nearly noon. Then the people on the bank and those living within half a mile of the pit felt the earth disturbed as if by an earthquake, and heard a smothered report, the meaning of which was too well understood. Shortly after, flames rushed furiously up one of the shafts of the new pit, and the roofs of the cottages, the hedgerows, and the roads were covered with a black coating of soot. Large masses of coal and scorched and blackened timber were also hurled up the shaft, and scattered about at various distances. The sound of the explosion and the shaking of the earth caused great numbers of men to rush from the other collieries and ironworks in the neighbourhood for the purpose of giving what assistance they could to those whose lives were in danger, and women and children ran from their homes to obtain as early information as possible respecting the relatives for whom they had reason to dread a most terrible end. They thronged about the pit bank so as to impede those who were active in making preparations for descending. With the prompt assistance of the men who had arrived from other works, the manager, Mr. G. Johnson, succeeded in clearing a space about the entrance to the shafts, and the cages descended. The people outside had not to wait long before about fifty men and lads were sent to the surface, and were eagerly welcomed as they stepped from the cages. There was again a tumult, as wives and mothers and children rushed forward to greet their escaped relatives, and to ascertain the extent to which they had suffered from fire or from the terrible after-damp. The above escapes had been made by means of the No. 2 shaft. The efforts at relief by the cages at No. 1 shaft were not so successful, and many of the men who were sent up there were dreadfully burned. A number of surgeons resident in the neighbourhood had hastened to the spot to give their aid, and the incumbent of the parish was active in his efforts to assist the sufferers.

The search for the men below continued throughout the afternoon, and as it was found necessary, owing to the suffocating nature of the atmosphere in the pit, to work by frequent relays of men, a great number of volunteers for the hazardous service was needed. There was no difficulty in obtaining them. Even those who had escaped from the pit, and whose injuries were only slight, went down again and again, and hazarded the lives which had only just been saved in order to give succour to those less fortunate than themselves. The explorers groped about the workings, and as they found man or boy, took him to the bottom of No. 1 shaft, from whence he was sent to the surface. So dangerous was the work of searching that frequently the men engaged in it were sent up the shaft either partially or wholly unconscious, and the medical men had to use restoratives. Some who rapidly recovered insisted upon continuing the dangerous labour. One of them, a collier who had been sent up in a fainting state, could not lie down until he had told how and where he had seen four men lying dead in a

heap. Others, who had also suffered whilst at work below, and whom the doctors had told to lie quiet on the bank for a while, begged that they might descend again, even whilst the noxious gases which they had inhaled continued to make them reel like drunken men. In the pit the explorers saw some horrible sights. Frequently they found portions of bodies lying apart, and they were at times obliged to send up the trunk of a man whose head they could not discover. At a late hour on Thursday night they had sent up forty-three dead bodies, and thirteen men and boys who had suffered injuries more or less severe. The sight at the bank was even more affecting than that below. As the bodies were taken from the cages the doctors examined them, and pronounced whether life was extinct or not. The women and children were kept so far back from the pit's mouth that they could not tell whose body it was that had been last looked at by the doctors, and were unavoidably kept in a state of suspense which became at times unbearable. Fires, which had been lit about the bank to facilitate identification, threw a peculiar glare upon the scorched and blackened bodies, and upon the men whose work it was to lift them from the cage and lay them before the doctors. Even with this assistance it was not possible to name all who came out. The bodies were placed in a cart in pairs, and taken to the Swan Inn. As the carts rumbled along, women would start out from the rows of watchers and ask anxiously about their husbands or sons. Very frequently no reply could be made to their questions. During the night of Friday the 15th, the recovery of the bodies was resumed, and twenty-five more were brought to the surface, making a total of deaths of eighty-five; a second man among those rescued alive having died since the accident. Fourteen horses were found dead in the pit.

In the course of the explorations the cause of the explosion was ascertained. The explorers found the body of the mining_blacksmith, and by his side they saw his lamp with the top off. He had been sent down to shoe some of the horses, and must have strolled into the workings. There is no doubt that he took off the top of his lamp, and the light attracting the foul gas which was about, caused the explosion. His head was blown to pieces.

