20^th February 1909

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The Colliery Disaster

(From Our Correspondent.)

Newcastle-on-Tyne, Feb. 19.

The officials at West Stanley Colliery to-day have been occupied in the work of clearing the obstructions from the seams and recovering the bodies of those who were killed in Tuesday's explosion. This is a work of considerable difficulty, and has been necessary distressing to those engaged in it, but it has been conducted with self-sacrifice by officials and workmen. It is not believed that there is the slightest hope of recovering alive any of the men remaining in the mine, and it has been found that the death-roll instead of being less than had been feared is more. This morning it was officially stated that at the time of the explosion there were 184 men in the workings. Of this number 34 were got out alive, but one died, leaving the number of saved at 33 and the number dead or missing at 151.

At noon to-day 116 bodies had been taken out of the mine. At that time a fresh shift of volunteers had gone down to the Busty seam, where the greatest fall of stone and coal occurred. In that seam it was stated that there were many obstacles in the way of recovering the bodies ; the air was also said to be bad, and precautions were taken to safeguard the lives of the explorers. The leader of the party carried a canary in a cage, as is usual when hazardous work after an explosion is in progress. As the explorers press forward into the air which is thought may be charged with poisonous gases the leader carries a canary and cage in front of him. If the bird keeps its perch the air is considered safe, but directly it falls off the explorers turn back to seek a less risky atmosphere. Mice are sometimes chosen for the purpose, but canaries are a more effective guide. At 4 o'clock 121 bodies had been recovered.

The Inquest Resumed.

Mr. Graham, the coroner, resumed the inquest on the bodies of the victims this afternoon for the purpose of identification. Fifty bodies were identified at the first sitting of the jury on Thursday, and the coroner had 48 cases before him at the resumed inquiry. A few of the bodies will be buried to-morrow afternoon, but most of the funerals will take place on Sunday afternoon. The great majority of the miners belonged to one or other of the Nonconformist denominations, chiefly Presbyterian and Methodists, but there were many members of the Church of England and several Roman Catholics.

The miners of the village have been deeply gratified by the messages of sympathy sent by the King and Queen. Many other messages of sympathy have also been received.

A Relief Fund.

A special meeting of the Stanley Urban Council was held this afternoon to consider the question of forming a relief fund. It was resolved that a town's meeting be called for 11 o'clock to-morrow morning in the Theatre Royal. Mr. Fairley was chosen treasurer of the fund. Mr. Burn, a joint owner of the colliery, said that his brother asked him to make it known that if the committee was entirely clear of creed and politics and was representative alike of miners and officials they would give £1,000 towards the fund. The council expressed their thanks to Mr. Burn, and the following further subscriptions were promised in the room :— Councillor P. Duffy, £25 ; Mr. Tebb, £10 ; Dr. Charles, £5 5s. ; Dr. R. E. Ingram Johnson, £5 ; directors of the Theatre Royal, Stanley, £5 5s. ; £6 17s. 2d. (receipts from a tax on free admission to the theatre during the past quarter) ; and the Coronation Lodge of Freemasons, £14 14s. ; Mr. Slingsby Shafto has given £25, and a collection made on Thursday night by the principals engaged in the pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, realized £23 3s. 10d.

A message late last night says that at 10 o'clo0ck 128 bodies had been brought up, leaving 35 unaccounted for, the last estimate of those killed in the mine being 163.