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OF AN YSTALYFERA ^OMAN'S LOANS. ^^GATIONS SCATTERED BROADCAST. n —— ollda.y Assizes at Swansea on 1{rv an Action for detinue was brought R orence Maria Saunders, -wife of IkI^H TtnaXl!1^ers' of Ystalyfera, against i» Thn,r Bees and Laura Swash. Mr. INcWu5' K.C., M.P., and Mr. Meagor li £ e fop v.1 Messrs. Rail dell and Saunders) fcT- an<i Mr. S. T. Evans, K.C JftPftcted Mr. R. Vaughan Williams for •^eesrs- Moeran and Words- defence. The action -was for tW* valn °f certain deeds and documents or and an injunction restraining th6 Bees from further using them, Jl to j of claim set out that t?u^ry 10> 1896> the Plaintiff (then jh *lced r*a Swash) at various dates iiu'f am defendant Rees sums of Hien??lntinS t(> £ 1,000, and that on the t oned defendant Rees executed a *"he Plaintiff of certain leasehold W11 to 8ltuate at Ystalyfera and at Bryn- W the re-payment and inte- £ -i**?1" ,cent- per annum, Bees also ^eh^6 rel the deeds and documents l^^ry to various properties. In hajjj ~?6, Plaintiff, at the request of law' » n deeds and documents < f C. g T as the mortgage, to Messrs. B. 0tl th n^^ns> solicitors, of Swansea, ^he 8ame nionth she, at of joined with him in a j the same properties to Messrs. R. ij?°f f5?^ins t° secure the repayment of a *iw,l0ed h anc* interest at 5 per cent, then 0{Tthem to Rees, the title deeds th# 6 SoliV^nt8 remaining in the possession tjh ^fenri rs- On or about January 4, 1897, to u^thon^l iees, it was alleged by plain- iiu**88rg i "er knowledge or consent, paid a and C. B. Jenkins the £ 56 and 1^ j obtained from them all the V documents that had been handed k^ry Plaintiff. It was not till •Itih year that plaintiff obtained W^ded °* this, and she thereupon flaS 'efusnj r€turn of the deeds from Rees, Ml in IV0 deIiver them up. Rees by affi- t,the action dated April 12, 1904, the deeds, other than the JafciteH ° January 10, 1896, were by him the defendant, Swash, in le 1:0 secure to her re-payment of to an<* moneys he had agreed to till an<* that he believed the same *ith her. The defendant Swash, Plaintiff's case, was aware of f56. °f 1896, and that the amount iijS anveQlaille(i unpaid, and had not lent th* ^°cbJaone5r. and did not hold the deeds t Dts 3,8 security as alleged, but at JjMn of Rees made an attempt to assist Oy) ?'.eating the plaintiff's claim. The th lQterest still remained unpaid, and .Return of the documents plaintiff u r? damages for their detention and &• Atjfl0,11 referred to. Vil^tiff inomas having opened the case 'h* '1 l87ras ?alled' ar)d said when she >. diij to live with Rees and her sister lot n°^ know then that the two ^rried, as her sister was called aKn„t rose-examination, she said she int0Ut three years ago. She admitted Monetary difficulties, and, asked 'Ik* hers thought the deeds of the property iHv *eI>liert^^T? not then apply for them, W li(« ?r because Mr. Rees had threatened Ujn blfT^ 'la<^ said that if I came back he r to Wi brains out." Counsel put a C'8 salr^tiff in which she said, "For *ir6 me £ 7 by return of poet or 1m ^il] i have no boots on my feet," but 1 4 Dsr, that at that time she had tyj'ter th°y in the world. Vst ^itta 6 ^iearillg of evidence, Mr. Yaughan ca^e<* James Lewis, of >» for who said plaintiff came to a litf?le^jcal advice. She told him she ill %ute ^^treesed because she had signed I) too tn ent for Mr. Bees and was too i i»» a„°w what it contained. Plaintiff was ^v.Wa.y delirious or mentally affected, -favies, a next-door neighbour to fieP9ai^ on Mav 1 Plaintiff told h'im to *0rr' s^° wanted to tell him she was •l? tor what she had done and she >' tlj^y 111 all. Subsequently Rees came, **Jad Were aH merry because everything jpee<} th UP. He understood it had been V ^bse^ PreS€nt action should stop. b^«ently saw a document being several witnesses. Mrs. Saunders S-d said, "I euppoee its all right." Wt^ilar ° ^ear what was in it. till ^es etV^etlce having been given by other Tuesday further hearing was adjourned "">La.y.