Mr. S. Child, chairman of the committee for the relief of the persons bereaved by this colliery explosion, received a letter signed Thos. M. Biddulph," and dated "17th Dec., Buckingham Palace," desiring Her Majesty's name to be entered in the subscription list for 1007., and signifying the Queen's sympathy for those who had been bereaved by this terrible accident.

The North Staffordshire Coal Masters' Association resolved to devote 837., interest accrued on the Staffordshire portion of the Hartley fund surplus, to the relief fund; and they requested Mr. Wynne, Government inspector, to use his influence to obtain the Shropshire and Cheshire interest on behalf of Lord Granville as

coal master. 100%. was subscribed, and 1007. each from Mr. R. Heath and Mr. Yewdell (the latter on account of the Silverdale and Apedale Company), and 2507. in smaller sums.

A meeting was held, the Earl of Lichfield, Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire, presiding, in the Corn Exchange, Wolverhampton, to receive subscriptions for the sufferers. The subscription commenced in the room amounted to more than 10007. An inquest was held on the bodies of the deceased persons, and after a very protracted inquiry, the jury agreed to the following verdict:"We find that the deceased met their deaths by an explosion of gas in the North Staffordshire Coal and Iron Company's Banbury mine on the 13th of December last. No positive evidence has been brought before us to show how the explosion occurred, but we are of opinion that an accumulation of gas had taken place in some of the lower workings in consequence of the upsetting of a train of coals in a doorway, and the gas coming in contact with a naked light unlawfully exposed by one of the miners, exploded. We find that if the rules and regulations made by the managers of the pit had been carried out as they ought to have been by the subordinates, the explosion might not have taken place. We regret to see a culpable negligence shown by James Bassons and Charles Lawton in violating rules made for protection of life and property in the pit. We should also suggest that means be adopted by Mr. Nicholls, underground bailiff of the mine, for carrying out more strictly the rules of the pit with regard to men firing their own shots, brushing out the gas themselves, smoking pipes, and relighting their lamps in the return airway. We cannot too strictly urge upon Government the necessity of appointing additional inspectors of mines.'

19. FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY.-An accident took place which perhaps cannot be properly described as a "railway accident" though it proved fatal to the lives of three passengers, one lady and two gentlemen, on the Metropolitan (underground) line. The exact scene of the accident was that portion of the railway just outside the Aldersgate-street station, where the works of the new dead-meat market were in progress. These works were being carried on under the superintendence of a joint committee composed of members of the corporation of London and of directors of the Great Western and Metropolitan railways. Mr. Kelk has the general contract for the construction of the market, which was designed to rest upon a network of wrought-iron girders thrown over the large space recently excavated in Smithfield. Several of the main girders had been already placed in position, and the cross girders were in process of being laid across them by the Thames Ironworks Company, who had taken a sub-contract under Mr. Kelk. The engineers had taken the precaution to give the contractors notice not to proceed with this operation at any time when trains were passing. Unhappily, this regulation was not strictly adhered to, and at the moment the down-train to Kensington leaving the Moor

gate-street station at 12.40 p.m., approached the now open area beneath Smithfield, the workmen of the Thames Ironworks Company, under the orders of Mr. Maldon, one of their foremen, were swinging into position, by means of the "shearlegs," a cross girder, about 40ft. long and 20in. deep, and weighing nearly four tons. The train, consisting of four carriages, each about sixteen yards long, had almost passed the point of danger when the suspending tackle became displaced in some unexplained manner, and the girder fell obliquely, one end burying itself in the ground a few feet from the rails, the other end falling with destructive force upon the roof of the last carriage in the train, a second-class one, containing six compartments. The first compartment escaped, and the enormous weight of the girder, falling upon the second, broke through, and utterly destroyed the furthest back compartments, in which, by a fortunate chance, there happened to be only three passengers-two gentlemen and one lady, and Squires, the guard of the train. The poor woman was instantaneously killed, her skull having been frightfully fractured and her neck broken. The gir der completely destroyed the last four compartments of the carriage, which was dragged on some forty or fifty yards before the enginedriver could check the impetus of the train. The girder carried away the upper part of the carriage, and with it the male passengers and the guard, who were found crushed upon the ground. The body of the woman remained on the floor of the broken carriage.

