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I am a physician and surgeon practising in this neighbourhood, Tudhoe Grange. I saw the deceased men brought out of the Brockwell seam, and made the following entries showing the cause of death in each case :—

(1.)	Michael Carnes, died from burns.
(2.)	Andrew Coldwell, died from burns.
(3.)	Joseph Faulkner, died from burns.
(4.)	Joseph White, killed by after-damp.
(5.)	Peter Strong, died from burns.
(6.)	Henry Warret Sloggart, died from burns.
(7.)	W. Thomas, died from after-damp.
(8.)	James Rhymer, died from after-damp.
(9.)	William Lambton, died from after-damp.
(10.)	Robert Artus, died from after-damp.
(11.)	James March, died from after-damp.
(12.)	Thomas Cook, died from after-damp.
(13.)	William Smith, died from burns.
(14.)	John Brown, died from after-damp.
(15.)	James Whitter, died from after-damp.
(16.)	Thomas Jefferson, died from violence and after-damp.
(17.)	John Lawson, died from after-damp.
(18.)	George Stephenson, died from burns.
(19.)	Thomas Armstrong, died from burns.
(20.)	James Gair, died from burns.
(21.)	William Pinkney, died from burns.
(22.)	George Bowes, died from burns.
(23.)	Matthew Rutter, died from burns.
(24.)	Joseph Midgley, died from burns.
(25.)	Thomas Snowdon, died from burns.
(26.)	Robert Cairnes, died from after-damp.
(27.)	James Shorn, died from after-damp.
(28.)	William Pattison, died from burns.
(29.)	William Curry, died from after-damp.
(30.)	James Richards, died from burns.
(31.)	Edward Jones Roberts, died from burns.
(32.)	John Lambton, died from burns.
(33.)	John Burn, died from burns.
(34.)	John Cherry, died from after-damp.
(35.)	Michael Rivers junr., died from after-damp.
(36.)	Thomas Cavines, died from burns.
(37.)	Hugh Armstrong, died from burns.

(Mr. Bowey.) Are you able to say which of these men who died were more severely burnt than the others. Nos. 2 and 3, Cauldwell and Faulkner, are they severely burnt? — Cauldwell was very badly burnt. Faulkner's hair burnt, face burnt, arms burnt, but not very severely.

(Mr. Bell.) Do you consider them very severe burns? — Yes. Cauldwell was very badly burnt. Hugh Armstrong was also very badly burnt. He was perfectly unrecognisable from burns. William Smith, No. 13, was also very badly burnt. He was completely burnt from the top of his head to his legs, the soles of his feet alone escaping. He was completely charred.

Is there any other instance of severe burns? — They were all very badly burnt, more or less.

No. 18, George Stevenson? — He was badly burnt, head and face perfectly charred. No. 17, John Lawson, was also badly burnt. Thomas Armstrong, William Pattison, and James Richards, were also badly burnt, and Peter Strong the same.

(Mr. Edge.) How was William Pinkney? — He was badly burnt, clothes blown off his back ; entire body completely charred. He was one of the worst cases.

(Mr. Edge.) Edward Roberts? — Badly burnt, and identified simply by his clothes.

(Mr. Edge.) And John Lambton? — He was not burnt so badly as the others. John Burn, head and face and arms charred. Skin hanging off face. Smith was the worst burnt in the pit. Smith, Rutter, Pinkney, and Armstrong were the worst.

(Mr. Morley.) How was No. 14, John Brown, who died from after-damp.? Were there any marks of burns upon him? — John Brown, hair perfect, bleeding from mouth and left ear. No other marks of violence found upon him.

(Mr. Bell.) Did you observe his clothes? — No, I did not observe his clothes. The clothing of some of the men was completely burnt off. Smith had not a stitch upon him.

Some of the burns might be from the burning of the clothes? — The bodies were very much charred.

(Mr. Bell.) Can you distinguish burns from gas, and burns from heat or fire? — No, there is no way of distinguishing a burn from a burn.

I have been connected with colliery workings 50 years. I went down Jarrow pit in 1832. I have been everything in the mine but a putter, and I thoroughly understand the working and management of a colliery. I was satisfied with the manner in which the men under me carried out their instructions in Tudhoe Pit. I have been for 30 years with the Weardale Company, and I have been manager since the certificates came into operation nine years ago. I consider Tudhoe a safe pit. I know where the different caution boards were placed in the pit, and I consider that they were placed in the proper positions. I told the overmen and also the deputies that they were to extinguish every light on leaving the pit each night. I have never known gas to be found in the intake. Gas has never been found between the East Pit and the grove into the Shieldfield way on the intake. I gave instructions to the master shifter to put new doors in where Faulkner and the other man was found. It is six yards from the coal, and nine yards to the rolley way to the door. From the edge of the rolley way to the door was nine yards, and on the wall side it is six yards. This door has been brought forward. There has been a door added from the wall side to the rolley way. In my judgement I considered it quite safe to fire a shot there. Assuming that there might have been gas (which could not have got there) it could not have got through this door into where the shot was fired. The air would have the tendency to drive it away. The air would press against the door and keep it up against the return. Cauldwell and Faulkner were good practical men, and men that I would licence to fire shots. They were as two good men as I have seen in the trade. Before this book was printed I used to write the licenses out, licenses to carry a key and fire a shot. Both the men in charge, and the overman and myself always consulted as to whether a person about to be licensed was a proper man, and we never gave one unless he was competent.

