Today we look back at the life and remember James ALLAN, who has the unfortunate position of being first alphabetically in the list of 215 miners who died in the Blantyre Pit Disaster on Monday 22nd October 1877. James Allan was just 22 years old, a single man when he died in Pit 3 in […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 8….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877…..the day after the disaster describing events in detail of the terrible day before. Here crowds arrive around the pithead on the Monday afternoon. “Then sharp breathing and excited groups pressed round the shaft mouth, anxious to be relieved from suspense, yet fearful that […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 7….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877…..the day after the disaster describing events in detail of the tragic day before…..here the account of rescuers finding bodies is described, which may make for upsetting reading. Mr McFarlane described the scene in the workings, so far as they could, penetrate, as something […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 5….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877…..describing events in detail from the disaster morning before. We return to Pit 2 and the bravery of the first men sent down to inspect what was happening. One man, however, who made a very narrow escape with his life—to wit, John Sharp, a […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 6….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877…..the day after the disaster describing events in detail from the disaster morning. It is only consistent with the character of miners to say that the moment the extent of the calamity was realised, there were many willing hands ready to embark on the […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 4 ….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877….. “Many of those at the pit-head had their whiskers, eyebrows, and hair singed, and the manager Mr Watson has his face and hands scorched. We looked into each other’s faces, each fearing to say a word, because we only knew too truly […]
Continued from Parts 1 and 2 ….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877….. “When the colliers are at work, they dig the coal from the face, and throw it behind them. The mineral is conveyed in hutches to the pit bottom, and thence to the surface but when the end of the seam has been […]