Whi te haven

n te aven Pit Disaster
By a Staff Reporter
Twenty-eight Catholics were among those killed in the great mining disaster at William Pit, Whitehaven, on Friday evening, August 15. One Catholic, 23-yearsold James Weightman, was among the three survivors who walked out of the pit after being entombed for 24 hours.
The 28 men came from two parishes run by the Benedictine Fathers, 10 from St. Mary's, Kells, and 18 from St. Begh's, Whitehaven. Priests from both parishes, Fr. Philip Hilary Brightling, 0.S.B., Fr. Anthony Cyril Wackrill, 0.S.B., and Fr, Henry O. Fitzsimons, of the Church of Our Lady and St. Joseph, Carlisle, who was on holiday at Whitehaven, assisted at the pit-head. Fr. Bernard Philip Jackson, 0.S.B., remained at the hospital reoeiving the dead throughout the rescue operations.
INDIVIDUAL REQUIEMS
Speaking to a CATuottc HLRALD reporter on Tuesday, Fr. Jackson said that on Wednesday and Thursday there would be four and three funerals respectively: all the men had not been brought to the surface at this time. It had not been possible to make complete arrangements for the obsequies. There was no question of a mass requiem or funeral; each man would be given a separate funeral.
The disaster. which is the wont in Cumberland for 30 years, has taken an official death toll of 104 miners. It is estimated that nearly 300 children have been left fatherless by the tragedy. One family of nine and another of eight children under 14 years of age have lost their breadwinners.
Those who would assist the bereaved should send to the Hon, Treasurer, William Pit Disaster Fund, District Bank, Whitehaven.