(A Juror.) Have you heard of men leaving the pit in consequence of complaints of gas? — No, sir, I cannot say I have. John Cherry had not a license to carry a key, but Michael Rivers had.

(Mr. Morley.) Have you any book with the names in? — I have no record, sir.

(Witness.) I did not see anything to cause me any anxiety as to the safety of the pit. On the Monday night previous to the explosion I saw the overman and master shifter. I put the question to them, was there anything in the way that they knew of. This was on Monday night, and the explosion occurred on the Tuesday morning. I had been in the pit myself that day. I always make a practice of meeting the men at the office about four o'clock, and consulting with them. On the Tuesday morning, James Titt came and called me up between one and two o'clock. He said the pit had fired, and I said "It cannot be possible." I got up immediately and went down the East Pit with John Naisbitt, William White, Matthew Hetherington, and John Taylor. We got within 24 feet of the Brockwell seam, and we could not get any further. I got out of the cage and slid down the slides. When I got to the bottom I found there was not a great deal of damage done to the East Pit shaft. The timber was blown about a little. I found William Sutton, the engineman. He had a broken leg, and was very much burnt. His seat at the engine was blown 27 yards to the south. He is too ill to come and give evidence. I left him in charge of some men, and then I proceeded further in. I went along the Sunderland Bridge way, and when I had gone 120 yards I found the boy Pattison, and a little further on I found Richards. Pattison was a pony driver. He was alive and standing on his feet. He has since died. Richards was living, but he has since died. I found Pattison's pony there lying between the tubs. I then arranged with Naisbitt and White to take the East Pit district. I cautioned them to be careful, for I was satisfied that a serious accident had happened. The ventilation in the East Pit was good up to a certain point. Part of the stoppings were blown out ; one was far down Sunderland Bridge Bank. We came to the falls, but could not get over them 200 or 300 yards from the shaft. I went by the return and got round from the door and found Andrew Carron there. I went down the return and came to the place where Cauldwell and Faulkner had fired the shot. The door was blown off the return, but the frame was standing uninjured. The door was smashed to pieces and blown into the return, and the bottom crook along with it. I went east into the refuge hole. According to my judgement I cannot say whether this shot had been fired or not, but I think it had been fired. I went to the Shieldfield way end, and found Peter Strong, the rolley way man, leaning over the prop. From the position in which I found him, I think he must have moved after the explosion. Then I went back to the shaft and got more help to get the brattish put right, and get the stoppings put in ; I made an inquiry about White and Naisbitt, for I got anxious about them. I went to the Team Valley way. I saw some lights approaching, and I met Tindale and Jones. When I was satisfied as to the Team Valley I went to No. 6, and I put some stoppings in. I found White and Naisbitt towards new No. 5. White was dead ; he died from after-damp. He was lying upon his lamp. Naisbitt was six yards in-bye of him, and he was very ill, and was unconscious for two days afterwards. They had ventured in too far. I think the after-damp came in from new No. 5, and had crept down after them, and cut off their retreat. I then proceeded to carry the ventilation along No. 6. I carried it along till I came to new No. 5. I was ill after this, and in bed till Wednesday.

(Mr. Bell.) Were the lamps of White and Naisbitt burning? — No, sir, they were put out by the after-damp.

(Mr. Edge.) Did you go into No. 6? — Yes, I think on Wednesday. I found a very large fall in No. 6. I saw Burn and Lambton on the inside of the fall. The other four men were underneath the fall. One was in the tub, and the others by the side of the tubs ; 39 tubs were in-bye of the fall. The chain was broken on the out-bye end. I do not think it was cut as stated by the witness Dark. There was no one found in No. 4. In old No. 5 there were two men found. One of them had a Davy lamp with him, and it was standing upright. These two men had died from after-damp. I went 100 yards before the stoppings, and the air was good. I was in the pit every day after the accident. We found two men (11 and 12) in the Shieldfield return. They were working about seven or eight pillars down, and they had travelled up, having evidently been making for the man-hole door. They also died of after-damp. There was another man in-bye who died from burns. The six other men found there all died of after-damp. I was not in the Croxdale way till all the men were got out. Smith and Brown were the only men found there. From the Stenton, where the shot was fired, the indications were all in-bye. From the East Pit indications were out over, and from the stables. All the indications that I have seen were in over, they were indications of the blast having gone in-bye. The stoppings were blown east, and part of the wall was also blown to the east, the brick wall of the stable.