman are killed.

By the Jury : I never had a lamp that was not choked with dirt and grease, and quite unfit for use. The lamps are liable to take fire when oily and dirty. It is not the duty of the men to clean their own lamps. There is not a lamp cleaner kept at this colliery. The stoppings are very open, so that the air penetrates them. They are only stone or dry stoppings, plastered over the outside. They ought to be brick, and built with time. When the air penetrates the stoppings, the current is impaired. I would have complained, but was afraid.

John Alexander : I live at Wrekenton. I have been a pitman about 26 years. I have worked about nine months at the King pit. I was down on Tuesday, but not on Wednesday. The air "calls" [whistles] through the stoppings. They are build of stone, but so far as I have seen, and plastered with lime. They are out of repair — very much so, some of them. We often grumbled among ourselves about them, and also to the deputies, who generally agreed with us that they were faulty. I complained three times to the deputies. I considered the pit in danger from the state of the stoppings. It was sometimes like a furnace when we were working, in consequence of the escape of air through the doors and stoppings. Sometimes the swing-doors did not close after a corf or a person passing through. Sometimes they were knocked down, and lay three or four hours before they were put up again. I have known them to lie for days. The deputy was diligent, and I have seen him come to put them to rights, when called upon.

By Mr. Grace : I have never quarrelled with my masters, I never stated to the magistrates that the pit was in a safe and proper state, and that the owners had resorted to a trick in laying the pit idle on a particular day, in order that the men might not get their 30s. I never did. [A pitman, according to the "bond," can claim a certain sum for every day that the pit is laid off, unless it be laid off for foulness.]

By the Jury and Mr. Harle : About eight months ago, the pit was laid waste to the south of the waggonways. The pillars were worked out. This, which is called "working in the broken," destroyed the return of air. The deputy agreed with me that it did so, but nothing was done to remedy this, to my knowledge.

By Mr. Grace : There was a little foulness in the "broken," while I was working it, but it would scarce fire. I did not think it dangerous.

Cuthbert Todd, of Wrekenton : I have been a pitman 42 years, and have worked about five years at this colliery. I worked in that part of the pit which is supposed to have fired. Spence told me that no one was allowed to pass the board end in question with a light. The first board from the "mother gate" was foul. The board end pillar was not built up, and there was no air passing. I pointed this out to Spence, and he agreed with me about it. I asked him why he did not get it done. He said it was the duty of the deputy. I said, "No, it is your duty : you are here to see these things properly done." This was on Friday last. It is not done yet. I have heard the stoppings "call." The last day I was down I said to Spence it was not right to send men into that board, when it was foul to the barrow-way, and men were working in the boards on each side with candles. I asked if he had no other place for us. He said no : if we did not go in there, we must go home.

Edward Smith : I live at Eighton Banks. I have worked two years in the King pit. I was not at work when the accident occurred. I mind the rolley-way. In the middle west crane, two pillars below, I have seen her fire two yards within the board in question. About three months since I was in this board, and saw a boy's bait poke [provision bag] lying. I saw a boy go in for it. Charlton the overman brought a candle, and tried the board. He found it would have fired a yard further in. There was a door put up shortly afterwards. Between the shaft and the bottom o the incline bank the stoppings are not perfect : they "call" very much. I have often talked to the overman about this. He did not attend to his duty so as to put things in order. He seldom went further in than the top of the incline bank. I have told him that it was his duty to attended to these things. The reply was, I had nothing to do with it.

By Mr. Harle : There were several falls of stones in the air courses. They are about four feet high. In some places there would be about two feet of that space filled up by falls of stone.

George Lowton, Wrekenton : I have worked nearly two years at the King pit. I was down on Tuesday. I am a deputy overman. I can state no reason for the accident. I never had any complaints made to me of the state of the pit, either by the preceding witnesses or other parties. I left it in perfect safety on Tuesday night. Charlton was a very steady man, and very attentive.

By Mr. Grace : I went round the face of every board with a candle, on Tuesday afternoon. They were all quite safe. I observed nothing particular — no foulness. The board mouth of the mother-gate was in a perfectly safe state on Tuesday. I tried it with a candle. I never knew a board to require a door, but one was put up. I never had a door knocked down, or out of order, but it was always repaired immediately. I never knew the "broken," when worked, to have any foulness in it.

