Cumberland Colliery Explosion

Three Miners Killed

(From our correspondent.)

Maryport, Nov. 27.

At noon to-day an explosion occurred at the Penn Road, Siddick, colliery, situated between Workington and Maryport. Three miners were killed and four injured. The killed are :— George Davidson, of Ellenborough, 48 ; T. G. Featherstone, of Dearham, 24 ; and John Davidson, of Netherton, Maryport, 14.

Thos injured are :— George Davidson, jun., 19, son of the Davidson killed ; Robert Nicholson, Dearham, 30 ; James Johnson, Siddick, 38 ; and R. S. Harrison, Siddick, 18.

The explosion was caused by a shot, which it would be the duty of Johnson, the deputy, to fire. Nicholson and Featherstone would have to bore the hole. No fire seems to have followed the explosion. The dean miners were badly burned. Johnston's condition is critical. Featherstone would not have been in the seam but for taking the place of a man who was injured in a football match on Saturday. John Davidson, who was killed, was the son of the Maryport Rugby club, while Nicholson, who was injured, was playing for Dearham against Maryport on Saturday.

There were rumours of a big loss of life, and an official statement was issued to the effect that the area of explosion was so localised and circumscribed that it could not involve any further danger or loss of life, and there was no need for alarming reports.

The pit, which employs about eighteen hundred men, is well ventilated and equipped on modern lines. It has been singularly free from accidents since a big explosion in 1886, which caused the loss of thirty-six lives.