The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-04-06
A HIDEOUs SIGHT.
Removal of the Bodies from the Diamond
Mino-Tho Remains In a Horrible Condi-


following particulars of the recovery of the
bodies of the miners overwhelmed by the
flood in the Diamond mine:
The workmen at the Diamond mine were
engaged all night removing the bodies of the
dead. The first two corpses were brought
into the chill, night air at midnight Fully
500 persons of both sexes were tn ere hover
ing about the entrance to the subterranean
charnel-house, anxiously hoping that some
near and dear on g would be brought up first
Mothers who had lost sons and young wives
were standing shivering in the cold, with
their little children clinging TO their skirts
and whmpering. There was no noise but
that made by the pumping and hoisting ma
chinery The tumbling of the wa
ter from the pumps kept up
monotonous swish as it struck
powders on the outside and trickle d off to-
ward the overfiowed prairie, whence it had
rushed into the mine. The water was black
from contact with the walls of coal, and
seemed tinged with more somber hue by
the Pickering torches of the watchers and
workmen- The miners who were engaged
in eXhuming the bodies would occasionally
come TO the surface TO breathe fresh air and
get relief from the oppressive nausea of the
mine In their mining clothes. their faces
scanned with coal-dust, and the little lam
terms attached TO their heads. these laborers
among the dead looked weird and almost
terrible in the darkness
The scene was indeed a CHASTITY one Sobs
were breaking from the women and strong
men spoke with bated breath in the pres
ence of the first body brought out The
hosting apparatus had scarcely deposited
the blackened remains upon the landing
when the eXpectant crowed swayed forward
hoping to get a glimpse of the horrible
sight 1t was horrible sight and required
a stout heart TO look upon it unmoved For
thirty eight days the bodies had remained
underground in the water, and decomposi-
ton had set in and was already in an adj
vanced stage 1t was expected that the
corpses would be putrid, but putrefaction
was not yet thorough, and they were easily
handled The first body was hoisted
up in large oblong box and
hurried into shanty thirty feet
distant from the hole, where the Coroner
and the jury and a few others waited to
view the remains and identify them if
/ possible The box was opened and the crowd
gaZed upon the sickening sight The face
was black as ink, as was the entire body,
and IT seemed impossible 20 recognize in the
dishgured heap of clay the man who had
been represented by it, The clothing alone
served as a mark of recognition, and the
corpse was alleged to be p. II. Wall Soon
another body came up and the creaking OF
the machinery continued until daylight
dawned, when fifteen had been brought to
the surface AS fast as one body was iden-
tilted ii was placed in coffin and removed n
! short distance TO the tiat-cars, TO be trans
! ported TO Braidwood
| The identification in a number of instan-
ces was necessarily imperfect, because of
the designation of some of the bodies and
| the advanced stage OF decomposition. The
scene in here was sickening. The saturated
remains were exposed for a few minutes and
eagerly gazed upon by bereaved relatives.
No women were permitted within the
morgue The bodies were contorted into
/ all manner of shapes some of them almost
doubled up, with the heads stiffened down
upon the breast One man had his hands
/ uplifted MS IL to protect himself from
some impending blow He had raised
| them TO ward off death, and when it
came IL left him still appealing. The eyes
\ OF nearly all were gone, the noses fiattened
close TO the face, which in n great many
cases were laid bare to the cheek bones.
Great gashes caused by falling stones rem
/ dered recognition of few an absolute i'm
| possibility. The lips, thickened into eXag-
! gerated unnaturalness, the matted hair, cor
! roded hands, and blackened faces and limbs
! had so disguised all of the bodies that rec
| ognition was more guesS-work than GER
/ tainty. AS an evidence of this uncertainty,
| Mr.. Pearsons who had lost three sons in the
mine, was brought in TO identify one of the
! corpses that IL had been insisted was one
/ of his boys The old man looked with quiv-
ering lips upon the hideous spectacle, and
/ turned away murmuring @1ts not him!
/ It's not him." There was q weight of woe
in these words, TREMENDOUSLY spoken by
! father who had for weeks been tutoring
\ himself to bear the sight of his dead when
they were brought to him. The positive
ness of the parent did not convince those
/ who had known the young man intimately,
! but the fathers verdict was accepted and
! the Coroner recorded unknown"
! The only one brought out up TO 10 o'clock
/ In the morning who was unanimously ident-
| lied was young man named John Boyd
/ He was known by his clothing, and this be-
| came the only approximate means of identi-
| hcation. One man was known by patch
on his boots another by patch on
his shirt, and a third by button on his
drawers. A solitary white button on this
garment satisfied the mans wife who had
sewed it on, that the putrid corpse. bearing
no semblance TO man, was her husband.
| There may have been other men with sim
nar buttons on their under-g garments, but
the bereaved heart was satisfied and the re-
mains were identified.
! AS soon as the bodies were recognized or
admitted TO be unacceptable, they were
taken from the plain wooden boxes
were ranged around the room,
and were of neat imitation mahogany.
Each coffin was supplied with glass cover
Ing at the head, permitting the upper por-
ton OF the body TO be seen without unscrew-
ing the lid AS soon as the coffin bearing a
body was placed on a tat-car the women
and those not allowed in the morgue would
Chamber up the car and peer INTO It, All
morning and all day the scene around the
funeral cars was pitiable one. The
crowd kept steadily increasing until
500 persons were clustered together
near the tracks Walls came from the
women, heart-broken sobs betokening un-
told woe, and stout-hearted men who had
worked in the mine, and had saved them
selves almost by miracles from the awful
rush of wa, ers, wept in comIa any OH looking
at the crumbling clay. Tears tricklcd down
rugged cheeks, and fond mothers, wives,
and sisters wrung their hands in fearless
grief A wife would be told that her hus-
band lay in a certain coffin, but, look ever
so hard, there was nothing to tell her that
they were right
BY 10 o'clock seventeen bodies had been
recovered and these were placed upon the
funeral train of three passenger cars draped
in mourning and taken to Braidwood, where
they were inferred after religious services
over some of them, while others were taken
directly to the cemetery
Twenty-Five bodies had been taken out to-
day, of which twenty were identified
1t was n noticeable fact that the bodies
were in much better condition while in
the mine than they were after removal TO
the outer air. They began TO smell imme-
diately after the boxes were opened and
fresh air touched them.