About eight o'clock on the morning of Thursday the 30th September 1858, Thomas Kellet, a back overman at the Page Bank Colliery, and who also had a general charge of the shaft, descended the pit with the intention of attending to his daily duties in the mine, but in doing so he perceived a smell of burning timber, and on reaching the bottom he sent for the principal overman, John Mould, and told him he feared something was burning in the shaft. Both Mould and Kellet then looked up the shaft without seeing any fire, although both of them then distinguished the smell of burning wood, and the former got into, and the latter upon the top of the cage, with a view of ascending the shaft and applying an additional quantity of water to the shaft brattice, having first despatched messengers into the various parts of the mine to alarm the workmen, and to tell them to come to the shaft, for the purpose of leaving the mine, until any fire that might be found to exist should be extinguished.

After Mould and Kellet had been drawn about ten fathoms up the shaft, something fell from above them, which knocked Kellet off the top of the cage, causing him to fall to the bottom of the shaft, notwithstanding which, the cage, with Mould the overman in it, was, without being stopped, drawn to the surface, amidst a discharge of smoke and dust that the brakesman and banksman had observed to commence issuing from the top of the pit, immediately after they heard the noise caused by the materials falling in the shaft.

After the overman had reached the surface, he and others went to the spout or landry box, into which the water raised from the mine by a large pumping engine was discharged, and, so far as they could amidst the smoke, diverted the current of water back into the open shaft, in order to extinguish the fire, giving rise to the smoke which was now issuing in thick volumes out of the top of the shaft; but the fire appears to have extended very rapidly, as only a short time elapsed till the flames reached the top of the pit, and in a short time burnt the pump rods or spears, so as to render the pumping engine useless, by their severance.

Mr. Johnson, the viewer, and myself reached the colliery together, a little after 10 o'clock, when we found that the flames at the surface had been subdued, but a dense smoke was still issuing from the top of the pit; a small fire engine being employed in pumping water from the end of a pipe connected with the engine pond, into the shaft; the supply of water through the pipe was very small, and orders were given to cut an open channel from the pond (which was situated at a much higher level than the top of the pit) to near the mouth of the shaft, so as to allow the water to flow of itself, into spouts discharging it into the shaft ; and several carts, containing all the suitable vessels that could be obtained, were employed to lead water from the River Wear, a distance of about a quarter of a mile, to be emptied into the same channel.

Messengers and telegrams were forwarded to the various surrounding towns and collieries in order to obtain as many fire-engines as possible; to pump water from the river into the shaft, and carts were sent off in various directions to bring brattice cloth for the purpose of clearing the shaft of smoke, and restoring the ventilation of the mine, with a view to the rescue of the workmen and boys from their perilous position.

Mr. Armstrong, of Wingate Grange, viewer to the lessor of the Page Bank Royalty, arrived shortly after noon, and co-operated with Mr. Johnson and myself in devising and executing measures for the extinguishing of the fire and the rescue of the workmen; and at night, after an attempt had been made to restore the ventilation by means of brattice cloths, but which had for the time to be abandoned, owing to the workmen being unable to endure the smoke and heat of the shaft, our efforts were confirmed and assisted by the suggestions of Messrs. Nicholas Wood and Thomas Emerson Forster; and, after persevering all night, the first person was brought out of the mine shortly after 10 o'clock the next morning, about 26 hours after the first discovery of the fire; and during the following day the whole of the workmen and boys were brought to the surface; 76 of them alive, and 10 of them dead.

As this accident is one of an unusual character, at least in its results, I beg to give an epitome of the evidence taken at the inquest.

A general description of the colliery will be found in the evidence of the viewer, Mr. R. S. Johnson; and the details of the operations adopted for extinguishing the fire and rescuing the workmen, together with opinions as to the origin of the fire, will be found in the evidence of the same gentleman, and also in that given by Messrs. W. Armstrong, N. Wood, T. F. Forster, and myself.

