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January 16. — One of the most appalling and heartrending catastrophes that has ever occurred in any country took place this morning in Hartley New Pit, near Seaton Delaval. Over the mouth of the pit was the beam of a pumping engine, the largest and most powerful in the North of England, the beam weighing about forty tons. The men were being drawn up in the cage by means of the winding machine when the beam of the engine broke and fell into the pit, meeting, in its downward course, the ascending cage with its human cargo, the enormous mass crushing everything in its way. Five were killed instantly, and three were afterwards extricated alive. The beam, it seemed, struck the top of the brattice with such violence that the whole of the massive wooden and iron framework was hurled to the bottom of the mine, thus cutting off all means of escape from the lower portion of the mine, in which were 215 men and boys buried alive. As soon as the nature of the accident became known, the pit mouth was soon crowded with noble fellows, who at once volunteered to enter the mine, and render every assistance in their power to rescue the living and recover the mangled remains of the dead. The viewer, Charles Carr, esq., and his assistant, Mr. Humble, were soon on the spot, along with Hugh Taylor, esq., of Backworth; T. E. Forster, esq., Newcastle; M. Dunn, esq., her majesty's inspector of mines ; Mr. Coulson, the master sinker of North Seaton Colliery; and many other able and scientific men connected with the coal trade. The shattered cage was, after herculean exertions, brought up smashed and torn, as if it had been manufactured of the weakest tin instead of the strongest wrought iron. The rims, about an inch thick, were shivered as if they had been the thinnest of tissue paper. And now commenced, in this district, six days of the most intense anxiety and harrowing suspense. Mr. Coulson and his heroic assistants laboured almost day and night in removing the debris, so as to form a communication with the men in the pit. Imagination in vain attempts to paint the scene which went on below: the agony of suspense they must have endured, the torturing terrors of their dim and stifling gallery, are all beyond conception; and then the pale, sorrowing watchers above, who thought of neither night nor day, nor of cold nor of privations, while waiting in dread anxiety for husbands, brothers, and children engulphed in that dark abyss. At last, on the 22nd, an opening was made into the workings, and one of the brave shift men, named William Adams, accompanied by two companions, entered the mine. They went along till they came to the bodies of two of the entombed men. Pushing their way along, at great danger to themselves, for the air was very bad, they found more bodies strewn in all directions. In all the ghastly company not one spark of precious life remained. On the body of Amour, the back-overman, was found, written in pencil on a torn newspaper, in a straggling handwriting, the following memorandum :-

"Friday afternoon, at half-past two.
"Edward Armstrong, Thomas Gledston, John Hardy, Thomas Bell, and others, took extremely ill. We also had a prayer-meeting at a quarter to two, when Tibbs, Henry Sharp, J. Campbell, Henry Gibson and William Palmer. Tibbs exhorted us again, and Sharp also."

This memorandum, though brief and imperfect, shows, as on many other occasion of a similar nature, that the horrors of a death beyond imagination have been lightened by the only consolation man could have in such an hour, and that whilst the men were passing through the fiery furnace they had with them One greater than they, who alone could solace and console. This appalling catastrophe aroused the benevolent and charitable feelings of the country to an extent never paralleled in spontaneity and magnificence by any purely local calamity. Everywhere, from one end of the country to the other, in rural hamlets as well as crowded cities, a consoling sympathy with the destitute, and a substantial desire to alleviate their sufferings and provide for their necessities, was manifested. The queen also gave freely, and accompanied the gift with the expression of feelings, which, next to the relief of absolute destitution, are the most acceptable balm to the wounded and bleeding heart. The Common Council of the city of London laid aside its rules of action to give 100 guineas. The London Coal Exchange felt a personal interest in the matter, and promptly subscribed 1,000 guineas. The brokers in Mincing-lane and Lloyd's also made large contributions. In this district individual sympathy and well doing was all but universal, and each vied with the other in liberality. Public meetings were held in Newcastle, Tynemouth, Morpeth, Hexham, Blyth, and other places, with a promptitude which showed that the interest felt in the destitute condition of the bereaved population was not cold or conventional but heartfelt and cordial. These public manifestations of sympathy in this district were followed by others in London, Manchester, and other places, and a noble fund, worthy of a Christian nation, was raised for the objects of the general solicitude. On the 26th the last sad phase of this fearful tragedy was completed by the bodies being solemnly interred in the silent grave; and so great was the number of persons and vehicles composing the procession, that although Earsdon Church is four miles from New Hartley, the first rough hearse had arrived at the church before the last had left the colliery. The burial ground attached to the parish church at Earsdon was totally inadequate to the extraordinary requirements made upon it, and provision had consequently to be made outside the church-yard for nearly the whole of the bodies. The ground for the purpose was given by His Grace the Duke of Northumberland. After the bodies had been laid in the graves, there were sorrowing friends anxiously inquiring the exact spot at which were laid those for whom they mourned; and the tender flower and gloomy cypress, planted by the hand and watered with the tear of affection, will bloom there when the memory of those who sleep peacefully beneath shall have passed away from the earth. [LRF]

