The bodies were found under various circumstances: one miner, from his position, must have been sleeping when the explosion happened, and had never opened his eyes. In one spot were found twenty-one bodies in ghastly confusion,—some like mummies, scorched as dry as if they had been baked; one wanted its head, another an arm—the scene was most terrific: the power of the fire was visible upon all, but its effects were very various; while some were almost torn to pieces, there were others who appeared as if they had sunk down overpowered by sleep.
Every family had made arrangements for receiving the dead bodies of their kindred; but Dr. Ramsay having given his opinion, that such a proceeding might spread a putrid fever through the neighbourhood, and the first body when exposed to observation having presented a most horrid and corrupt appearance, the people very properly consented to have each body interred as soon as it was discovered, on condition that the hearse, in its way to the chapel-yard, should pass by the door of the deceased.
From the 8th of July to the 19th of September, the heart-rending scene of mothers and widows examining the putrid bodies of their sons and husbands, for marks by which to identify them, was daily renewed; but very few of them were recognised by any personal mark—they were too much mangled and scorched to retain any of their features: their clothes, tobacco-boxes, and shoes, were therefore the only indications by which they could be identified.
The total loss from this terrible accident was ninety-two pitmen; while forty widows, sixty girls, and twenty-six boys, comprising in all one hundred and twenty six persons, were thrown upon the benevolence of the public.
It was impossible that an event of such awful magnitude should not have deeply affected every humane person resident in the district. Nothing, in short, could exceed the anxiety which was manifested on the occasion; but, most unfortunately, there existed an invincible prejudice against every proposition that could be offered, from a general impression as to the utter hopelessness of any attempt to discover a remedy. A few philosophic individuals, however, did form themselves, as we shall presently learn, into an association for the laudable purpose of inviting the attention of scientific men to the subject, and of obtaining from them any suggestions which might lead to a more secure method of lighting the mines.
To the Reverend Dr. Gray, the present Lord Bishop of Bristol, who, at the period to which I allude, was the Rector of Bishop-Wearmouth, and one of the most zealous and intelligent members of the association, I beg to offer my public acknowledgments and thanks for the several highly interesting communications and letters with which his Lordship has obliged me, and by means of which I have been enabled to present to the scientific world a complete history of those proceedings which have so happily led to a discovery, of which it is not too much to say that it is, at once, the pride of science, the triumph of humanity, and the glory of the age in which we live.
In a letter I had lately the honour of receiving from that learned prelate, his Lordship says, "It was at a time when all relief was deemed hopeless, that Mr. Wilkinson, a barrister in London, and a gentleman distinguished for the humanity of his disposition, suggested the expediency of establishing a society for the purpose of enquiring whether any, and what, methods of security might be adopted for the prevention of those accidents so frequently occurring in the collieries of Northumberland and Durham.
"In consequence of this benevolent suggestion, a society was established at Bishop-Wearmouth, on the 1st of October 1813, by Sir Ralph Milbanke, afterwards Sir Ralph Noel, Dr. Gray, Dr. Pemberton, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Stephenson, and several other gentlemen. It was entitled, 'A Society for preventing Accidents in Coal-Mines;' and it immediately obtained the patronage of the Bishop of Durham, the Duke of Northumberland, and other noblemen and gentlemen.
"A very few days before the first meeting, twenty-seven persons had been killed in a colliery in which Sir Ralph Milbanke had an interest, and he was called upon at the meeting to state the particulars of the accident. At that time there was such little expectation that any means could be devised to prevent the occurrence of these explosions, that the object of the gentlemen who convened the meeting, however humane in principle, was considered by the persons present as chimerical and visionary. The Society, however, amidst many difficulties and considerable discouragement, and a perpetual harass by the offer of impracticable schemes from every quarter, nevertheless persevered in their meetings, and succeeded in establishing a communication and correspondence with other Societies in different parts of the kingdom."[27]
"One of the projects offered was, that electrical machines should be employed, with ramifications to extend through all the departments of the collieries, and which were to be excited in discharging their fluid in constant succession, in order gradually to destroy the inflammable air. Many other suggestions were proposed, the principal of which were formed with the intention of purifying the air of the pits by chemical processes, or by forcing in large quantities of atmospheric air, through pipes and tunnels, &c.