The inquest was opened on the 2nd, and was adjourned to the 13th of October, when the following proceedings and evidence were taken :—

Mr. R. S. Johnson, of West Hetton. — I am viewer of the Page Bank Colliery. I produce a plan and section of the shaft. The shaft is 12 feet 6 inches in diameter, and was divided into three nearly equal parts. The shaft is divided by brattice, one of the parts being the downcast, the other two upcasts. One of the upcasts, — the engine shaft, — is an upcast to bank; the second upcast is an upcast from the bottom for 20 fathoms; then the air passes through a drift to a staple, seven feet in diameter, and up the staple to near the surface, whence the foul air is carried along a drift to a chimney 45 feet high, from which it escapes. The air goes down the downcast or coal-drawing shaft, thence through the workings, and returns by the upcast. The whole of the shaft, to the depth of 30 fathoms, is secured by plank tubbing, then, below this point, by three fathoms of metal tubbing; from there to the bottom, the strata being good, there is no timber or other tubbing, and the shaft stands without support. The depth is 45 fathoms. The main brattice separates one of the upcasts from the downcast from top to bottom. The main brattice runs from side to side of the pit. The quarter brattice which extends from the centre of the main brattice (at right angles) to the west side of the pit commences 23 fathoms from the surface and goes to the bottom. At the top of the quarter brattice there is a caphead to convey the air through the drift; the caphead is to turn the air through the drift; it is a continuation of the quarter brattice, turning off at right angles and horizontally, and so preventing the air going up the upcast, turns it along the drift. At the bottom of the quarter brattice there is a scaffold similar to the caphead below the furnace drift; it is for the purpose of preventing the downcast air getting into the upcast shaft, and for leaving the bottom of the shaft free. In sinking the pit a blower of gas was met with at the depth of 12 fathoms; it extended round the whole of the shaft. An accident was occasioned by the gas firing when the pit was being sunk, and the master sinker was killed. The plank tubbing was put in for the purpose of collecting and securing this gas, and gas boxes and metal piping were fixed through the tubbing, and brought up the shaft 30 feet above the surface in order to bring the gas from the shaft; that plan was quite successful so far as I have seen or heard; I have never seen anything to the contrary. At the depth of 28 fathoms there was a slight discharge of gas occasionally seen at the time of sinking. That was also secured by plank tubbing, and by a pipe into the upcast drift. A pipe was inserted at the bottom of the well used for feeding the boilers, which is at the surface, so that there might always be water in it; the pipe was sunk below the surface (so that no one could get to it to stop the water) and went down the shaft to the caphead into a box at the under side of the caphead, and thence into a horizontal box, (the whole length of a quarter brattice, and by its side,) in which were holes for the purpose of distributing the water over the whole of the quarter brattice. The engine feed water was supplied from a reservoir or pond at a considerable elevation ; that pond is always full of water, and at the time of the accident there was seven or eight feet depth of water in it; the feed well is seven feet deep, and always full of water. The piping for conveying the water from the feed well to the box at the caphead cannot become stopped up, as it is sunk below the surface, and cannot be got to and there is seven feet of water in the feed well. Nothing could come down the pipe to the feed which would stop up the pipe from the feed to the caphead. It will, I believe, be shown afterwards that the water was on at the time the accident occurred. There is another supply of water from the surface, which flows down the wall sides of the pit, and falls upon the caphead, where it distributes itself by a ledge at the caphead over the other side of the quarter brattice and the downcast side. As regards the engine pit, one of the upcasts, the waste water from the pumps was so considerable as to keep the shaft constantly wet. The water from rings in the shaft, being part of the waste water from the pumps, got upon the main brattice and the second upcast side and kept it wet; it got to it by running through at the ends and swelling over at the rings. The furnace drift comes into the shaft at a distance of three fathoms from the seam; this drift is eight feet wide; there is a separate ventilating drift at the south-east side of the furnace drift; the furnace drift and this bye drift enter the upcast shaft together. The heated air went through the furnace and the cool air through the bye drift. One half of the whole of the pit's air would pass over the furnace and the other half partly by the bye drift and partly underneath the furnace. On the north-west side of the furnace drift there is a travelling way, in which were two doors separating the downcast from the upcast air. The furnace would be 30 yards from the shaft; the furnace was a temporary furnace, and was only five feet wide; the bars were six feet in length; the furnace was eight feet six inches in depth.

