THE HARTLEY COLLIERY CATASTROPHE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 139, 26 April 1862, Page 5

THE HARTLEY COLLIERY CATASTROPHE.

£00,000 SUBSCIUKUD,

Some idea of Ilia extent of flic above frightful disaster will be gained from statistical returns tliat have been compiled by the parochial officers, assisted by the. officers of the colliory. ■ The following is a statement of the nearest relatives only of those whose lives have been lost in the pit:— ' Widows 117 ' Children ..: .. ..• 273 Sisters supported by brothers .. 27 I Orphans .. . - • 2 ' Parents supported by sons .. 10 Aunt supported by nephew .. 1 I Grandmother supported by grandson 1 i Total.. .. ...- 487 ; 407 living and 219 dead, including those who were killed by the falling of the cage, and yet those figures only indicate those immediately affected by the calamity. The male population of three pit hamlets have been swept away at one fell swoop; and of all the men employed at this important colliery, which three weeks ago was in active operation, only 25 remain alive. ' ' ; The mournful ceremony of interring the bodies of the deceased persons was performed on Sunday, 26th January. A correspondent says that the scene pre.sented by the " pit rows" on the morning of that day will never be forgotten : — Almost every cottage contained a coffin, with the remains of a lost one, some two, one five, and one poor woman had no lesS tban seven coflin/ piled up in her- cottage, containing the remains of her husband, five sons, and a boy they had brought up and educated.. The meeting of friends was deeply afflicting. The houses of the bereaved looked models of cleanliness' and order —the coffins containing the remains being laid upon the well-known pitman's four-post bedsteads, with white coverlets over them. Lonp: strinsrs' of carts arrived at, one o'clock, when the coffins were brought to the dcors, previous to being lifted into the carts, and the hymn, "Oh God, our help in ages past," was sung in mournful cadence, amid the wailing of the widows and the tobs of the orphun children. The effect was almost overpowering. The larger portion of the interments took'place at Earsdon Church, in a piece of ground given by the Duke of Northumberland. The other bodies were interred at Horton and Cramlington. During Sunday 20,000 persons were congregated round the pit. A number of ministers sought to "improve" the occasion by delivering prayers and addresses. All the people assembled behaved with the greatest decorum. In the pocket of the overman Amour, who took the command of the party below, after the occurrence of the catastrophe, and in whose courage, experience, and fertility of resource great confidence was telt, a memorandum-book was ibund, which contained the following touching record : — .> " Friday afternoon, half-past two.—Edward Armstrong, Thomas Gladson, John Hardic, Thomas Bell, and others, took extremely ill. "We had also a prayer meeting at a quarter to 2, when Tibbs, H. Sharp, J. Campbell, H. Gibson, aad William Pahaer—(The sentence is incomplete.) Tibbs exhorted us again, and Sharp also." ' . '' - From this, and one or two similar scraps of mtel T gfince, we learn not .only the'resigned_frame.of mind in which the poor fellows met their fate, but,also that the gas hHd begun to take'effect on them"at an earlier period than was supposed. It appears that the men jJJiacT'begun to succumb to the poison.;so early as Fii-

day, the 17th. -Extremely fow of thorn therefore can have lingered till, the .Sunday.: .. It will be remembered that an opening was nut established to the :pit ■'banaath till* Wednesday the 22nd. ' ;w *,!■■■'■ '! The iuqaosi on the accident brought, very-liltlo material evi-JfMoo to light. The prin;-ipal scientific witness wa-t Mi1. T. Jlo.^iiiw, C.E. He minutely tie'-'. SQrib'jd'.the ho uu'of t.ha 011V1113 andits defects, and did ijofc (kink that the lj>:a:n 'had been fractured before the iiual catastrophe! The lace of- the fracture, he said, was quits bright. If there had been a previous.crack, the atmosphere would have rusted' it. co i'ar as the crack went. But the fall of the lioani into the pit, could it have, been apprehended, might have been guarded against ■by very simple, and, inexpensive msans.' The coroner's jury found 'a'verdict in which they did not express"the opinion that'the fracture of the beam was due to' negligence, but did express a strong conviction that there should be always two shafts to the mines, and that in future the lieama' of collisry -engines should be made of malleable instead of cast iron. ... " , ~-: i ■ The fund subscribed throughout the country for the bereaved families amounts to the extraordinary sum of £50,000—more than sufficient -to provide most amply for all the orphans and widows.' ■-■■■■• ■