JUDGE AND IMMORALITY OF THE PARTIES. On the resumption of the case on Wednes- day morning Laura Swash stepped into the witness-box, and handed to his lordship a parcel of deeds which she had said on the previous day were given her by Rees in 1895, and the whereabouts of which she had declined to reveal. The Judge: We will keep these deeds together, madam. In answer to the judge, she said she had the deeds in 1895 from Rees, but a fortnight later she missed the schedule accompanying them. She then handed the deeds to the care of Mrs. Farran, who kept them until she went to Messrs. R. and C. B. Jenkins's office and gave them up for a loan for the defendant Rees, She had the deeds again in 1897. Bees had never told her why when he gave her back the deeds in that year. He kept in his own posses- sion one of the documents that had been deposited with Messrs. Jenkins. The Judge: All you knew was that a docu- ment, for the purpose of evading the Llandilo- County-court, had been missed?—The witness nodded assent. The defendant William Burchill Rees was then put into the box, and his cross-examina- tion was resumed by Mr. Abel Thomas, who questioned him very closely as to the docu- ments he and plaintiff had deposited with Messrs. Jenkins, solicitors, in 1897, which, counsel pointed out, included deeds alleged to have been previously given to Laura Swash. He denied that he went and deposited the deeds with plaintiff, but with Laura Swash, and that when he went with plaintiff to Messrs. Jenkins's it was with regard to the document she had drafted to deceive the county-court judge. He asked Mr. Jenkins for advice as to that document, but he said he could not give him advice that day. Counsel put the document given to Messrs. Jenkins by the defendant and signed by him and plaintiff, and drew his attention to the recital of its contents, which he submitted were identical with the deeds now put in by the defendant Swash. In reply to a series of close questioning on the subject, the witness gave answers indicating his inability to understand, whereupon the Judge said he absolutely declined to believe any statement he had made aa to not understanding what Mr. Thomas had said. He put it to him time after time. Mr. Thomas then repeated the question; Did you say the document deposited with Messrs. Jenkins did not recite all the deeds as belonging to plaintiff?—I don't believe I did. I believe this is a. got-up affair alto- gether. Did you go to Messrs. Jenkins's with the fraudulent document, knowing a fraud had been committed, and hand it to the solicitors with others?—I took it to them to ask if it was of any value. I did not know it to be a. fraud. I took it to 00 an insult to the judge. I did not think it a fraud because I did not think anyone was intended to be injured by it. Plaintiff then called rebutting evidence. Mr. Richard Jenkins, solicitor, of Swansea, was called, and Mr. Abel Thomas put the following question to him:—It has been alleged to-day that you were told by Mr. Bees that the document which he produced to you was not signed by him, and that he had not given authority for it to be signed, and that you said you could not advise him upon it that day, and subsequently it was included in the documents. What do you say?—It is an entire fabrication. I should have kicked the man out of the office. The Judge: I should have been inclined to think so. Richard Saunders, the husband of the plain- tiff, denied the allegation of the defendants and their witnesses that he put his mark to the withdrawal signed by plaintiff of the action. Mrs. Ambrose, a neighbour, was called to speak as to the health of the plaintiff, say- ing tiiat at the time of the withdrawal she was suffering from hysterics. Asked, In cross-examination, what was the meaning of delirious, she said she did not know. David Samuel Williams, insurance agent, also spoke to plaintiff being ill !n bed at the time. This concluded the evidence. In a judgment which occupied over an hour in delivery the Judge characterised the case as one of the most unpleasant he had ever had to try, because he had felt from the beginning—almost from the first witness- very great difficulty in satisfying himself in regard to the truthfulness on various grounds of one side or the other. It wae a case the basis of which rested upon a disgraceful state of things. He was not there to express an opinion on morality, except so far as it affected the action and the state of things and the aspect which gave rise to that actioa, as it originated in the fact of the relations which must have grown up where the man, the defendant Rees, had children by both the women, and the elder sister consented to remain in the house where the younger sister was seduced by her paramour, and had chil- dren by him, as she had done. Of course, the relations became very difficult to disentangle as the children grew up. There were con- flicting claims on the man by the two women, neither of whom had a legal claim on him. They had a man who had dealt very cruelly with the two women, and who, apparently, in this particular case was content to a large extent to live on their manual exertions. The feelings of the parties in those abnormal circumstances were such as might easily burst out into hostility towards each other and lead to considerable jealousy between the women, both for their own interests and the interests of their respective children, especially on the part of the elder of the two sisters, who had borne to him two girl children, for whose future she was naturally somewhat anxious. His lordship totally disbelieved the defen- dant Bees's allegation that he submitted the document alleged to be forged to Messrs. Jenkins, whom he described as evidently an able and respectable nrm, and, proceeding, said he was afraid—and that was why he oould not decide in plaintiff's favour-look ing at what subsequently happened, he could only draw the inference he ought not to be satisfied with her proof that it was a bona- flde mortgage to secure a bona-fide debt After severely criticising some of the wit- nesses for the defenoe, his lordship concluded by saying he, nevertheless, did not feel justi- fied in finding for the plaintiff. He was equally dissatisfied with a large portion of the evidence for the defence. He had been very saddened to see the demeanour of the witnesses in many cases and also in soma cases obliged to feel that they were inten- tiomally either withholding the truth or not telling the whole truth, however difficult it n.ight be to prove it in a court of justice. He had tried to get at the truth in a difficult and complicated case, and, while he could not hold the plaintiff had succeeded, he certainly should not mulct her in the costs. IIe goave judgment for the defendant, without costs. This concluded the business of the assize, which hae lasted 21 days.

