As to the stories of what the searchers found
below, we must take them upon hearsay. That
the men did not survive the blocking-up of the
pit mouth for more than thirty-six hours seems
sure. They were saved the pangs of starvation,
and their death was easy and painless.
We know that they held a prayer-meeting
before they died, and we know little
more. With most of the accounts of touching
scenes disclosed to the eyes of those who
descended the shaft, every one is acquainted; and
we have heard that fathers and children were
found together, and that one man especially
was found kneeling with his little boy's arms
clasped about his neck. There seems no reason
to doubt these statements; but they are almost
too heartrending to dwell upon.

I was very glad at last to turn away from the
dreadful place. When I looked back towards it
for the last time, the rack-like wheels, relieved
against the fast darkening sky, were still turning,
and the strained ropes ascending still.

Great as has been the sensation created by
this terrible affair at New Hartley Colliery, it
has yet not been fully commensurate with its
importance. In the Black annals of disaster,
this particular case stands out in many respects
alone. The men, it must be remembered, were
not killed at once when this accident happened.
They were there alive within a few feet of their
comrades, but shut in, in a prison to which none
could penetrate. That dungeon was indeed
inaccessible. The men were there close to their
friends and relations. These last cried, "Give
us our husbands, our brothers, our fathers, our
sons!" but the cry was in vain.

In the case of another great catastrophe
commemorated in these pages—in the wreck of
the Royal Charter—those who suffered were
also separated from their fellows by only a very
small space. But another of the elements it
was that held those sufferers bound. The water
was their jailer, as the earth was the captor of
the miners at Hartley. Truly it is not the fire
and the water only of which it may be said that
they are good servants but bad masters. It is
so with all the elements: even the soft air which
lashed into a storm becomes so terrible a power;
even to the gentle mother earth which blasts
with her poison, and holds in such a deadly
hug, those who trust themselves unguarded to
her embrace.

Against all the elements we now take due
precaution. We have defences against fire, and
defences against water, and the law of storms
seem well enough understood to afford us some
sort of protection against the angry air. It is
time that the earth was thought of as a deadly
power too, and that we should look upon her
also as an ally that may at any time be turned
into a deadly foe. No doubt the day will come
when we shall look back to these times, and
think incredulously of the victims she has
swallowed up, and wonder at the small
precaution taken to prevent such sad disasters.

It is to be hoped that the apathy with which we
have looked on, while one alter another of these
dreadful colliery accidents have occurred, will be
finally shaken off, now that public attention has
been riveted to this, surely the worst of all upon
the list. Let no other topic of interest that may
arise divert us from this one till all that can be
done in legislating for the miner's safety has
been effected. It is much to be hoped, indeed,
that the men themselves, who are most
interested in this matter, will act, as they seem
likely to do, with the most firm determination.
That they are, indeed, aroused at last to a sense
of their great injuries, is evident from what came
out at the meeting held at Newcastle on the
very day when the terrible scene described above
was actually going on. A short passage from
the report of that meeting may be worth
transcribing here, as showing the laxity of the
arrangements hitherto in force as to the duties
of the government inspector, and as showing
also that the men, however roughly expressing
themselves, are certainly in earnest:

"Mr. Dunn," the government inspector,
"referred to the circular from Sir George Grey,
in showing that up to the present time the
government themselves had not the power of
making double shafts. He went on to read, from
his official report for 1858, a passage showing
that at a meeting of inspectors in Manchester
he had suggested that each inspector should be
empowered to require returns from colleries as
to the principal details of their working. A
good deal of discussion, he said, took place on
the suggestions, but no specific resolution was
come to. He thought they would see the
advantage to be derived from an inspector if such
a plan as he had proposed was followed out, but
he was almost ashamed to say that it was not
encouraged by the inspectors; and Mr. Dunn
went on to state that the men of Heworth had
sent a deputation to complain of the state of the
colliery, and demanded his visitation. He did
visit, and made suggestions immediately for an
improvement, and he had the satisfaction of
telling them that the owner had made preparations
for commencing on Monday to complete a
half-sunk shaft.  .  .  .  .  .   As to the Hartley
Pit, he knew nothing about the shaft. Was it
to be expected that an inspector was to go and
hunt out particulars of a shaft that had been in
use for years? .  .  .  .  It was the fault
of the pitmen themselves if they did not call
the inspectors more frequently .  .  .  .   he
hoped they would take warning from this time,
and take the thing into their own hands. They
had the power of making the inspector work: if
they did not do it for their own safety they had
to blame themselves.

"A MINER.—I believe you have something
like one hundred and fifty collieries to inspect?

"MR. DUNN.—More.

"MINER.—And you have something like
twenty-eight in Cumberland?

"MR. DUNN.—Yes.

"MINER.—Do you think you are quite able
to inspect all these collieries '?

"MR. DUNN.—If the government thinks I
am able, you know. (Laughter.)