24^th November 1862

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Fearful Colliery Explosion

Newcastle-on-Tyne, Saturday Night.

All the horrors of the Hartley catastrophe have been brought to our remembrance to-day through a fearful explosion of gas which occurred in Walker Colliery, three miles from this town, about 6 o'clock this morning, by which 16 men and lads have lost their lives. Walker Colliery is among one of the oldest in the coal trade, having been at work nearly a century, and is about the last of the old famous Wallsend collieries working, all the others having been drowned out. It has two pits, the "Ann" and the "Jane," the shafts being about a quarter of a mile apart, and their depth 100 fathoms. The shaft of the Jane pit has only been reopened about nine months, after being widened and enlarged, and the coals are brought to bank by that shaft, which is down-cast. The seam which the colliery is working is not the old household coal seam, which has made Wallsend famous all over the world, but the low seam ; the coal taken from it being used principally for manufacturing and steam purposes. To-day was "pay" Saturday at the pit, and the pitmen were not employed in the mine ; it was laid off, and preparations had been made for a large Sunday-school tea party, to be held to-night. It is usual, however, when the pit is laid off, for the shifters, stonemen, and others, to "red it" up, as it is termed, doing any odd jobs in the air-ways, and other parts of the workings ; in fact, to put it in good order for the men resuming work on the Monday morning. Between 20 and 30 men and lads employed about the pit in this way had gone down about 2 o'clock ; and, so far as can be at present ascertained, the explosion occurred between half-past 5 and 6 o'clock this morning. Two banksmen, named Charles Robson and Joseph Richardson, heard the sound of a tremendous rush of air up the working shaft of the colliery where they were stationed, and on looking in that direction they observed steam and a cloud of fragments flying from the pit's mouth. They informed Charles Cooper, the enginewright, of the fact, and the alarm that an explosion had occurred spread to the village. Before 7 o'clock three men were brought up at the up-cast shaft. They were named Chambers, Knox, and Collins. They were all alive, but each was suffering from the effects of gas and fright, as well as from the shock they had received by being thrown down when the explosion occurred. From their statements it seems that there would be 25 men in the pit, some of whom were working "in-bye," at a considerable distance from the mouths of the shafts. It is supposed that some of these men had been at work in a "trouble," and had fired shots, from which the explosion may have occurred. The injured men were taken home, and were attended by Dr. Richardson, who reports that all who had come up alive are likely to recover. They describe the first warning they had of the explosion as like the sound of a hurricane, and its effect on themselves was to throw them violently down. The stopping, brattices, &c., in the colliery workings are all destroyed, and the mine is thrown into confusion. Mr. Cole, the resident viewer, was among the first to descend the pit. Mr. Jobling, the principal engineer, and one of the owners of the colliery (which is the property of Messrs. Lambert, Nicholson, and Co.), Mr. Matthias Dunn, Inspector of Coal Mines, and Mr. Potter, of Cramlington, mining engineer, have been down the pit. Those who have walked as far in the workings as they possibly could had seen three dead bodies, and it is feared that several others had shared the fate of their unfortunate comrades.

Down to 6 o'clock to-night six bodies had been found. They were all badly burnt, and had died from the effects of the explosion, and not of the after-damp. They will be brought up to bank some time to-night. The following are lost in the mine, and there is every reason to fear — in fact, it is certain — they are dead :— John Holt, married, and leaves a family ; James Haswell, married, widow and four children ; William Burrell ; Martin Facton, wife and two children ; William Barnes, wife and two children ; George Watson, widower ; John Moore, married man ; John Miller, left a mother dependent upon him ; John Hetherington, single ; Joseph Forster, married man, but his family are grown up ; John Mitcheson, wife and four children ; George Barnes, unknown whether married or single ; four boys, whose names we have not yet ascertained.

Brought up alive. — John Wilson, George Mitford, John Shields, Thomas Collins, Robert Barnes, John Knox, William Jobling, — Giles Thomas Holt, Henry Holt, James Chambers. These latter have all recovered.

The miners who descended to explore the mine came up much exhausted, and state the air to be very bad. All the horses, nine in number, and 21 ponies, are killed.

From the nature of their employment, the men and lads who are killed would be scattered about the pit when the explosion occurred, and that it was violent and sharp may be inferred by the fact that the bodies which have been found were lying not far from the shaft, and that a portion of the seam of coal was set on fire. An exploring party who went down the pit this afternoon reported that they found a collyman dead, very much charred, and lying to the north of the shaft at the branch-way ends ; also the body of a boy, shockingly burnt, at the entrance of the waste. Mr. Telford, Mr. Hurst, and other colliery viewers, were at the pit this evening assisting, and every exertion is being made to thoroughly restore the ventilation, so that the pitmen may be enabled to pass through the pit in safety, and send up the bodies. But there was a good deal of stythe in the pit to-night, and it may be a day or two before the bodies are all discovered.

As is usual at colliery explosions, there have been many providential escapes. George Mitford, one of the shifters, was working in another part of the pit at the time of the explosion. As soon as he felt the concussion of the air which is unmistakeable in cases of explosion he ran for his life, but was overtaken by the fire-damp, and was struck down like a shot. He gave himself up for dead, but was fortunately rescued by some men who descended the pit at the first alarm of the explosion to save as many as they could. There has not been so large a crowd about the pit as has been noticed at former colliery explosions in the district, and the people have been very well-behaved and orderly.

The poor man Holt is supposed to have occasioned the explosion by firing a "shot" while making a drift through a "trouble" close to the air-way. The pit must have been extremely foul ; but it is said that if it had been at work the explosion would not have occurred, as extra precautions would have been adopted if it had been found necessary to "fire a shot."

(By Electric And International Telegraph.)

Sunday Night.

The bodies of the 16 men and lads have been brought to bank in coffins and despatched in carts to their homes. The pit is little the worse for the accident, and will be made fit for work in a shift or two. The cause of the accident has not been ascertained.