DISASTER AT YNYSDDU. PIT SHAFT GIVES WAY. SEVEN MEN BURIED IN DEBRIS. A disastrous pit-sinking accident occurred a few miles from Ynysddu, in the Sirhowy Valley, shortly before six o'clock on Satur- day night, resulting in seventeen men being buried under a big fall in the shaft then in course of constrnotion, and in the death of seven of that number. Messrs. Burnyeat, Brown, and Co. (Limited), of Cardiff and other places in South Wales, are sinking into the virgin coalfield of the Sirhowy Valley, which in time is predicted to become a second Rhondda. in importance and in mineral output. The lower part of this valley is known to contain the rich Black Vein seam of coal. ,Messrs. Burnyeat, Brown, and Co. have been sinking here for about two years, and have already gone through the Rock Vein, and are going down to the Black Vein, which it is hoped may be reached about the end of the year. The colliery has not as yet been named. and, probably, will not be until the actual work of coal-getting is begun. For the present the place is called the New Sinkings, Ynysddu. The work of sinking is being carried out by the firm by direct laibour, Seventeen men were at work in the west pit OlD Saturday evening when the accident happened, and about twenty were in the east pit. They would in the ordin-ary course of events cease work at six p.m. In the west pit the sinkers had walled all the depth to which they had gone with the NEW PITS, YXYSDDU. The X indicates the shaft at the bottom of which the accident occurred. The corru- gated iron huts in the foreground were occupied by the sinkers, and in these the rescued men are now lying. I A exception of about six of eight yards. They were preparing what is known as a bottom upon which to work for the purpose of walling this piece, which had already been secured by two timber curbs erected in eight segments until the whole 20ft. diameter of the shaft had been shored. About ten minutes or so before the men were coming up for the day from the west pit a big fall occurred from one side of the shaft, which buried them all with one excep- tion. One of the men had jumped on a bowk, which was just going up at the instant the disaster happened. He, therefore, escaped to the surface, and was able to give an early alarm on top. This fortunate man was Matthew Smith, from Durham, popularly known in the work as Mattie" Smith. He heard the stones coming down with the first disturbance of the eides, and made for the bowk, which was then in the act of being drawn up. He sprang on the chain, which had been tilted by the bowk being hit out of its true position with the early fall of rubbish, and, covering his head with his arms aa best he could he avoided the falling stuff and was drawn to the surface. TO THE RESCUE. Smith's story of the mishap was soon com- I municated to the manager and the men at work in the east pit. With the promptitude and heroism which are characteristic of miners, rescue-parties were soon formed. Mr. Falcon took charge, and got down to the bottom with a number of willing helpers, numbering altogether about a dozen. They could see none of the men at the bottom of the shaft owing to the mass of debris. It must be borne in mind that the fall occurred from one side of the shaft only, and the men had for the most part crowded under the side from which the fall occurred, so as to be out of the way of the stuff when it fell to the bottom on the opposite side. They thereby avoided to a large extent the actual SOME OF THE RESCUED MEN. v impact of the falling timber, rock, and brick- work, but were wedged and buried beneath the pile of the ruined shaft side. The work of the rescue-party was not only an arduous taek, but one calling forth the utmost courage, as well as nice discrimina- tion in dealing with obstacles and the removal of the mass of material which had fallen upon the sixteen buried men. There was no time to send all this stuff to the top-men s lives were in too much jeopardy to allow of such a thing. So the reacuers 'had to push and throw all the elements of the confused mass on one side, taking care that they did not do damage to the bodies of those they were attempting to save. Only one by one were the poor fellows come to. TheIr struggles in the first onset of the fall had separated them to some extent from one another, and the fall iteelf had flung them hither and thither. One by one the animate beings were separated and released from the bodies of the inanimate, and carefully sent to the surface. Work of this description had gone on for about an hour and a. half, and the manager and his brave helpers had high hopes of bringing the whole sixteen men who had been caught by the fall out alive, when they were warned by a trickling, and trembling. and orunching of stones that another fall was about to take place. It was a moment of great anxiety. Should they stop below and be engulfed in, perhaps, a greater disaster than the first or abandon