2-982-435 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Page Bank Colliery-pit on Fire, 1858. Industrial accident near Durham. 'The fire is supposed to have originated by a spark from the furnace failing into the shaft...An attempt was made by two of the overmen to descend, but...they were driven back by a sulphurous vapour rising. Of the eighty-six men and boys who were in the pit seventy-six were...drawn up alive...when the last of the living had been brought to daylight, a fearful signal was observed to be given by Mackay, the staithesman. It was well understoood, and the hopes which had up to that time been kept alive in the relatives of those still in the pit that those dear to them might be saved were destroyed...The women cluster to the pit-mouth, and the bodies arrive. The first is that of a fine boy, about thirteen years of age. There is a beautiful expression upon his countenance, and nothing to indicate that his young life had been taken by a violent death...The child is recognised by its parents and sisters, and cries of agony rend the air...Each time the rope ascends it brings with it two corpses...They are placed on stretchers, and taken to the crowd to be recognised and claimed, and the repetition of the same frightful scene produces the deepest feeling of awe and horror'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.