The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-02-18
ENTOMBED ALIVE.
Seventy Men Drowned In a coai.MIne
Flood on the Prairie Breaks Through
into the Mine Efforts 20 Reach the Scene
OF the Catastrophe-No Hope OF Finding
Any OF the Men Alive.

BRAIDwoOD, ILL, February 1.-THE city
Is filed with lamentations, owing to the
terrible disaster OF yesterday, which re-
suited in the death OF seventy persons. A
number OF those killed leave large families.
The accident occurred in the northeast
side OF Shaft No. OF the Wilmington
oal-Mining and Manufacturing Compa-
ny's mine. This company Is one OF the
four which form the Wilmington Coal As
sociation. The shaft in which the accident
occurred has been working for the past
eight years. IL Is situated at Diamond, n
little village about four miles southwest
OF Wilmington and two miles north OF
Braidwood. The country thereab0ut ~
rs level rs floor, with perhaps slight
inclination toward the mines. The sud-
den tnaw and heavy rainfall transformed
the prairie into a lake. For miles
about Diamond the water stands from six
inches to three feet in depth. With scarce
" any warning there suddenly appeared
an opening from the surface OF the earth
into the mine. The surface being covered
with water, il took only short time FOR
the water 10 permeate the entire mine,
drowning all who were unable to get out
before the rising water caught them. In
opening this mine a shaft seyenty-fiye feet
deep was sunk into the earth. At right
angles TO this two main galleries were run
nearly parallel with the surface OF earth,
and about seyenty-five feet below 1t. From
these main galleries narrow spurs or gang
WAYS are dug out in various directions.
These spurs rise and fall with the
ledge of coal, sometimes rising TO with
I'm 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 doomed
miner. Through the opening thus made
the water poured IN, filling one gangway
after another, and cutting of the escape to
the central shaft. There was little time to
give an alarm, for in less than IN 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 crawl
inc could the victims escape. No noise ac-
companied the rising OF the water, and the
first indication had Of their danger by many
OF the dead miners was the chilling sensation
OF cold water trickling along the pathway
in which they lay at work. There was an
air-shait, offering an additional avenue OF
escape, Of which many avaiied themselves,
but the water came in too rapidly to allow
all TO reach it. The mine was not con-
sIdered especially dangerous, though Il
break had occurred once before at about
the same place. There is no chance OF
rescue, but in order TO reach the bodies OF
the dead Mr.. Fordyce, general manager OF
the company, has gone TO the scene OF the
disaster with two steam-pumps. 1t is said
that an effort will be made to reach the
mine from Shaft No. /, but there is not the
remotest possibility Of finding any Of the
men alive. Only the drowned or suflocated
remains can be recovered. The majority
OF the workers under ground are foreign
ers-English, Scotch, and Irish.