seven poor comrades to their fate? There were a few seconds in which to make up their minds. Already one of the rescuing party had been injured in the early stages of the second fall — a. man named Henry Williams. It was a moment for resolution, and, sad and distressing as it may n;ppeiar to a person who knows nothing, or next to nothing, of the peril of the position, the dozen rescuers had reluctantly to choose the lesser evil, and get out of the pit while there was a moment to spare. To leave seven men in absolute despair cut them to the quick, -but it was a oase of seven or twenty sharing the blackest fate. Down came the second fall just as the rescuers had escaped from the shaft. They had a very narrow escape, but their mental anguish at leaving seven comrades entombed was mope prostrating ilnir own peril. And -so, ezhaawted aDd baffled, and themselves only out of the way by a matter of half a minute before the second downpour of all kinds of debris occurred, they had to bow their heads to the inevitable and abandon all hope of getting the last seven men out. There in the bottom of the shaft those seven poor fellows now lie as they were engulfed by the second fall, and there is no chanoe of getting their bodies out for some days to come. Their fate is beyond question. Not one of them can by any possibility be alive. THE TEN SAVED. The ten men rescued from the pit are as follows: — Christopher ("Scotty") M'Guirk (41), single, a native of Dublin, living art Ynysddu. Mat Smith (41), single, Seaham Harbour, Durham. John Jones (27), Llanidloes, Bwloh House, Ynysddu. Martin Jones (42), single, Pontypridd. James Perks (33), married, Wistern, Dews- bury. Evan Jones (24), single, Cardiganshire. David Jones (32), single, Flint. Thomas Thomas, single. William Davies (43), single, Mount Pleasant, Abercarn. John Ham (48), married, Pontypridd. THE SEVEN DEAD MEN. The seven whose fate is absolutely sealed are as follows:- W. Everson, married, Ynysddu. J. Gabb, single, Ynysddu. W. Rideout, single, Bedwas. W. James, single, Ynysddu. Thomaa Richards, married, Llanbradach. Sam Wall, Sheffield. Joseph Norman, Bedwas. A PAINFUL NECESSITY. The rescuers found young John Gabb being crushed against some timber work. If he was to be saved, then the timber must be cut away, and this the rescuers commenced to do with a will; and then, when they had almost completed their task, a second fall, of even greater dimensions than the first, took place. The lives of the rescuers and the injured men in the bowk were now in great peril. Young Gabb saw this, and so he pleaded to them to hurry up." His brave comrades, with tears in their eyes, were compelled to leave him to his fate. The last words Gabb was heard to say were, Good- bye, boys; go you and leave us." Had the rescuers delayed their exit they, too, would have perished in the second fall. HIS BROTHER IN TEARS. I There was a pathetic scene at the pithead when the brother of the entombed man Gabb came from Wootton-under-Edge, Glouccster- shire, to inquire about his brother. I Upon hearing that his brother's fate was sealed, and that it was not likely his body would be brought up for a fortnight or so, he turned aside and burst into tears. THE INJURED MEN. Dr. R. E. Roberts and Dr. Richards, of Cross Keys, drove up to the oolliery together and reached the pits in seventeen minutes after being notified. They examined the rescued men as they arrived on the surface, and it is surprising to learn that the injuries were not of a more serious character. No ■bones were broken, and Dr. Roberts informed our reporter on Sundtay afternoon that the eleven men were all doing well. They were. of course, still suffering from shock, and it was impossible to say whether there would bo any permanent effects from the injuries. Those injuries coneist chiefly of flesh wounds and painful abrasions, while two or three experienced considerable pain from squeezing and bruising of the ribs and chest. One man- Martin Jones-was buried in the debris up to his neck. His head waa free, but as the water dripped down from the side of the shaft it splashed lime in his eyes and tem- porarily has considerably impaired his sight. THE MANAGER INTERVIEWED. The statement made by the general manager, Mr. M. Falcon, is as follows :— The shaft where the accident happened was the west of Burnyeat, Brown, and Co.'s Ynysddu sidings. We had got. down about 170 yards, and the men were putting some curbs in to continue the walling. A big fall occurred just before six o'clock on Saturday evening on one side of the shaft whilst seventeen men were working in it. They would have been coming up to finish their work at Eix o'clock. It is not easy to say how much material fell down, but it may have been about 200 tons, consisting of bricks, rock, timber, and loose earthwork. About fifteen yards of the brickwork with which the inside of the shaft-twenty feet in diameter -is lined went down. There was a fault in the