The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-02-28
WHOLE NO. 1861.

less corpse. He has not been seer
since. Mrs. McQ Quiston. whose hus.
band and three sons were buried
upon learning the news, was pros
trated and now lies in a precarious
condition, with mind permanently
injured. Instances of pathetic na.
ture multiply, and the seeker after
them will find rich harvests.
/ The situation at Diamond mine is
practically unchanged Sunday even
ing. No additions to the list OF
drowned are reported. A large mum
Der Of people from the surrounding
country are visiting the dreary scene
The dam around the sink hole is
about half completed. 1t is expect
ed to be finished Tomorrow and the
work of pumping out the water be-
gun. Doubts are expressed whether
the dam is being built strong enough
to resistthe water from the surround
ing prairies after the pumping be-
gins and it may become necessary to
dig ditch to Goose Lake, a distance
of four miles, before the work oi
getting the water out can be success
fully carried on. The Mayor of
BraidwoOd has called mass meet
ing of citizens for tomorrow to take
the necessary steps to relieve distress
in the families of drowned miners.
ALL THE IMPRISONED woRKNEN DEAD.
BRAIDwooD, ILL.,, Feb. 19.-These
dispatches on Saturday contained a
telegram giving information of IA
tai land slide in coal mine at this
place on Friday. The extent of the
disaster was not then positively
Known, but later discoveries verify
the worst fears that were entertained
seventy persons having been over
whelrled and killed.
The shaft in which the accident
occurred has been working for the
past eight years. 1t is situated at
Diamond, little village about four
miles southwest of Wilmington and
two miles northwest of BraIdwood.
The country thersabout is as level as
floor, with perhaps slight incli-
nation toward the mines. The sud
den thaw and heavy rainfall have
transformed the prairie into lake
for miles around. About Diamond
the water stands from six inches to
three feet in depth. With scarcely
any warning there suddenly appear
Ell an opening from the surface of
the earth into the mine.
The surface being covered with
water, it took only a short time for
the water to permeate the entire
mine, drowning all who were unable
to get out before the rising water
caught them. In opening this mine
a shaft seventy five feet deep was
sunk into the earth. At right an
giles to this two main galleries were
run nearly parallel with the surface
of the earth, and about seventy-five
feet below it. From these main
galleries narrow spurs or gangways
are dug out in various directions.
These spurs rise and fall with the
ledge of coal, sometimes rising to
within twelve or fifteen feet of the
surface.
1t was at such point very near
the top where the break occurred.
While lying on his back, picking
away at the coal above, the earth
must have fallen upon the doomed
miner. Through the opening thus
made the water poured in, filling
one gangway after another, and cut
ting off escape TO the central shaft.
There was little time to give an
alarm, for in less than an hour from
the time the break occurred every
avenue of escape was cut of, and
every occupant Of the mine at that
time must have been drowned.
These galleries were low and narrow,
and only by painfully slow crawling
could the poor victims escape. The
noise accompanied the rise of the
water, and tho first indication had
Of their danger by many Of the
dead was q chilling sensation of cold
water tricking along the pathway
in which they lay at work. There
was an air shaft offering an addi-
tional avenue of escape, of which
many availed themselves; but the
water came in too rapidly to allow
all to reach it.
The mine was not considered es-
pecially dangerous, though a break
had occurred once before at about
the same place. There is no chance
of rescue, bat in order TO reach the
bodies of the dead Mr.. Fordyce, gen
eral manager Of the company, has
gone 10 the scene of the disaster with
two steam pumps. 1t is said that
an effort will he made to reach the
mine from shaft No. |, but there is
not the remotest possibility Of find
ing any of the men alive. The wages
paid averaged between $50 and SIS
per month, and the majority Of the
men owned their homes. There will
be suffering, but the miners, as a
class, are not impzovident. The
majority of the workers underground
are foreigness-English, Scotch and
Irish.
Bewitched by His Future Bride.
More than one woman has worked
in the mines for her living in this
country as in the English pits. The
Philadelpbia Press recently men.
toned Mrs. Riginiary, Of Locust
Goc vbC baalo coal NTH a tuo