Saturday 05 Oct 1844 (p. 3, col. 2) AWFUL CALAMITY. ----- DREADFUL EXPLOSION AT HASWELL COLLIERY. ----- NINETY-FIVE PITMEN KILLED. On Saturday afternoon, between three and four o'clock, the village of Haswell was thrown into a state of indescribable excitement by a most calamitous occurrence, involving the sacrifice of no fewer than 95 lives. The men and boys employed in the Haswell Little Pit were preparing to leave their work when an awful explosion took place, and nearly a hundred human beings were at a moment's warning hurried into eternity. As will be seen by the list, fathers and sons, brothers, and the entire male members of families, were included in this fearful catastrophe. So soon as the alarm was given, attempts were made to descend into the pit to the aid of those who were beyond all mortal succour; but the impure vapour arising therefrom, for a time, operated as a barrier to the progress of those who wished to go in search of the sufferers. At length, after the lapse of an hour or two, the foul air having sufficiently dispersed to permit descent with safety, a number of inspectors, overmen, and pitmen, went down into the pit, and by Sunday morning had brought to the surface the corpses of ninety-five ill-fated labourers. The scene of despair which the village of Haswell presented was harrowing in the extreme, wives weeping hysterically over their dead husbands, and whole families shedding tears of unavailing bitterness over the relics of them whom so lately they had called fathers and brothers. In almost every house some link of the domestic circle was broken, almost in every place were heard the wails of the widow and the fatherless. Sunday and Monday were melancholy days; the latter day especially, when many of the bodies were consigned to the grave. Thirty were interred in the rustic burial-ground of the beautiful old church of Easington; others were buried in South Hetton and the neighbouring village. In the public road of Haswell, and in the fields, might be seen throngs of people, almost all wearing the gloomy badges of mourning. Never do we remember to have witnessed so awful a spectacle, or instance in which death had achieved so dreadful a triumph; had his fell messenger the plague desolated these tranquil localities, scarcely a more ghastly hecatomb of victims could have been sacrificed on his shrine. Consolation to the bereft it would be worse than heartless to mention; time only can mitigate that deep affliction which has so suddenly burst upon them, and overwhelmed them with a distress which is almost as painful to describe as to witness. Below we give the names and ages of the sufferers:- Joseph GIBSON, aged 50 | William GILROY, aged 16 John GIBSON, 22 | John BROWN, 42 Robert GIBSON, 15 | Daniel LEMON William GIBSON, 12 | Thomas BRIGGS, 61 George HALL, 38 | John BRIGGS, 25 Robert HALL, 12 | James BRIGGS, 10 Henry WARD, 39 | William BARRASS, 32 John FERRY, 35 | John BARRASS, 10 George FERRY, 14 | James ROBSON, 11 Robert DOUGLASS, 32 | Henry WHEATMAN, 42 John WILLIAMSON, 34 | William WHEATMAN, 14 Robert WILLIAMSON, 19 | William DOBSON, 50 John NOBLE, 40 | John CURRY, 39 John CURLEY, 30 | Robert ROSECAMP, 33 Wanless THOMPSON, 55 | William ROSECAMP, 22 Elliott RICHARDSON, 38 | George DAWSON, 53 John RICHARDSON, 14 | Thomas MOODY, 25 John DIXON, 15 | Joseph MOFFATT, 25 William DIXON, 16 | George BELL, 31 John WOLFE, 25 | -- BELL, 28 Peter WOLFE, 20 | William TAYLOR, 21 William ELSDON, 22 | William DAVISON, 26 George ELSDON, 18 | William DIXON, 46 Henry MATHER, 19 | John DIXON, 21 Christopher TEASDALE, 21 | John PADLEY, 28 John TEASDALE, 19 | John PARKINSON, 28 Stephen TEASDALE, 17 | Robert CARR, 26 Michael THURLEWAY, 18 | William FARISH, 20 Ralph SURTEES, 19 | James MAUGHAN, 23 John SURTEES, 17 | John WHITFIELD, 31 William SURTEES, 12 | John WHITFIELD, 10 Mark DAVISON, 16 | George RICHARDSON, 29 Thomas NICHOLSON, 16 | William JOBLING, 29 William NICHOLSON, 11 | Thomas BOTTOM, 17 George DRYDON, 18 | John BROWN, 17 Robert DRYDON, 16 | Peter ROBINSON, 17 James DRYDON, 25 | Thomas TURNBULL, 22 Thomas DRYDON, 22 | William ROUTLEDGE, 18 Robert HOGG, 20 | William NICHOLSON, 18 George HESLOP, 20 | William HARRISON, 13 Michael CLEUGH, 14 | John HARRISON, 13 Henry CLEUGH, 12 | James LAYLANDS Matthew CLEUGH, 10 | John SANDERSON, 24 John WILLIS, 20 | James RICHARDSON, 41 Thomas WILLIS, 18 | James SANDERSON, 43 John WILLIS, 12 | John HALL, 10 John GILROY, 13 | An inquest was held on Monday, and by adjournment on Tuesday and Wednesday, on some of the bodies, before T. C. MAYNARD, Esq., Coroner. The evidence went to show that the mine was in good working order, and well-ventilated; and that the accident had in all probability taken place in the Meadows way, where the deputy had been drawing a "jud," (a "jud" is a part of a pillar of coal left to support the roof, and it is afterwards worked away). The deputy, whose name was WILLIAMSON, was found within twenty yards of the "jud," near which was his axe. All that part of the pit was worked by a Davy-lamp, and was considered very safe. All who were in the pit had perished. The inquest had not finished when the last accounts came away. The funerals of the unfortunates were proceeding on Tuesday, crowds of mourning relatives and friends following the hearses that conveyed to their last resting-places the remains of the deceased. Nothing short of a searching enquiry by competent persons under the appointment of Government, will satisfy, or ought to satisfy, the public mind. It is perfectly absurd to expect anything at all satisfactory from a coroner's jury, composed of farmers in close connexion with, if not in some degree dependent on the colliery owners, more especially when it is considered that the evidence laid before them must of necessity be that of viewers, over-men, and others, anxious to excuse themselves to their employers, and their employers to the public. There is much about this horrible occurrence that wears a very ugly look. We will not call the explosion an "accident," until it is clearly proved that it could not have been prevented by human care and foresight.