strata just above. One of the men- Henry Williams, I think it was—oaught an early bowk which was coming up, and gave the alarm on the surface. A rescue-party of the men from the other shaft wa.s soon formed. I was on the spot very soon after the accident happened, and went down with the rescue-party. We have to get the men out singly as best we could. We had got nine of them out-and one of the rescue-party was injured-when we found that a second fall was coming on. I think the first fall must have come on quite suddenly and all the material fallen simultaneously. Whilst we were working to get the men out there were signs of the second fall, and we barely had time to get away before the stuff came down. and we had to leave the other seven men in the shaft. Even if there had not been a second fall I think we could not have recovered more than two or three more men alive; but when the second fall occurred —about equal in volume, I should say, to the first-we were bound to leave the place, as the wall was absolutely insecure. We have been working from the time of the second fall to make the shaft secure, as it was im- possible and absolutely dangerous to go down whilst the big cavity existed in the side and the wall was down." THE SCENE ON SUNDAY. In comsequenoe of the heavy rain which fell on Sunday morning there were very few visitors to the pits until the afternoon, when, the weather having improved, a large number of people travelled to the spot from places in the Sirhowy and the adjoining valleys. Superintendent Porter, of Risca had made ample provision for preventing any interference with the workers, and the space around the shaft was kept clear. The work of repairing the weefc pit was continued throughout the day, but no effort could be made to recover the bodies of the entombed men. About half-past one Mr. J. S. Martin, his Majesty's inspector of mines, arrived, and, after a short conversation with the manager, both those gentlemen, accom- panied by Mr. Belch, the foreman sinker, descended the shaft. They remained down for about half an hour, acd on returning to the surface a-nother consultation took place.

BURYING BODIES IN ORDER TO RECOVER THEM. Since nine o'clock on Sunday night the men have been doing nothing but filling in the shaft with ashes, which are being brought up from the North Risca. Pit over the old Ebbw Vale Railway. It is feared that about fifty yards of walling will give way, and before the sinkers can have any sort of a footing it will be necessary to fill up the gap below that depth. This, of course, is very costly work, and will take hundreds of tons of ashes. Instead of digging for the bodies you are putting all this earth upon them," remarked our representative to one of the sinkers. "That is it exactly," he replied. "You see, this work is made imperative by the fall which has taken place since Saturday. We cannot look for the bodies when we have no foundation to stand upon. The wall is giving way bit by bit, and if we went to start clearing the debris the chances are that we might be buried alive ourselves. When we have a proper foundation, and when we think our position is safe, we shall proceed to work to re-build the wall, and afterwards look for the bodies." It seems that the fall of rubbish was so great on Saturday that two of the wooden stages which are used to strengthen the walls were clean bowled out of the shaft. Under the circumstances, it is extremely doubtful as to whether the bodies of the seven men which are now lying under the debris will be brought to the surface within the next fortnight—in fact, an experienced sinker in the neighbourhood went so far as to say that it will probably take a month to recover the bodies. THRILLING EXPERIENCES. Several of the poor fellows who had been injured were lying in the huts at the bottom of the valley, and just below the winding- house. The first man that one of our repre- sentatives saw was Mattie Smith, a pleasant- faced fellow from Durham. He had had the narrowest of escapes from being buried with his "butties," and came up on the bowk with a dislocated knee-cap and some crushed fingers. He said the first warning of disaster that he had was the falling of a few stones and a little earth— a fall which quickly increased in volume until he saw a gap yawning in the side of the shaft. Meantime Mat" jumped on to the bowk, and" Sootty M'Guirk shouted a cheery Good day, matey." The bowk was full of material reàdy to be raised, and Smith started climbing up the chains so that he got level with the mark in the curb from which the stones and brick were falling. He, of course, was in the centre of the shaft, and practically out of range of the fall. Two stones, however, struck him, one on the hand and another on the knee. Directly after he saw the brickwork give way. Down came a tremendous mass of rubbish, filling the pit with a fearsome roaring noise, and, as "Mattie" pathetically and simply put it, I sawall