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The Clanny lamp was in use at the mine. Some years ago, after attention had been called through an inquiry into an explosion in a Welsh colliery, to the comparative safety of different kinds of lamps, Mr. Burn, the owner of the colliery, intended to introduce the Mueseler lamp in exchange for the Clanny, but was prevented from doing so by the objection expressed by the men to the former kind, on account of the inferior light which it gave. Since that time, however, the Mueseler lamp has been improved in this respect, and the objection originally felt would therefore probably not exist. The increased safety which this lamp gives, both by its capability of resistance to a much stronger current of air, and by the fact that the light is extinguished in an explosive mixture, goes far to counter-balance any objection on the grounds of the light being inferior, and of the danger of the light going out if it is placed in a slanting position. It was thought right to have the six lamps found in the mine, near the two points suggested as the places where the explosion commenced, thoroughly examined and tested. Two of the miners were appointed to attend the examination on behalf of the men ; Mr. Berkeley and Mr. Colquhoun, on behalf of the owner; and Mr. Atkinson for the Inspectors. The lamps were numbered, and had the names of the men to whom they belonged attached to them. The number of revolutions that were necessary to open the lamps was to be noted, and the same number was to be given in screwing them up after they were cleaned, so that they might be tested in exactly the same position as they were in when found in the mine.
The lamps were not tested in a current of explosive mixture, but were placed in a box into which gas was slowly admitted.
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION OF LAMPS.
Unlocked but screwed close. 2 poles over the glass have been taken out. Apparently uninjured. No washer. Takes two complete turns to unscrew the oil pan.
1st. Stood the test and went out.
2nd. Closed the windows and tested again, went out.
Found locked. 2½ turns to unscrew. Leather washer both top and bottom of glass. Screwed full up. 1st. Tested and found all right. Went out.
Locked. Saturated with oil. 1 1/8 turn to unscrew. Washer top and bottom. Cleaned and put together again. Screw was tight when unscrewed, but when put together again took about 1/8 more turn to screw tight. Tested and found all right and went out. Screwed only with 1 1/8 turn as found.
Locked. Screwed up very nearly tight, took 1¼ turn to unscrew. Washer top and bottom. Lamp dusty and oily. Sent out to be boiled. Gauze had a slight indentation, but wires are all good. Took 1¼ to screw on. Stood the test all right and went out, one pole slightly bent,
Not locked but screwed up. 1¾ turns to unscrew. Small coal dust slightly coked on gauze and saturated with oil. 1¾ turns to unscrew. Washer both top and bottom. Lamp gauze boiled. Took a littler more than 1¾ to screw on. Tested all right. Lamp went out.
Not locked, but screwed up. 1¾ turns to unscrew. Small coal dust slightly coked and saturated with oil. One washer at bottom of glass, none on the top. A little fine dust on the cap of gauze. 1¾ turns to screw on tight. Tested and found all right. Lamp went out.
| (Signed) | W. N. Atkinson |
| E. Cowey | |
| Thomas Colquhoun | |
| John Thompson | |
| Cuth. Berkeley. |
The foregoing report and examination of lamps agreed, as witness above signatures.
The last examination on behalf of the men was on the 23rd November 1881, and the report in the overman's book was as follows
"We, the undersigned, have examined the intakes, main area, return and working places, and find them in good working order.
We, the undersigned, have examined the Busty Pit, and found it all right.
(Signed) ALEXANDER JOHNSON ,GEORGE ANDERSON."
The examination by the overmen and deputies on the day preceding the explosion showed nothing at all unusual in the state of the mine. The ventilation was good, and no gas was discovered, although the different districts and working faces were stated to have been thoroughly examined. The last occasion on which gas was reported as being found was on the 18th March, but as already stated, the reports in the book kept at the office do not furnish reliable information on this point. None of the witnesses, however, spoke to noticing gas after that date until the 19th April, when the explosion took place, and the workings seem to have been in their usual state during that period. It was stated that in the east going bords in the west district there was generally a considerable amount of heaving, and that a hissing sound was frequently heard from the fissures of the coal.
