The Gresford Disaster

You've heard of the Gresford Disaster
The terrible price that was paid
262 colliers were lost
And 3 of the rescue bregade

It occurred in the month of September
At two in the morning that day
Was wracked by a violent explosion
In the Dennis where the gas lay so pale

The gas in the Dennis deep-sectioned
Was packed there like snow in a drift
And manys a man had to leave that coal face
Before he had worked out his shift

A short while before the explosion
To the shot-fire, a Tomlinson cried
"If you fire that shot, we'll be all blown to hell!"
And no one can say that he lied

The fireman's reports are all missing
The records of 42 days
The colliery manager had them destroyed
To cover his criminal ways

Down there in the dark, they are lying
They died for nine shillings a day
They've worked out their shift and it's now they must lie
In the darkness until Judgement Day

But the Lord Mayor of London's collecting
To help our poor children and wives
The owners have sent some white lilies, dear God
To pay for the poor miners' lives

Farewell to our wives and our children
Farewell to our comrades as well
Don't send your sons down the dark, dreary mines
They'll be damned like the sinners in hell
They'll be damned like the sinners in hell