my butties' knocked down and buried." "As soon as the fall stopped," he went on, I shouted to them to pull me up, and got back into the bowk. They hauled me up, and the pumpman, when I got to his station, came with me. I was almost faint- ing, and he held me up. When I got to the top I told them what had happened, and very soon volunteers went down to get the men out." BROUGHT OUT BLIND. The first man to be brought out by the rescue-party was Martin Jones, a man of intelligence considerably beyond that of labouring men in general. He has seen a good deal of military and civilia.n service in India and Afghanistan, aud has relatives who are well known in his native town (Llanelly) and alao in journalistic circles in England and Wales. He gave his experiences in graphic detail. It was very, very bad gTound," he said; it is a fault which has been following us for many yards in the pit. It had been giving wa.y gradually, lump by lump, until it got to a. big dent. And when it once started I believe the whole of this bad fault, which we had bricked up and thought safe, came down. When the great smash oame it came suddenly, without any warn- ing whatever. Crash it came, and the whole side of the shaft slipped down. "I was knocked against the* opposite side of the pit—good, sound rock—and, in an erect position, was jammed against the side, with just my head above the muck.' I was the only man that was not completely buried, but the weight of the stones was squeezing me until I could hardly breathe. Evan Jones —he, curiously, was the last man to come out—and I were close together. He was knocked down and jammed up against the side somewhere near my feet. I could feel him. He was not so cramped as I was, as a prop had stuck just over his head a.nd kept the stones from pressing on him. Wllen I touched him with my foot he said, 'Who is that? Is it Martin?' I said, 'Yes,' and he replied, "Well, well, Martin, we've come to the last place now.' I cheered him up, say- ing, 'No, no, matey; I can see them coming down to get us out.' After that he eaid nothing to me a<nd I said nothing to him, but I kept watch on the rescue-party as they descended. When they came down to where the smash had been tl^v stopped to inspect the brickwork to see if it was safe to come further. They seemed -to think it was safe, and I called out to Harry Williams, the leader, 'Harry, my boy, oome on and take some of these stones off my chest.' He called back, 'All right, Martin,' and down they came, and began to release me. They got my body and my legs free in about five minutes, but then I found my foot was fast, and there was a. terrible struggle to get it loose. I tried to burst the boot and draw my foot out, but I wasn't strong enough to break the la-ee. For- tunately, I managed to keen my presence of mind all the time. and in about ten minutes I succeeded in wriggling my foot free. They put me in the bowk, but I was quite blind. You see, my head had been above the muck.' and as the water dropped down it splashed lime and water into my eyes-I can hardly open my eywfl now. And I'm badly bruised on my right side, where I wm squeezed hard against a sharp piece of rock- A TRAGIC AND PATHETIC STORY. Tommie Thomas, a sturdy young fellow from Ferndale, told the most tragic and pathetic story, and yet its sadness could scarcely check his naturally exuberant spirits Like all men who risk their lives often and bravely, he had a philosophy which made him smile in trouble and speak cheerfully of things that would make most men weep. "When the one side gave way," he began his tale, "of course we rushed to the other. But the fall of stone grew heavier and heavier, and soon we were all buried in six or eight feet of 'muck.' Some of the stones struck my head and cut through the leather hat I was wearing. I was knocked down in a crouching attitude, with two men on top of me. They were Jack Jones and Jack Gabb, and I had my foot under Gabb. I thought when the rescre- party came that I was going to be left behind with him. Jack Jones got out first, and then I had a chance to release my boot, but I could not get it away. So I asked Jack Gabb, Can you cut the laces of my bnot. because you can't get away until I get out.' He said. 