FEARFUL SCENE IN A MINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9082, 16 June 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

FEARFUL SCENE IN A MINE.

All hope of saving tho fifteen men entombed in the Richhill Coal Mine has been given up. The superintendent of tho mine gives a graphic account of the rescue, in which he says : —" As soon as I heard tho explosion I went to tho mouth of tho mine and found the south cage, on which the men always ascend, stuck in tho shaft about halfway from the bottom, with eight men on it. I went down on a tub lowered with ropes, and found them all badly burned and in a frenr.y. In fact, they were crazy, Some were shouting, others wero singing. I found it impossible to have tho cage hoisted, a» the timbers were all blown out of position. We finally managed, by means of ropes and pulleys, to hoist the men in a fainting condition, and it was then ascertained that tho north cage could be worked by clearing some timbora which had been drivon through from tho south shaft. This was done by sawing them short off. I then called for volunteers to go down with me to see if any poor fellows at the bottom could be got out. Four men volunteered. When we reached the bottom I looked through into the entry and saw a light. I asked ' Who's there?' A voice responded, and I told him to put out the light. I then aeked him to crawl to me, but ho was so exhausted that he could not do so. I reached through a small aperture and dragged him on to the cage. Just as this had taken place the wind rushed with tho velocity of a cyclono up tho entry, putting out all our lights but one. This was followed by two loud reports, and a seething flamo of fire, which came with a deafening roar, completely enveloping us for a length of time which seemed an age. It shot out of the mouth of the shaft 240 feet above our heads, and we all were horribly burned. We thought our time had come, but tho flames receded as suddenly as they came. We had to abandon the attempt. I yelled to tho men on the top to hoist away, but it was some time before they got the signal or understood my meaning. The moments thus spent were a living death. I thought they could not hear me, and concluded that we should have to crawl through into the south shaft, and undertake to climb out that way. I was just in the act of doing so when I felt the cage move. We went up about 30ft, when the cage began descending, thougt the machinery had broken, and we were, falling to an awful death. All at once, however, the cage came to a sudden stop, and again began responding to the pressure of the repes and pulleys, and we , soon wero at the top.' u