Morris tribune., 1883-02-24
MINING MORTALITY.
The Diamond Mine, at Braidwood, ILL.,.
Flooded, --Seyenty- five Lives Lost.

fiooded,--Seventy-i Lives Lost.
BRAlDwooD, Ill.,, Feb. 17.--Th
tragedy in the Diamond mine yester
day was as unique as it was deyastat
ing. ~ section Of prairie land. fort,
by ninety feet, over which the flood
had extended until the water stoot
three or four feet deep, suddenly cavet
in, the result being the Instantaneous
flooding OF mine in which 300 me1
and boys were at work. Inside of hal
an hour the water had extended to al
parts OF the workings and at dark stood
within five feet of the top of the mair
shaft. Seyenty-four human beings
were sutlbcated in the grim recess o
the mine. All hope of the possible
rescue of any of these unhappy being,
was abandoned at dusk. when tRs
water poured into the main shaft. The
mine, which covered some eighty acre,
underground, was largely composed o.
quicksand, through which the wate,
easily sank on three or four different
| occasions. The miners having became
used to these breaks did not thinl;
there was much danger when the
water commenced breaking through,
at III O'Clock, most of them refusing to
leave the mine, thinking there was no
danger of the mine flooding; but in a
feW moments the break widened to a
chasm twenty feet wide by sixty feet
long, Two miners, SatchZell and I'm
ger, were among the first to escape
from the air shaft, but both at once
descended again, thinking they might
aid some of their fellows, but they
never came up again. Redmond, who
was also lost, has several sons in the
mine. He escaped with his son John,
but III endeavoring to save his son
Matt he made another trip below and
lost his life. The main shaft of the
mine is over eighty-five feet deep.
William Dent the engineer discovered
the water ut the foot of the shaft at
ll:ll 8. III. but before he could sound
an alarm the surface collapse became
so great that all hope was given up
that any lives could be saved. Willie
Dennison was one of the last to escape
from the mine. He only succeeded
after diving through three openings
and finally reaching the air shaft. It
is said by old miners that even if the
water did not reach the imprisoned
men at once and end their sufferings,
the foul air would put out the lamps
! in an hour, and no human being could
live when the air was foul enough to
eXtinguish the lights. Besides the
men there were about dozen mules
in the mine, Little by little the ter
ribfe character of the catastrophe
became apparent. Then it was that
the most heartrending scenes occurred.
A wife bent over the shaft as her hus-
band was climbing the ladder with his
young son dead in his arms and ex.
tended her arms to receive them; But
she was doomed to disappointment,
for the man, worn out with the despe-
rate struggle Which he had undergone
to save the body of his son, fell back
into the pit lifeless corpse and has
not since been seen. Mrs. McQuiston,
who was on the ground when the
news came that her husband and three
sons We're dead in the mine, was taken
with nervous prostration and had to
be removed from the ground. She is
now in precarious condition and her
mind is permanently injured.
The following is the story of John
Huber, an eye witness of the whole
affair, and a man who was in the mine
at the time Of the accident:
/ was working in one of the west
sections of the main corridor and had
Just got my car ready for transfer when
[ heard a voice which sounded weak
at first, saying: "Look out the water
is coming" For few moments did
not comprehend the awful meaning of
the language used, and SO went back
to block up the coal, when [ heard the
same warning again and saw small
stream af water running down the
center OF the track. The truth at once
flashed upon me that was in dangar
and that the water was coming from
some unknown locality, I rushed as
fast asthe nature of the passage would
allow to where thought my two sons
were at work but found that they had
gone. l then yelled at the top of my
voice to the men near me, and made
as fast as could for the air shaft. BY
this time the water was up to my arm
pits, and / had hard time to get up
the shaft, so exhausted was with the
rapid run had made in the STOPPING
position. When 1 got home, great
God! what did see! There upon her
bed lay my wife, tearing her hair and
Waillng in almost q erazed condition.
"Oh, John, ," she said, "where are the
boys?h The truth then flashed upon
me that perhaps they were dead.
went back as fast as l could, and found
my horrible anticipations were only
too true, and that the boys had not
been seen since entering the shaft in
the morning.
The escape of the majority was al
most by miracle. Two got out by
the main shaft, the rest by the air shaft,
leaving seventy-ane below to be suf-
focated by foul air or to drown in the
flood of waters.
An official states that it might take
thirty days to get to the imprisoned
mon If they do all that can be done.
There are nine mines stopped on ac-
count of the accident, and he expects
there will be loss in octpus of $4,000
tons at least.
Another spesial says> The number
of victims of yesterdays great disaster
is now pleeed at seventy-five. At
sunrise to-day hundreds of miners
poured into the neighborhood of the
Diamond mine. The fierce wind
which swept the praries made work in
the open air difficult. The gurgling
water had risen during the night to
the mouth of the main shaft, where it
was on a level with the prairie. The
pumps had not been put in operation
beca use it would have been as easy to
pump out lake as to pump out the
coal pits, fed by water extending over
1 e ,,,c.~