'No, I can't; you know I am fast here.' They had got him out up to his waist. and had.a rope round him to haul him out. but he was quite fast, as a bit of the curb was on his ribs. And then, as they were going to saw the curb off him, another fall came down and buried him again. We got away just in time. We had to leave him there, and there he is now." TELEGRAM FROM THE HOME SECRETARY. The following notice is posted at the colliery sinkings — The Secretary of State has wired to Mr. Martin, his Majesty's inspector of mines, his regret at the accident in Messrs. Burn- yeat's new linking pits, and desires his sym- pathy to be expressed with the relatives of those who have lost, their lives. Touching references to the disaster at Ynysddu were on Monday night made by Colonel Ivor Herbert at a public meeting held at Risca. He would ask them to give a token of respect to those who were no more a.nd to show their sympathy with their families, and also of sympathy with those who1 had been injured. The audience there- upon stood up, and afterwards some words were added by Mr. William Jonee, M.P. CONDITION OF THE INJURED. All of the injured men appear to be on the mend, and as our reporter proceeded to the sinkings along the tramroad from Cross Keys he met Perks, the Dewsbury man, and Mat Smith, who wag the first to make his escape from the shaft when the fall took place. Both men appear to bear their sufferings cheerfully. Mat Smith was still lame in one leg, and said his crushed hand continued to give him pa.in. Perks, who has been badly cut about the arms, head, and back, was pro- gressing favourably. Dr. Roberts, of Cross Keys, told our reporter that the injured men were progressing so favourably that it was not necessary for him to visit them every day. Of course, he would have to watch that blood- poisoning did not supervene. Everson, one of the entombed men, was the captain of the Ynysddu Football Club. Tom Richards, one of the victims of the disaster, is a.n old schoolmate of the Rev. Principal Prys, of Trerecca College, and they were both brought up next door to each other -M FenBwyn, OacdigaaalurN

♦ FELL OFF A BRIDGE AT LLANBRADACH. A man named Albert Garrett, aged 32. of 32, Pontygwindy-road, Caerphilly, met with a fatal accident on Wednesday afternoon, by falling down a viaduct situated near Llan- bradach. Garrett, who was known as "Bristol," was one of about 130 men employed on the Barry Railway Company's viaduct which ia in course of construction between the Pwlly- pant side and the Bedwas side of the Rhymney Valley. As the work progresses boarding is removed, as may be necessary, to other parts. On Wednesday a plank 16ft. long was required in a certain position for scaffold- ing, and Garrett and another were told off to procure one. The plank was duly sawn to the required length and partly lifted up to the solid floor. Before giving it the final lift. however, Garrett is said to have rested a few seconds, standing over the plank with one foot on the cross-girder and the other on deck. Meanwhile the plank slipped, and in falling knocked Garrett down a depth of about 90ft. He was caught in a tree and sustained severe injuries to his head, which must have caused instantaneous death. He is believed to be » native of Bristol, and only commenced work- ing on the viaduct a month on Wednesday. FATAL FALL AT CARDIFF. Mr. LI. Reece (deputy-ooroner) held an inquiry at the Town-hall, Cardiff, on Monday on the body of Catherine Smith, 56, widow, who some weeks back slipped and fell on a grating in Millicent-street. Death was due to apoplexy, the result of the accident, and the jury returned a verdict to that effect. PONTYPRIDD MAN'S FATAL OUT- ING. Mr. R. J. Rhys, district coroner, held an inquiry at Pontypridd Police court on Monday evening respecting the death of George Howell (33), an assistant timberman, I Beach Villa, Pontypridd, who fell from a conveyance whilst on the return journey from Liantwit Major on Saturday.—A verdict waa returned of "Accidental death." FISHERMAN'S FATAL FALL AT SWANSEA. A ship's cook named Frank Richards, of Newport, known to his shipmates as "Parafin Frank," while going on board the steam trawler Volta, lying in Harris's Dry Dock. Swansea, fell into the dock. When picked up he was unconscious, but was brought round and taken to the hospital, where eventually he succumbed. PEMBROKESHIRE MAN'S TER- RIBLE DEATH. Mr. Price, the Pembroke county coroner, held an inquest on Saturday evening at the Sessions House, Clarbeston Road, on the body of a man employed as a packer on the Great Western Railway, who was found on the line so fearfully mutilated so as to be unrecognisable. He was last seen on Friday evening. A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned. FATAL BICYCLE ACCIDENT AT ABERGAVENNY. An inquest was held at the Police-station. Abergavenny, on Monday as to the cause of the death of Mary Morgan, aged 27, described as a domestic servant, who died in the Cot- tage Hospital on Saturday last. The evidence adduced showed that the deceased, who was a practised cyclist, was riding along the Ross road from Abergavenny, and came in con- tact with a horse, and she was thrown with her bicycle some eight yards down the road. Miss Morgan was removed to the Cottage Hos- pital, Abergavenny, but never regained con- sciousness, and died soon after five o'clock on Saturday from a fractured skull. The jury returned a verdict that deceased came by her death "in consequence of an accident arising from conitaot with an unattended horse." THE OWNER FINED. William Williams, Pant-y-colin, farmer, was charged at Abergavenny Police-court on Wed- nesday morning with turning a horse