February 26. — This afternoon an accident of a fatal nature occurred on the Blyth and Tyne Railway, near Prospect Hill. It appeared that two travelling Jews, one a glazier, and the other a jeweller, named Mark Moses, were coming down the line, when a train of laden coal waggons, not heard by the two men, struck down Moses, and passing over his body, literally severed it in twain. [LRF]

March 29. — An alarming accident occurred at Seaham Colliery, which might have been attended with a greater loss of life than the Hartley calamity, had there not been means of exit by another pit. It appeared that while a tub was being brought to bank, the rope broke, and the tub dashed against the brattice work, carrying away it and masses of stone, by which the shaft became completely choked up. There were at the time between 300 and 400 men and boys in the pit, and about 70 ponies. The ingress of the air being stopped, and the smoke and stythe accumulating below, the men became alarmed, and at once made their way to a communication, which, fortunately, had only been recently formed with the Seaton pit, by which means they were all speedily rescued. But for this communication they all would have perished, as it was asserted by the men, that they could not have lived two hours in the pit, for the stythe caused by the shaft being blocked up. [LRF]

May 20. — This evening one of the most interesting meetings ever convened in the North of England took place in the New Town Hall, Newcastle, for the purpose of presenting to the noble men who worked in the shaft at Hartley New Colliery during the time of the great calamity with the testimonials raised by public subscription for them. The testimonials consisted of a medal and a sum of money for each of the sinkers. The medal for Mr. Coulson being of gold and those for the men of silver. Previous to the meeting a large number of the sinkers and their wives partook of refreshments, provided for them at Mr. Brinton’s. Shortly before seven o’clock they took their places on the platform, the rest of the building being nearly filled with an audience, composed of ladies and gentlemen connected with the calamity at Hartley and the proceedings which resulted from it. The chair was taken by Hugh Taylor, esq. The following are the awards of the medals and money :— William Coulson, gold medal; William Coulson, jun., gold medal; George Emmerson, £30; William Shields, £30 ; David Wilkinson, £30; John Angus, £8 ; John Burns, £14 ; Mitchel Bailey, £6; Fenwick Charlton, £6; Matthew Chapman, £14; Edward Davison, £15 ; Matthew Dodds, £16 ; George Graham, £8; John Henderson, £10; Thomas Hetherington, £6; Ralph Harrison, £14; Robert Hamilton, £4; John Heron, £18; Elsdon Heron, £19 ; Ralph Heron, £19 ; Lashley Hope, £13; William Johnson, £7; Richard Johnson, £17; Peter Lindsay, £14; John Little, £17; R. Maughan, £16; John Manderson, £11; Robert Milburne, £5; James Muters, £14; John Nevens, £4 ; George Pace, £11 ; William Reed, £19; John Smith, £17 ; Henry Snowden, £17; George Sedgewick, £13; Andrew Swaine, £19; Jesse Smith, £5; Richard Wilson, £16; Total in money, £509. [LRF]

August 20. — This afternoon a boy, named David Fittes, 13 years of age, was killed in a quarry. The deceased was a shoemaker, and resided with his uncle, James Sessford, Hindhaugh-street, Barrack-road. Near Hindhaugh-street there is a quarry, belonging to Mr. John Robson, where a number of men were engaged in taking out the stone. The deceased had passed the men, and had gone down a hole into an old pit working, and was in the act of taking out some coals when one of the old props gave way, and a large stone fell upon him and killed him on the spot. [LRF]

September 5. — A serious accident occurred at Monkwearmouth Colliery, accompanied with the loss of five lives. It appeared that about 100 fathoms from the mouth of the shaft a commencement had been made to wall the sides of the pit, the men working upon a "cradle," suspended by six chains to a tremendously strong rope attached to an engine, by which the "cradle" could be moved up and down as the work progressed. Early this morning, as five men were at work on the "cradle," the scaffold above the 180 fathom drift suddenly gave way, and with a fearful noise went down the pit. A tremendous rush of air down the shaft immediately followed ; and so strong was the suction upon the "cradle" that four of the six chains gave way, the "cradle" canted to one side, and the five men were plunged into the frightful abyss. Their names were Robert Dryden, James Hall, David Mason, Robert Lamb, and Charles Wright. [LRF]

November 22. — Intelligence reached Newcastle this morning that Walker Colliery had exploded, thereby causing the death of sixteen of the persons employed in it, fourteen men and two boys. Walker Colliery is the property of the Corporation of Newcastle, but it had been leased for a long period to a company of gentlemen amongst whom were Mr. N. G. Lambert and the Messrs. Jobling. [LRF]

 

 

 

• LRF — Local Records or Historical Register of Remarkable Events by T. Fordyce, Published in 1867