By Mr. Atkinson. — Do you remember meeting me on the 11th July ? No, I don't remember the date. Do you remember meeting me about that time? Yes, we were at Page Bank together, and discussed the general arrangements and ventilation of the mine. I submitted to Mr. Atkinson what I was about to do, to make a new drift, about one hundred yards horizontally from the shaft in-bye up to the bottom of the staple, to form a separate outlet of air from the seam to the surface. I was also about making a permanent furnace. Mr. Atkinson approved of that, and the work was immediately commenced. It was being carried on up to the time of the accident. The staple was plank tubbed from top to bottom. The workings extend over an area of about 80 acres, and had 23,500 cubic feet of air per minute. I produce the general working plan, and an enlarged plan, showing the places where the men were found. (See Drawing No. 3.) The men were all found on the Page Bank side of the river, in the township of Stockley ; the whole of the workings are in that township.

John Mould. — I live at Page Bank, and am overman of Page Bank Pit. On Thursday, the 30th September, I went clown the pit at two o'clock in the morning. I was accompanied by three of the deputies, David Bolam, George Robson, and John Wailer. We all went down together. There were no men ready to follow after. One of the stonemen, James Stobart, came down after us to mend the rapper. My first duty and that of the deputies, when we first go down, is to see that the pit is all right. It was all right that morning. We went into the whole of the working places or flats, each of us taking a part, and found all was right. We met afterwards in-bye, and the three deputies reported to me that all was right. The men that live at Page Bank came into the pit first. They came in about half-past two o'clock. The Spennymoor men follow them. They came in about three. I saw none of the stonemen but Stobart come down that morning. I did not see Thomas Horsley. The boys came last, between five and six o'clock. Before any of them come down I report all is right. I was up the shaft at five o'clock to see if the boys were coming in. Stones were being drawn in the shaft between two and five o'clock. Coal is not drawn until the putters (boys) come down. The stonemen were in the pit. When I went up at five o'clock I did not notice anything particular in the shaft. I remained at bank about a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. I then descended again, and remained in the mine until some person came to me. That was Thomas Kellet, one of the deceased, and the back overman. The name of the onsetter was George Sheraton. He went on his shift at six o'clock. James Stobart was acting as onsetter till he came. Each time in going down and ascending I observed the shaft and the brattice. That is part of my duty as overman. I found everything good in the shaft and brattice, as far as I could see. The deputies look at the shaft as well as myself. The men go down the shafts with Davy lamps. The onsetter and the banksman are instructed not to let naked lights be taken up and down the shaft. The men mostly go in the dark, but if they do take lights, they are Davy lamps. The lamps are lighted at an oil lamp at the bottom of the shaft near to the onsetter. After half-past five I was seeing about getting the boys started at their work at the different parts of the pit. No one came down to me between the lads and Kellet. He came down about a quarter past eight. I was then in the return at the back of the furnace, at the new furnace drift. Thomas Horsley, George Pattison, and William Pattison were working beside me. Kellet sent one of the boys for me to go to him directly. I was to go to the shaft. When I got there he was standing at the bottom of the shaft on the top of the cage. He said he perceived the smell of burnt wood. I got on a bunting and smelt burnt wood. We thought we had better go to bank and put as much water down as possible, and then go and examine the shaft. I could not tell where the fire was before getting to bank. I got into the cage, and Kellet remained standing on the top. The onsetter, Sheraton, rapped us away. The water was at the time running down the brattice as usual. We were then drawn away. We had been drawn ten or eleven fathoms up the shaft when something fell upon the top of the cage from above and knocked Kellet off the top of the cage. I did not hear him say anything. I could form no idea what it was that fell. I did not see anything fall. I did not see any flash of light at the time. I had not a light with me. I was drawn up. In going up I did not see any fire in any part of the shaft. I can't tell what I said when Kellet was knocked off. I got up to the surface without any stoppage. I was stopped a fathom short of the ordinary place. I told the brakesman to draw me