Warren Vale Colliery Disaster
The Situation on Monday
It had been announced that 49 bodies had been found and it was thought that 3 others remained in the pit.
The search continued and only one other body, that of Thomas Sylvester, the fire-trier, was found.
One of the men had a spectacular escape. After the explosion he made his way to the bottom of the shaft, and, in a desperate effort to escape from the after-damp, by which he was then almost overcome, he climbed by the conductors several yards up the shaft to a small recess in the wall. By then totally exhausted, he placed his mouth to a crevice in the wall, through which the water oozed, and that kept him alive.
Soon after this, the rope and chair were lowered from the top of the shaft, which he seized, and was one of the first to be drawn up.
Some bodies were identified by the buttons on the clothes. In one case, the buckle of a leather belt worn round the waist.
There was confusion as to the names of people involved, and an amended list was issued.
Escaped comparatively uninjured:
C. Burgin, J. James, W. Dodson, T. Hague, J. Cooper, J. Shaw, T. Shaw, C. King, S. Pearce, J. Hobson, R. Walker, Matthew Hague, Mark Hague and W. Harrison.
Seriously Injured
Joseph Bownes, Rawmarsh, Jonathan Sellars, Rawmarsh, Abraham Auty, Rawmarsh, James Oates, Rose Hill, Eli Barker, Upper Haugh, George Linley, Rawmarsh, John Harrison, Rawmarsh.
