370 Mr. Buddle's Narrative of the Explosion
there for the convenience of the wastemen. These doors are forty yards to the east from the place where those men were at work blasting down the stone, and being out of the way of the ordinary workings, had not been locked for some time preceding the accident. William Thompson's body was found lying just at the entrance of the stenting K., and the bottom or cistern of his Davy lamp was lying uninjured two yards within the end of the stenting, close to where the first door stood, the gauze cylinder was found hanging on a nail near to the place where he had been working,* the body was dreadfully burnt. While the body of William Johnson was lying about a couple of yards to the east of it, nearer to the pit, in a creeping attitude, but neither burnt nor exhibiting marks of any sort of violence. He had evidently died of suffocation, without much suffering, as his Davy was found in his hand. He must therefore have been in one of the stow-headways when the explosion happened, and had been endeavouring to escape. If he had been in the Rolley-way Drift at the time he would have been killed by the explosion, or severely burnt, as the fire had passed up the Rolley-way Drift further west than the Stow-headways with great force. As has already been observed, these man doors had not for some time been locked, and what could have led Thompson to approach them must remain matter of conjecture, as the having approached them with a naked light from the situation in which his body was found is the only fact that can be known. It is a common practice with colliers, when working stone work, as in this case, to make use of the recess, formed by a stopping, or a pair of doors in the opening through a stenting or Coal-wall, as a closet for their clothes,
tools, and provisions, and frequently the space between the doors is made use of for the same purpose. But whether Thompson had approached the fatal spot for this purpose, or had been led there for a private occasion or other object, must for ever remain unknown. Nothing could be more clear than, that this was the point of ignition, and that it had exploded the gas, in the two worked out districts, marked L M on the plan. [1]
- ↑ The bottom or cistern of the Davy lamp is frequently used without the gauze cylinder by the workmen, as a substitute for the commom lamp or candle, where naked lights are permitted to be used.