loose on the highway, to the danger of passengers, on the 11th inst. on the Ross-road, leading from Abergavenny to Llanvetherine. It was this stray horse which upset a lady cyclist, who was killed. Defendant was fined 40s. and costs. NEWPORT RAILWAY FATALITY. Mr. Digby Powell, the Newport deputy- coroner, opened an inquest at the Town-hall on Monday afternoon touching the death of Henry Brown, a platelayer, of 5, Bristol- street. who was killed on the Great Western Railway on Saturday morning last. Mr. C. P. Cadle, solicitor, of Cardiff, appeared for the widow. The inquiry was adjourned till Friday. KILLED BY A BICYCLE. Mr. W. B. Roderick conducted an inquiry at the Cornish Armj, Bnrry Port, on Tuesday afternoon into the death of William Melville Thomas Lewis, aged four years, which took place on Sunday morning last from the effects of a blow received on August 3. It appears that the child was walking down Elkington- road with his mother, and was knocked down by a cyclist, named William Goatman Hall.— The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death," and the Coroner severely censured Hall. FATALITY AT THE MUMBLES. Fred Smith, who was injured on Saturday night whilst endeavouring to get on the last train to the Mumbles, died at the Swansea Hospital on Tuesday. Deceased was seen staggering about, and did not seem to know his whereabouts. He was warned of hia danger. BOY BURNT TO DEATH. An inquest was held by the Newport coroner on Wednesday touching the death of Reginald Phillips, aged two years, of 69, Hoskin-street, Newport, who died from burns sustained on the 13th inst. The father of the child, who is a fireman at the Dos Works, said that he was taking a rest on the day in question, when his son Eli, aged seven years, told him hit brother was on fire. He immediately wrapped the deceased in a coat and took him to the hos- pital, where his injuries were attended to. He died on the following afternoon. Dr. Wright said the child died from shock, and the jury returned a verdict accordingly.

DANGERS OF THE MINE. FATALITY AT CELYNEN COLLIERY. At No. 3 Pit, Celynen Colliery, on Thursday. Mayo Downs, 18, of ZG, LLanover-etreet. received injuries from which he died on Saturday even- ing. Deceased sustained internal injuries. The accident was not considered of a serious nature until Friday evening, when Downs became worse, and, despite the attention of Drs. Griffiths and Smith, he passed away on Saturday evening. JURY AND THE CONDITION OF A MINE. At Llanhilleth Police-station on Monday Mr. M. Roberts-Jones conducted an inquiry touch- ing the death of David Williams, who waa killed at Messrs. Partridge. Jones, and Co.'s colliery on Thursday last. Deceased was run over by a journey of trams.—Inspector Henry Walker deposed that he saw the scene of the accident, and the road was not in a proper condition. There was a heap of rubbish on the road and S0111e timber. and there was also some crushed stone on the rails.— Evidence was given that the road was cleansed at times, and it was fairly good, considering the holidays. It was also stated that the wires for signalling were not pro- perly attended to.—The jury agreed to a verdict of Accidental death," and recom- mended that the road should be kept as clear as possible, and that the signalling wires should be attended to. KILLED BY A FALL. At Newbridge Police-station on Monday Mr. M. Roberts Jones conducted an lnquir^ touching the circumstances attending i-i*" death of Henry Trunkfield, who was killed at Celynen Colliery on Thursday by a fal) of stone. Deceased was assisting anothei workman with a tram when a stone, weigh- ing about a ton, fell from the roof and killed him instantaneously.—The jury agreed to a verdict of Accidental death." PERITON AND BLOOD-POISON- ING. Mr. Coroner Jones and the same jm also held an inquiry touching the death of -yo Downs, who died on Saturday from injuriei received at Celynen Colliery on Thursday. Deceased was wedging up a piece of coal when a clod came down and covered his foot. He complained of pains in the stomach, and a doctor was sent for. Later peritonitis and blood poisoning set in, which caused death.—The jury returned a verdict of Acci- dental death." ACCIDENT ENDS FATALLY. The serious internal injuries, together with fractured legs, sustained by John Walsh. a haulier at the East Elliot Colliery, New Tre- degar, on the 18th ult., culminated in hia death on Sunday. The deceased was very popular in the locality. LLANBRADACH COLLIER KILLED. At Caerphilly Police-court on Wednesday Mr. E. Llewellyn Reece, deputy-coroner, held an inquest on the body of David Jenkins, aged 40, of Gwaun Cottages, Big-hiil, Caerphilly, who was killed by a fall of timber a.t Llan- bradach Colliery on Friday night. Identity of the body was proved by Mrs. Mary Ann Jenkins, widow of the deceased, who said her husband was a timberman employed at the Llanbradach Colliery.—The jury returned a *erdjot of "Accidental deatfc."