Page:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1838 Vol.2.djvu/407

 and gained access to the open part of the rolley-way in the West Mothergait drift leading from the south shaft.

As soon as the noise and hustle of forcing their way through the rubbish at the bottom of the pit had ceased, and they had begun to advance they were startled by the sound of human voices, some way near to them On proceeding a few yards, they found Robert Moralee, John Brown, John Reed, and the boy, Middleton, alive. They were all very weak and exhausted, but sensible, and knew the voices of the people who were about them. They were all burned and mained, less or more, and one of Reed's legs was dreadfully fractured by the fall of a stone from the roof. John Brown was severely burnt and contused, his face was stuck full of small coals, and dirt all over, and his eyes filled with the same materials, as if he had been shot at, and three of his ribs were broken. Moralee was burnt in the feet and legs, and severely contused; the boy, Middleton was severely burnt, but not so much exhausted as the rest; he was rather delirious. They were all so ill and weak, that I abstained from asking them any questions that evening.

It is impossible to describe the scene which ensued on the intelligence being circulated that some people had been found alive. Every one whose relatives had not yet been found, rushed to the pit in the fond hope of their yet being alive. The most exaggerated reports were spread, and the crowd of anxious inquirers thronged about the top of the pit so, as materially to impede the operations for the recovery of their relatives, which they were but too anxious to hasten.

The ascent of every corf from the pit was watched with the most eager impatience, in the hope of its producing other individuals who had escaped the general destruction. I witnessed one remarkable instance of the effects of sanguine hope, and the power of imagination united. Joseph Waggot brought up the dead bodies of his father, and that of Christopher Ovington, together, in a corf. He sprang to me in an ecstacy of delight on landing at the top of the pit, exclaiming "Oh! sir, I have found my father alive, and here he is." On examination, however, the vital spark appeared to me to have been long extinct.

Progress was made along the rolley-way leading to the north-west