3-008-400 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The New Hartley Pit Calamity: facsimile of the entry found in Amour's memorandum-book, 1862. '...the substance of a touching yet consolatory record which was found in the pocket of Amour, an overman, whose body, it will be remembered, was one of the earliest brought to bank...we herewith engrave a facsimile of this document, an entry in his memorandum-book, to which is attached such mournful interest. From it we learn not only the resigned frame of mind in which the poor fellows met their fate, but also that the gas had begun to take effect on them at an earlier period than was at first supposed. On Monday week a large collection of the tin flasks, candle-boxes, and other articles which miners use, was brought up, and all day long the heap was wistfully turned over by the poor widows and orphans, each anxious to discover some memorial of their lost relatives. On one of the tin flasks was found, scratched in rude characters - probably just at the moment the writer had discovered the full horrors of his situation - "Mercy, O God!" On another were scratched the words, "Friday afternoon. My dear Sarah, I leave you" - as though the poor fellow had succumbed in the act of taking an affectionate farewell of his wife'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.2.