By Mr. Harle : The deputies clean the lamps. I have cleaned them myself. A man is not allowed to take a lamp until it has been proved, either by the deputy or some other person. I never had a lamp brought back to me as being unsafe. I think we have more than twenty lamps. We have always sufficient for all purposes. I never knew Charlton the men with fines for making complaints. I have heard the stoppings "call," and they were then repaired. They are built of stone and lime. I consider a swing door quite safe. A trap-door would certainly be safer, if it were required. We have trap-doors whenever they are requisite. The stoppings between the shaft and the bottom of the incline are not dangerous. The air passages were all clear of stones and water.

By the Jury : I never went round after 2 o'clock on Tuesday, Jacques was there after me.

George Jacques, deputy overman : I brought my son (one of the sufferers) to this pit, from another in which he was employed. I would not have done so, had I considered the King pit unsafe. He came here from Hunwick, west of Durham. He only commenced work on the morning of the accident. Both his mother and I had pressed him to come here. The stoppings were good. One of them "calls:" it is situated between the shaft and the bottom of the incline. I did not consider it in a very bad state. No complaints were ever made to me as to the unsafeness of the stoppings or the doors. They were always mended, when necessary, as soon as possible. I never knew a board requiring a door but it was supplied. The doors are always put up at the boards as soon as required. There are eight working boards to the north of the mother-gate — a door at each board-end, three fast bearing-up doors, and an extra door at the mother-gate board. I think there was not a candle taken down the board in question on Tuesday. We always had a sufficient number of lamps, and in good order. We have instructions to take a lamp to every part first thing, and if we see no foulness, we take the top off, and try with the naked lamp. The cause of the boards being occasionally foul is the falling of the coal : when this occurs, it makes a temporary foulness.

By Mr. Grace : I never saw any foulness in the "broken." There is a proper air-course left on the side of the broken — and stoppings put regularly in. Neither Smith nor Alexander ever complained to me of the state of the workings. I never saw any gas in the broken — which I considered a rare occurrence. I have seen the broken worked at Backworth, Seghill, Morton, Springwell, Black Fell, and West Moor.

By Mr. Harle : There is only one shaft to the King pit, but it is divided by a brattice.

At this stage of the inquiry, a plan of the workings was produced, which Mr. Grace explained to the coroner and jury. He also stated how, in his opinion (judging from the facts), the accident had occurred :— Mr. Gray, the under viewer, had been unwell for some days, and therefore absent from the pit. On his return, he had probably disputed the alleged foulness of the "board" so often named ; and together with Spence and Charlton, he had proceeded to the spot, to test the allegation. His yard measure was found lying in the board, and, near it, the candle-box of Spence. Charlton was sitting close at hand, holding his account book — dead. Gray and Spence were at a little distance from the board, on the floor of the pit, as though they had been running for their lives. Now, according to Mr. Grace's, Gray on reaching the board, had knelt down, and laid his yard-wand on the ground — the ordinary practice on such occasions. Then, with a lighted candle in his hand, he had tested the atmosphere of the board. Spence had stood behind him, watching the experiment which was to decide the justice of the condemnation that had been passed, in the absence of the under viewer. This being the situation of the parties, and Gray raising the candle higher and higher to ascertain the condition of the board, some motion of the body of Spence had in all probability wafted the gas down upon the light — and the explosion followed.

Mr. Grace having given this conjectural explanation of the cause of the calamity, one other witness was called :—

James Turnbull, wasteman : I have worked nearly eight years in this pit. I believe there is air passing through the broken, but I cannot get in to see. There is one point at which it can be perceived, after it has traversed the broken. I can travel round any part of the waste with a candle, at all times.

No other evidence being offered, the Coroner delivered his charge to the jury, summing up the evidence with great care ; and when they has been about two hours in consultation, the Foreman returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased individuals had come to their death by accident, and that no blame could be attached to Mr. Grace, but they recommended that the fly doors, the stoppings, and the general ventilation of the pit, should receive the strict consideration and attention of the owners, and that competent practical men should be employed in its management.

We understand that Mr. Charles Carr, viewer at Seghill colliery, was down the pit, professionally, a fortnight before the accident, and considered the ventilation to be at that time in a most satisfactory state.