Sheffield Independent – Monday 23 November 1874
The Shocking Explosion at the Warren Vale Colliery.
Exploration of the Workings.
The excitement caused in the South Yorkshire district by the terrible explosion at the Warren Vale Colliery, belonging to Messrs. J. and J. Charlesworth and Co., had abated but little on Saturday.
It was the topic of conversation in almost every circle, and every detail was eagerly discussed. There were many hundreds who could not be content with what they heard or read, but went to the colliery to see and inquire for themselves. They gathered but little to reward them for their trouble. Indeed anything more dispiriting than a visit to a colliery under such circumstances could readily be imagined. A dense choking fog overspread the whole district; but over the valley in which the colliery is situated it hung almost like a black funeral pall.
Again and again the sun endeavoured to chase away the fog, and towards noon it cleared from the hills; but from the Warren Vale it could not be enticed, and there it remained, only to grow more dense as the day wore on. Everything therefore about the colliery appeared to wear a darker hue than usual; the few men who were at work spoke in under tones, and moved about in that subdued manner which indicated that the sights of the previous night had not yet been obliterated from their memories.
When our reporters left the pit bank on Friday night the last of the dead bodies — twenty- three in number- had been recovered, and so far as could be ascertained there was no probability of further disasters. During the night men were engaged in clearing away obstructions from the engine plane and main roads; in repairing the bratticing and improving the ventilation, with a view of rendering a thorough inspection of the mine on Saturday more practicable.
At six o’clock Mr. Kell, engineer of the colliery; Mr. W Hargreaves, of Bothwell Haigh Colliery, near Wakefield ; Mr. Hargreaves, the manager of the Warren Vale Colliery ; Mr. Embleton, engineer, Mr Sellars, deputy manager ; and other officials met on the pit lank, and went down to make their examination.
They found that during the night the ventilation had very much improved, and that the air in the workings workings was as comparatively pure. It has been already stated that the pit runs due north about 1700 yards; and in this part no one was injured and no damage was done. The men there at work heard a dull heavy sound and experienced a deafening sensation. They were not slow- in concluding that there was something the matter somewhere in the pit, and they hastened to the shaft bottom. Eastward the pit runs nearly the same distance and it was in the extreme part of these workings where the calamity occurred.
At first, the evidence of the explosion found by the party on Saturday morning were exceedingly slight; but as they progressed they became more distinct. The low south level was reached and number one bank in which Oxley, Cliff. Tomlinson and King worked; and No. 2 bank, in which Jowitt, Swinton, Wight, and another man worked, were thoroughly explored. It was evident that this was the scene of the explosion, as the destruction here was most marked; and the party also knew that in these thanks not one man had been left alive. In the course of further investigations, the explorers found that at the time of the accident the men in No. 1 bank were en-gaged in moving the “chocks” further in to support the roof and they also found that there had been a fall of roof. They had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that it was in this bank the explosion occurred. There were here proofs to confirm the supposition we gave on Saturday that by a sudden fall of roof a quantity of gas was liberated and fired at the naked lights. Of course this is still a supposition, but more than this there has been no more probable cause of the accident found np to the present time. There are those connected with the colliery who refuse to believe such a statement; as a sudden outburst of gas had never been known in these workings. Indeed, even the old workings were’ kept comparatively pure: and, as one official remarked, it was well it was so, for if they had been full of gas few would have escaped with their lives. Having gathered all the information possible, the party returned to bank.
Messrs. Charlesworth, the proprietors, arrived at the colliery at an early hour, and at ten o’clock they descended with some of the officials to inspect the workings. Like the gentlemen who had preceded them, they were astonished at the comparatively small damage that had been done to the workings.
After the Government Inspector has made his official examination of the mine, little time will be required to put it in proper order for the operation of coal getting to be again commenced. The air on Saturday was pronounced as pure as it was possible to be; the complete ventilation of the pit having been restored. The two horses that were killed were brought up, and every-thing possible was being done to clear the pit. It might be stated that it was in the two banks referred to, where the men who were so frightfully burned and mutilated were found. One of the men, George Wright, had dropped on his hands and knees, and in that attitude he was found by the volunteers— dead. When the exploring party entered the bank opposite, they found Joseph Taylor still alive, although badly burned and insensible from the after-damp. One of the party caught him up in his arms, and hastened with him into purer air; and he was taken home. On Saturday he was better and at times recovered consciousness, but he had no recollection whatever of anything that had occurred, and was altogether at a loss to know how he came to be ill at home. Probably as he gets better, he will remember what took place before he fell unconscious. The other three men who were injured are recovering.
