Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-01-24
ANOTHER HORROR.
Twenty-Five Men Drowned
in a Mine.
Above Vat They Drop Off One
by One and Perish.

ABOVE water They Drop OH One
by One and Perish.
ESPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL
SAN Francisco, Jan 23.-The arrival OF
the steamer City Of New York from Aus
tralia this morning adds another to the
list of horrors. The Australian gold mine
at Creswich was flooded Dec. 16 by a rush
Of water from some old workings, into
which the miners broke. Forty-One men
were in the mine, of whom IA escaped.
The remainder were entombed for two
days, during which every effort was made
to reach them. When discovered five of
the men were still alive, but the remaining
az were dead.
LATER PARTICULARS.
From the Sydney Herald the following
details of the disaster in the Australasia
mine are obtained: The accident occurred
at $50 A. NJ. in the drift from No. 2 shaft,
which Unexpectedly broke into the old
workings of the No. shaft. The water
rushed through with great force and in a
few minutes the lower levels were flooded
and the flood rose 80 feet in the shaft. The
men employed at this point fled for their
lives along the drift to the station where
- reached-+he cage and were hoisted to the
surface. Twenty-seven men in the other
part Of the new workings were unable to
reach the shaft, and the only hope was that
they might be able to reach and ascend a
distant Wine, leading to the upper level.
The-scene at the top Of the shaft was pitia-
BILE. Mothers, wives, children and friends
gathered there, waiting almost without
hope for news from below. The pumps at
once started, throwing $4,000 gallons Of
water up per hour, and all the miners in
the district assembled to lend assistance.
The body of water was SO great that the
pumps lowered it very slowly, and divers
were sent for to attempt to penetrate the
mine to learn the fate OF those below.
The project was found impracticable. In
the afternoon of the 18th the water was
only breast high in the drift, where the
men were supposed to be. An attempt
was made to reach them by wading, but
v~itiated air drove back the relief party.
Several similar attempts were made dur
ing the night, and about 5 o'clock on the
morning of the 18th two searchers came
up the shaft cheering, and reported that
near Wine No. IL they heard the words:
''It's all right; we are all safe" About 6
P. NJ. word came up the shaft that the lost
were found. The news spread like wind.
The whole neighborhood flocked to the
shaft. Tanks were improvised on car
riages on which to raise the men to the
surface, and a half hour later John Manly
was brought up alive. He had been
caught by going to warn his comrades of
their danger when he might have escaped.
Soon four others were brought up. all
greatly exhausted, but in a fair way to re-
cover. The cage rose again, when the
terrible truth was learned that 90 men
were remaining in mine had persisted.
The whole party had been caught in the
drift, the water rising SO high that only
by clinging to the timbers could they keep
their chins above water. One by one,
during a sixty hours struggle, they had
dropped off exhausted and were drowned
in the flood, the strongest only holding out
until relief came. Bodies were foundl lying
scattered about the floor of the drift. The
victims were inferred on the 10th. The
day was opened as a holiday. Liberal
subscriptions were taken up for the fami-
lies Of the deceased.