3-046-991 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Morley Main Colliery, near Dewsbury, after the explosion, 1872. 'The terrible disaster...by which about forty men and boys lost their lives, was an explosion of the inflammable gas; and there is too much cause for believing that it was due to the carelessness of some of the men, in using lucifer-matches where they were working. At the inquest, evidence was given that in the pockets of the deceased, matches, fusees, tobacco, and pipes and a key wherewith to open the safety lamp, were found; and Ralph Berry, the underground steward, spoke to having smelled tobacco-smoke in the pit two hours before the explosion...The narratives of survivors and explorers describe the state of things in the mine during thirty-six hours after the explosion. When the first exploring party went down,...a shocking sight presented itself. The dead and the dying were lying about on every side, and the groans of the injured, were heartrending...The dead were round in various positions, but most of them had apparently fallen on their faces to escape from the suffocating gas, called "after-damp," which at last overcame them. The...means of ventilation were completely destroyed'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.