Some of the men who were working in the eastern part of the pit narrowly escaped with their lives, and even on Saturday they had not recovered from the shock they had received. One man with whom we conversed had already been in two explosions, and when he heard the dull heavy report and experienced the rush of hot poisonous air, he exclaimed to his companion, “She’s fired! Fly!” They immediately started for the engine plane, but encountered such a cloud of after- damp that they had to retreat. Four times they attempted to escape, and as often had to retire. “It was like a thick wall,” he said, “we could not get through it.” Fearing, however, that death would overtake them if they remained where they were, they made one more desperate effort, and escaped.
On Saturday morning Mr Casey, one of the secretaries of the South Yorkshire Miners’ Association, and Mr. Broadhead, the treasurer, arrived to discharge a most important duty. The deceased were all members of the association, and consequently had made provision for those from whom they had b .en so suddenly taken. The advantages of the association are never perhaps more manifest than when such a calamity as this occurs, when the “bread winners” are taken and widows and families are left. The appeal to the public that they are “totally unprovided for,” has happily not to be made; and the good services of the relieving officer have not to be enlisted.
Mr. Broadhead came with £200 in his pocket, and accompanied by Mr Waddington, the secretary of the local lodge, they, like “Angels of mercy,” visited every family that had been bereaved, and every home of the injured. Each widow received £6 as the “burial fee ;” and she will be entitled to 5s. per week, and 1s. per week for each child. The duty was by no means new to them; but it was no less painful on that account. The widows and children saw their neighbours going to the office “to reckon,” and it grievously reminded them of the loss they had sustained.
At Home with The Dead.
There can scarcely be a sadder sight than that caused by the removal of the charred corpses from the pit after an explosion. The wives and mothers vainly trying through their tears to discover some sign by which they may recognise the victims, and the faces of the spectators softened with sympathy, make a combination of grief and pity which cannot be looked upon unmoved. But the most sorrowful sight of all is at the homes of the bereaved, where the dead have been taken, and where the women, and in some cases the children, sit in the silent agony of grief. Such a sight was seen on Saturday by the jury, whose painful duty it was to view the bodies. Many of these were laid in cottages at Rawmarsh, chiefly in the lower rooms, and often in the living-place of the family. As the coverings were removed from the faces of the dead, and the jurymen looked upon their discoloured and burnt features, they had great difficulty in suppressing their emotion, which was rendered still greater by the sobs of the bereaved.
The first house visited was that of George Andrew Wright, whose body had been placed in the front room. His widow was seated in the kitchen with her head bowed in her hands, oblivious to all outward things, in the intensity of her sorrow. A little child near looked with awe upon her misery, trying in vain to comprehend it. A few doors off another of the dead bodies lay. It was that of James Morte, who, from the ghastly condition in which he was found, must have been in the thick of the explosion. His face was almost beyond recognition, and his body terribly mutilated. Those who saw his features could scarcely repress a shudder, and went out of the cottage with their own faces pale, and their hearts full of compassion for those whom his labours had supported. In a house in the next street lay the corpse of George Taylor, who evidently died from the effects of the after-damp, for his face was as calm aa that of a sleeping child, and was neither distorted nor burned. Had it not been for a slight bruise on one cheek, and the removal of a part of his moustache by the explosion-blast, no one would have imagined that he had died an unnatural death. The grief of his widow was too great to be outspoken. She moved about with a feeble, noiseless step, and seemed almost bereft of her senses with the great woe she had to bear. A few yards away was another cottage where the effects of the explosion had spread desolation. In the kitchen, on a rude couch, was stretched the body of Thomas Roberts. His widow and several children were in the same room, but they had hidden the corpse from view by means of a screen of many-coloured calico. On its removal the bereaved ones sent forth such a wail of sorrow that the jurors rapidly got rid of their duty, and left the dwelling with the consciousness that they had been the indirect cause of a fresh outbreak of grief, which they were powerless to soothe or alleviate. Their nerves already shattered by a succession of sad scenes were strung to the utmost at the next house of death. There the father and son— George and Samuel Skelton— lay lifeless side by side, and the widow and five children huddled together, a desolate group of helpless ones, whose friction was “beyond compare ” The futher had undoubted y been a victim of afterdamp as there was not the slightest trace of distortion from his face, the son had been cruelly burned. As a jury was leaving the house which contain all this misery, they were informed by messenger the Coroner, that the further identification of the bodies at that time he needed, and then they gave a sigh of relief, but walked back to the Star Inn with serious look; and the moistened eyes of some shown and create and been their emotion.