A terrible mining disaster, involving the loss of seventy-six lives,
occurred on Tuesday afternoon at the Maypole Colliery, near Wigan. About six hundred men are employed at the colliery, but when the explosion took place, shortly after 5 p.m., only seventy-nine men were at work. Of these only three escaped, and the work of the exploring parties, headed by the colliery officials and Mr. Hall, H.M. Inspector of Mines, and carried on night and day with unremitting heroism, was rendered exceptionally dangerous by the accumulation of fumes. One party bad a very narrow escape on Thursday morning, and a very gallant rescue was effected by two men who, it is stated, will be recommended for the King's Medal. The violence of the explosion demolished the headgear of the principal shaft, and blocked the galleries by heavy falls of roof, so that access at first could only be obtained by the Junction pit, half-a-mile from the pit where the explosion occurred, and in which a fierce fire was still burning three days after the explosion. In view of these facts, and the consequent impossibility of attempting any further rescue, it was decided on Thursday to flood the pit. The cause of the disaster remains obscure, and the inquest formally opened on Thursday has been adjourned for six weeks.
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