The effects of the explosion were confined to the Busty Seam, and even in that seam they did not extend over a very considerable area. The north district was hardly damaged at all, and four men who were working as shifters at the time of the explosion, some distance along these workings, were uninjured, and only met the after effect of the explosion on their way out to the shaft, some time after they had heard the report, which one of them at first thought was caused by the firing of a shot. The south district was in the same way comparatively very little damaged, and from the indications of the course of the explosive force, it is quite clear that the origin of the explosion was at some point in the western workings. Five men were found dead at the foot of the shaft, and from the position in which they were discovered, it is probable that they were standing ready to ascend at the time they were struck down. In the West Narrow Boards the indications in the main intake air passage were from west to east, and clearly point to a force coming from some locality in the North or South Crosscuts. The timbers in the main intake were very much blown about, and the stopping. and air crossings destroyed. In the North Crosscut district, in the neighbourhood of the place where the bodies of McCabe and Middlemass, as shown on the plan, were found, there were strong evidences of charring and burning on the coal and timbers in the different passages, and at this place there evidently had been continued action of flame, as well as considerable force resulting from the explosion. The whole of the district called the North Crosscuts showed in a more or less marked degree the effects of violence, though the principal damage had been done on the east side of the North Crosscuts. In the South Crosscuts, the examination had not been so completely carried out, but in the intake air passage, starting from the caution board in the West Narrow Boards, southwards, there were signs of violence as well as of burning, and the brattice which had been in the innermost Fore Crosscut was burnt up to within a few yards of the face. The tubs and timbers in the neighbourhood of this point were also considerably damaged.
Two conflicting theories were submitted as to the locality where the gas ignited, and were supported by evidence.
| (1.) |
The view put forward by the owner of the mine, and supported by the scientific witnesses, who were called on his behalf, was that the explosion originated at the face of the coal in the innermost bord of the East Flat in the North Crosscuts, where the two men McCabe and Middlemass had been working, and within 40 or 50 yards of the point where their bodies were found. At the head of this bord, and not far from the face of the coal, a large stone, measuring from 4 to 5 yards long, 2 feet broad, and from 10 inches to a foot in thickness, had fallen, and when the place was examined after the explosion, a large hole was discovered running several yards up to the strata above the coal. One of the witnesses estimated the height at 15 feet, but said that it might have gone up to the next seam of coal, which at that point was 36 feet above the Busty. It was suggested that the fall of the stone let out a considerable quantity of gas, which had been confined in this hollow space, and that the gas became ignited at the lamps of the men working in the bord, and caused the explosion. This theory is supported by the marks of burning and violence in the bord itself, which are consistent with their having been caused by an explosive force, issuing from the point mentioned, and travelling out in a westerly direction. The positions of the two bodies were also consistent with this explanation, and had the appearance as if the men had been struck down as they were in the act of retreating from the place where they were seated at the moment when the gas escaped. Their cans and the remains of their food were lying some little way up the bord, and in a manner as if the men had been taking their baits when the accident happened. Two lamps were found in the bord, both of them locked, but one injured by a prop and debris which had fallen on it from the roof. The place itself was foul, and a considerable quantity of gas was standing in the bord when it was examined, and there were movements in the floor the whole way up to the face. The indications north and south of this innermost bord were somewhat conflicting, though in the main they were of a description such as would have resulted from an explosion originating at the point suggested.
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| (2.) |
The theory put forward by the men was that the explosion occurred at a point in the South Crosscuts. A shot was to have been fired in the stone, near the face in the innermost back cross-cut, not many yards from the spot where Hutchinson's body was found. The examination after the explosion proved that the shot had been fired, for the stone which had been brought down by the shot w as lying on the ground, and the roof showed that the charge had taken effect. The evidence, however, of the first man who went into the place was quite inconsistent with the explanation given by the men, for he describes that on the top of the heap of stone he found a cracket or stool, and a pick, which according to his account must have been placed there after the fall of stone, and before the explosion took place. The cracket was in the position in which it would have been p laced by a man who was about to sit down to begin to work at the roof with the pick. The witness who gave this evidence was cross-examined at some length as to the facts, but without the effect of shaking his testimony, and Mr. Bowey, on behalf of the men, practically gave up the theory which they had up to that time supported.
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The jury adopted the explanation put forward by the owner, and found that the explosion originated in McCabe's place, and looking at all the facts of the case, I consider that they could have come to no other conclusion.
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