DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70266#0053
EXPLOSION AT FELLING COLLIERY.
39
of them was seen, the howlings of the women, who had hither-
to continued in their houses, but now began to assemble
about their doors, came on the breeze in slow, painful gusts,
which presaged a scene of much distress and confusion being
soon exhibited near the pit; but happily, by representing to
them the shocking appearance of the body that had been
found, and the ill effects upon their own bodies and minds,
likely to ensue from suffering themselves to be hurried away
by such violent convulsions of grief, they either returned to
their houses, or continued in silence in the neighbourhood
of the pit.
Every family had made provision for the entertainment of
their neighbours on the day the bodies of their friends were
recovered; and it had been generally given out that they in-
tended to take the bodies into their own houses. But Dr.
Ramsay having given his opinion that such a proceeding, if
carried into effect, might spread a putrid fever through the
neighbourhood, and the first body, when exposed to obser-
vation, having a most horrid and corrupt appearance, they
readily consented to have them interred immediately after
they were found. Permission, however, was given to let the
hearse, in its way to the chapel yard, pass by the house of
the deceased.
From the Sth 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 almost daily renewed; but very few of
them were known by any persona] mark—they were too
much mangled and scorched to retain any of their features.
Their clothes, tobacco boxes, shoes, and the like, were,
therefore, the only indexes by which they could be recog-
nized.
On the 15th of July the bottom of the plane-board was
reached, where the body of a mangled horse and four wag-
gons were found. Though these waggons were made of
39
of them was seen, the howlings of the women, who had hither-
to continued in their houses, but now began to assemble
about their doors, came on the breeze in slow, painful gusts,
which presaged a scene of much distress and confusion being
soon exhibited near the pit; but happily, by representing to
them the shocking appearance of the body that had been
found, and the ill effects upon their own bodies and minds,
likely to ensue from suffering themselves to be hurried away
by such violent convulsions of grief, they either returned to
their houses, or continued in silence in the neighbourhood
of the pit.
Every family had made provision for the entertainment of
their neighbours on the day the bodies of their friends were
recovered; and it had been generally given out that they in-
tended to take the bodies into their own houses. But Dr.
Ramsay having given his opinion that such a proceeding, if
carried into effect, might spread a putrid fever through the
neighbourhood, and the first body, when exposed to obser-
vation, having a most horrid and corrupt appearance, they
readily consented to have them interred immediately after
they were found. Permission, however, was given to let the
hearse, in its way to the chapel yard, pass by the house of
the deceased.
From the Sth 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 almost daily renewed; but very few of
them were known by any persona] mark—they were too
much mangled and scorched to retain any of their features.
Their clothes, tobacco boxes, shoes, and the like, were,
therefore, the only indexes by which they could be recog-
nized.
On the 15th of July the bottom of the plane-board was
reached, where the body of a mangled horse and four wag-
gons were found. Though these waggons were made of