further up. Smoke was coming up at the time. It prevented the brakesman seeing me. The smoke had beaten me up. It came up the shaft thickly. I can't tell what sort of smell it had. The first time I saw the smoke was when I was stopped at the surface. I did not see any smoke when I was in the cage at the bottom of the shaft. If there had been any I should have seen it. When I got to bank I went to set the water down the engine shaft. That was before I saw the flames come up. When we went to get more water we could not get to the landry box for smoke. The pumps deliver the water into the landry box, which is used to conduct the water from the top of the pumps away from the pit. We stopped the box up with hay, and so turned the water down the shaft. Several men assisted me. After doing that I went back to the shaft and saw the flames. I did not see them come up in the first instance. They were coming up then. That was a mere no-time after I got to bank. We next carried water to put the burning wood out. The communication with the mine was cut off from that time by the flames. I remained at the shaft from between eight and nine o'clock during the Thursday night and all the time. I can't tell when I left. Everything was done that was: possible to get the men out. I was at bank when the first boy was brought up. He was brought up by John Nicholson. I cannot tell what time that was. I never thought about any clocks, or looked at any. I remained till all the men and bodies were brought up. I had observed the furnace drift about half an hour before Kellet sent for me. It was all right. There was a man, John Rivers, a stoneman, working in the furnace drift between the shaft and the furnace some time before. He was cleaning bricks in the drift. If the drift had been hot he could not his bricks there. This was a day or two before the accident. I have formed no opinion as to how the shaft caught fire. I did not feel any unusual heat in the mine before the fire, nor in the shaft when I was last drawn up. After Nicholson brought up the first boy, which was on Friday morning, the 1st October, about ten o'clock, I went down next. I went to the bottom of the shaft. There were some men at the shaft bottom, several others at the furnace, and fifteen or sixteen in the first northway. Seventy-six men and boys were got out alive altogether. Including Kellet, there were ten dead. The first dead I found were three in the levels, Thomas Lishman and Thomas Attey, boys, and George Robson, the deputy. They were in levels by the shaft siding, which is near to the shaft. They were all upon their knees and elbows with their faces downwards. There was some water there about five or six inches deep. Their faces were in the water. They were lying one before another, I cannot say which was first. They were cold as if they had been dead some time. We had lights. In the first north-west way I found William Coates and Denis Haley, two men; James Stobart and Simpson Burns, two boys. There was a number of men living there. There was above a dozen. The deceased were lying on the levels. One of the boys was on his back, the other three were lying on their faces. There was water there as well, about five inches. Their faces were under water. They were quite dead. I had previously found Robson Reah. He was the first of all I found. I found him at the back of the furnace lying on his back. There was no water over his face. There were some men and a half dozen or more boys alive beside him. I did not find Kellet or Sheraton. In the places where I found the deceased, there, was not more stithe than in other places. I cannot say whether there were more men at the furnace than anywhere else. I went into the workings directly. I have no idea of the cause of the deaths of these men.

By a Juror. — I do not go to bank every morning at five o'clock to look after the boys, but I frequently do it. It is a common practice. The brattice was wet when I came up at five o'clock. The bratticing has never been on fire before at this pit.

By the Coroner. — About six or seven fathoms of the bratticing below the staple drift is burnt. Below that there is 14 or 15 fathoms of brattice which is not burnt at all. It is perfect. The fire had extended upwards. All the brattice was burnt up above, but from six or seven fathoms below the staple drift there was nothing burnt that I saw. I take every care of the ventilation. I have never had any complaints from any of the men about the ventilation.

By Mr. Atkinson. — This is the first fatal accident we have had since the pit was in full work. At the time Kellet was knocked off the cage I did not hear a sound such as would have been caused by an explosion of gas. I never heard any report or felt anything till that came upon the cage which knocked Kellet off. I do not think there was an explosion. I never heard one that day.