"It was at the west the explosion took
place. I was at work with another man
and a boy, near five hundred yards, reckoning
ins and outs, east of the shaft. A
sudden rush of wind and dust came past
us. It put out our candles. We knew
directly there had been an explosion
somewhere, and we ran along in the dark as fast
as we could. We fell down several times,
tumbling over stones and large pieces of coal
or timber that had been shaken and blown
out. When we got to the foot of the shaft,
we found the iron cage stuck fast, all jammed
with the explosion; but we made the signal,
and another cage was lowered to us, into
which we jumped, before it reached the
bottom, by scrambling up the sides of the
shaft. When we got to the bank, and had
taken our breath a bit, we saw the chief
viewer of the pit come running to us with his
Davy lamp. We each took a Davy, and
went down the pit, to see who we could help.
We knew there had been sad work among
them. When we got down to the bottom of
the shaft, we soon heard moans and groans.
They were two lads, still alive. We got
them hoisted up in the cage to the bank; but
they lived a very little while. Soon after, we
found, two more quite dead, shockingly burnt.
We had not gone much further when we
found there had been a great fall of the
roofing; and among the loose coals and
stones, and timbers we found a horse and a
pony, all mangled and singed. We now met
the after-damp, and were thinking of returning,
when a groan made us go forward, and
we brought out the body of a young man
alive, but in such a state, he couldn't be
recognised. We now found that the doors of the
trappers in several places had been blown
out, and consequently the air currents had
ceased to ventilate all the west and north
workings, so that those who were there, and
had escaped the explosion, would be likely to
lose their lives by the after-damp.

"A strange smell of burning now made us
know that some other sort of fire was at work,
and as we ran in the direction it smelt like
burning straw, which told us it was the stables
as had taken fire. And sure enough, there
they were all in thick yellow smoke and red
flames. The horses were prancing wild about,
and one, who was blind, got out, and tore
away, and killed himself by running agen
a wall. We all saw death before us, if we
couldn't master this fire; because if it
communicated with the workings in the west and
north, where the bad gas was, there would be
another blow-up worse than the first. Mr.
Johnson, the viewer, acted like a man. We
all gave our minds to the work, and succeeded
in stopping out, with wood and wet clay
plaster, the entrances to these workings. Fire
engines were then got down, and we continued
to pump at the stables, and at the walls of coal
which had took fire on each side, and after we
had drenched them with water for several
hours, the fire was put out. It took thirteen
hours and more to do this.

"The main currents of air were restored as
usual, and we then continued our search for
those who had suffered by the explosion.
We found Robert Campbell and another man
crushed and buried under a fall of stone, and
William Coxon, and Thomas Wood, and Joseph
Johnson, all dead, but not burnt. It seemed
as if they had got to this place, and then been
suffocated and poisoned by the after-damp.
Johnson had the top of a linen cap forced into
his mouth, to keep out the poison—but that
was no use. A little further on, we found
two more men, and near them three little boys
—trappers they were—all burnt horrid. Some
distance beyond, Thomas Bainbridge, James
Liddel, and William Bower, together with
two, if not three, more boys, who had been
blown a long way, and also Robert Pearson
and Richard Cooper, both very little boys—
trappers. Up by the north heading we found
the body of John Reed, the deputy who had
charge of the pit, and also five others, some
burnt, some mangled.

"The cause of this explosion, which cost
all these lives, was traced, on examination of
all signs and appearances, to the trapper boys,
Robert Pearson and Richard Cooper. Cooper's
body was found away from his own trap, and
lying close beside that of Pearson, where we
saw reasons for knowing he could not have
been blown by the explosion; and all on us
come to the conclusion that he had left his
own trap-door open, and gone to play with
Pearson. The proper course of the ventilation
was thus destroyed, and when George
Campbell, whose body was found near, went
there with his candle, to fill coals, the gas that
had accumulated while the boys were at play
instantly exploded.

"You are surprised that children should
have charge of these air-doors, on which the
safety of the whole mine chiefly depends; but
it has always been so. They are often
trappers at six years of age. I was myself. Seven
and eight are the most common ages;
sometimes nine. In course the Queen's Ministers
don't know anything about these underground
matters. Some gentlemen were sent to look
after us, about eight years ago. They said
the Queen sent 'em; and they came down
among us in the pits, and about on the bank;
but I suppose they kept what they found to
themselves.* For here we are with our little
trapper boys, and our explosions, and our
burnt and mangled men, just as we have
always been. It's a hard life, any way;
but to be killed slap off, is worst of all.
*Far from it. See Report and Evidence of the Children's
Employment Commission; and, in especial, those of Dr.
Mitchell and Mr Leifchild.

"Now, as to the dreadful explosion and
loss of life that happened at Sloughton, I
thought I could tell you all about it, in some
sort o' order; but directly I begin to think
about it, so many things come at once that