The noise made by the fall of the girder speedily attracted a number of workmen in addition to those employed in placing it, and the huge mass of iron was removed as quickly as possible from the mutilated bodies of the sufferers. Information was at once conveyed to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and Mr. Cuddeford, the house surgeon, sent two of his colleagues, Messrs. Moore and Humphrey, to afford all the succour in their power. Under the careful superintendence of these gentlemen the injured passengers and guard were carried to the hospital. One of the gentlemen died almost immediately upon entering it—indeed, before he could be removed to a ward. He was only able to take a little stimulant, and he then sank at once. Both legs and thighs were frightfully mutilated, and the abdomen was much torn. The other passenger was in a state of extreme collapse upon admission, having fracture of the thigh and dislocation of the fibula, besides minor injuries. He never rallied, and died at 5.30 p.m. The guard was suffering from severe fractures of both legs, besides various other injuries. The poor woman, although dead when taken from the carriage, was also received at the hospital, where the medical men ascertained that her skull and neck were fractured, and her jaw broken.

An inquest was held on the bodies of the deceased persons by Mr. Payne at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. One of the principal witnesses, Mr. H. Carman, of Hampstead-road, builder, said he

was in the second-class carriage, when he felt it struck heavily overhead, and his compartment was partially broken. Some persons outside extricated him. On getting out he saw Mrs. Sarah Johnson lying on the floor of the carriage, under the girder, which was lying diagonally on the new rail from Aldersgate station, going towards Farringdon-street. He saw the shearlegs above the girders, but he did not remember their absolute positions. A thick hauser was hanging about six or seven feet above the girders, but he did not see from what it was hanging. He saw no tackling either on the ground or hanging to the shearlegs. Witness did not investigate further, as a medical man advised him to go to bed, as he was very much shaken.-Charles Ritchie, a fitter and hoister, working at the New Meat Market, said the model (produced) was correct. When the girder fell witness was standing on the last of the cross girders. The girder slipped on the one that witness was standing upon. It was first placed diagonally above and on the cross girders. "We were about to place it by the side of the others. It had been dragged by the engine across the other girders by a line through a leading block, going to the monkey-engine, which was some distance away. It worked a crab, to which the rope led. A foreman was standing on the other side of the girder, and some men-Smith, Jones, and Simms were at the end, whose duty would be to put a check-line on before the engine was started for the last time. It would have been difficult to fix it, as there was no hole at that end of the girder. There was no particular place to fasten the other end of the checkrope, but there was an iron stake in the ground which might have been used for that purpose. This was the first girder brought across in the way described. It was done so, being thought a quicker way. A boy was posted to pass signals from the foreman to the enginc-driver. The boy was on the ground with a white flag to start the engine, and a red flag to stop it. I don't know of any one being placed to look out for coming trains. The engine when started would gradually tighten the rope, and then suddenly the girder would start; and if you wanted it to slip a foot, it was apt to go three, with a sort of jerk. The ganger over all the men at work there was Chaney, who waved the white flag; the boy repeated the signal, and the engine started." Witness told Chaney it would not be safe to go much further. He said, "I think it will go another foot." Witness said it would not be safe to drag it another foot, as by trying to move it one foot it would slip three. Chaney then showed the white flag. The engine started, and drew the rope exceedingly tight, and the girder took a sudden run, and fell over on to the carriage. In answer to Captain Tyler, the witness said there were no orders about not working the line while the trains were running.-Charles Pinchin, driver of the donkey-engine, also deposed to the circumstances under which the calamity occurred, and said that Mr. Wilmott directed him to use the donkey-engine on the occasion.-William Sprignall,