A frightful accident occurred on Friday week in the Wood
pit colliery, belonging to Messrs. Evans and Co., about five miles from Warrington. The gas, from some unknown cause, suddenly exploded, and of 248 men in the mine upwards of 200 were killed. Every possible effort was made to explore the workings, the miners volunteering for the work—which was extremely dangerous—in scores at a time, but nothing could be done beyond slowly bringing out the dead bodies. The distress is, of course, most terrible, in one street every house having lost a member of the household, and the pit not being in connection with any Friendly Society. As yet nothing is ascertained of the cause of the accident, though it is supposed that gas had made its way into the mine from a distant working, and exploded on touching an uncovered light.
Previous page
