Page:Walker (1888) The Severn Tunnel.djvu/187

114 which had been displaced by blasting; the opening in the heading, therefore, between some of the shafts was probably very small, and some timber which had dropped down from the upper works had got into one of these holes and dammed back the water. The foreman on the Gloucestershire side, in order to let the water flow freely, had sent down a diver to remove this timber; and when the timber was removed, the water which had been dammed back escaped rapidly, and flowing down the long heading had overflowed the puddle ‘stank’ made by the miners in the bottom heading. They had sent out twice to raise this stank, when they found the water rising above it, and at last one of them, seeing the water come still more rapidly, was seized with panic, and he called out:

‘Escape for your lives, boys! the river’s in!' and the men had taken the alarm at once.

As they ran towards the shaft, the men in the other break-ups joined in the panic, and at last the whole stream of men—three or four hundred in number—ran for their lives to the winding-shaft at Sudbrook.

When passing through lengths of finished tunnel, they spread out in a disorderly crowd, running perhaps 20 feet wide; then they would come to a short length between two break-ups, where there was only a 7-ft. heading. Here they threw each other down, trampled upon each other, shouting and screaming; and then, to add to the disorder, the