at Wallsend Colliery, June, 1835. 365 



some body there ; the constant falling of the roof, however, near the shaft, 

 deterred them from approaching it, and they sat down amongst some props, 

 to protect themselves from the falling stones. While in this situation, 

 conjecturing as to the probable extent of the mischief which had been 

 done, and the chance of their being relieved from their forlorn situation, 

 they heard frequent falls of the roof stone, very near, which deterred them 

 from moving from their place of security amongst the props, and one of 

 those falls fractured the small bone of Brown's leg, on which they 

 crawled further to the westward to seek a place of greater safety, and 

 again took shelter amongst some props. Soon after this they heard John 

 Reed, one of the rolley-way men, somewhere near to them, but he was de- 

 lirious, and they could not make him understand them nor gain any infor- 

 mation from him. Shortly afterwards they heard a knocking and the voices 

 of men calling in the shaft, which cheered them greatly, as they were then 

 satisfied that efforts were making to save them. By this time, Brown and 

 Moralee had quite recovered their senses, but Reed and the boy con- 

 tinued delirious. Whenever the knocking ceased, Brown and Moralee 

 crept as near to the bottom of the shaft as they could for the fall from 

 the roof, and called with all their strength, but could not make them- 

 selves heard. After repeated unsuccessful efforts of this kind, and finding 

 themselves weak and exhausted, although not conscious of being burnt or 

 materially hurt, they sat quietly down under the conviction that every 

 possible effort was being made for their relief. They never felt the sensa- 

 tion of hunger, and, although thirsty, they did not suffer severely from it. 

 From the first they never felt any smoke nor after-damp, but had con- 

 stantly a cool breeze of fresh air, which made them suffer from cold ; they 

 never moved from the place where they had sat down after they ceased 

 calling to the people who were working in the shaft, until they were found 

 at nine o'clock in the evening of Saturday the 20th of June, being fifty- 

 two hours after the explosion. They slept a good deal, but Moralee be- 

 came delirious, calling to his wife to bring his night-cap, and partly un- 

 dressing himself to go to bed, in which state he was found. They had no 

 recollection of the time the boy, Middleton, left them. John Brown, after 

 recovering from the first shock of the explosion retained his consciousness 

 VOL. II. 3 x 



