Morning journal and courier., 1883-02-19
THE WEST.
Illinois.

The Mine HOrrOr-Seventy-Seven Miners
 Perish in the Shaft Heartrending
 Scenes About the Mine.
 HARDWOOD. Feb. 18.-By the mine horror
 in Diamond, two miles from here, Friday,
 seventy- seven persons lost their lives. So
 sudden was the cave in that none of those
 who were in the flooded shaft escaped. About
 three hundred men and boys were in the
 mine, but none of those in shaft No. made
 their escape The danger was first discover
 ed by a miner working at the bottom of the
 shaft He boarded the cage, was carried up
 the shaft and gave the alarm. The surface
 of the mine had given way and the dense
 mass of water lying on the prairie only too
 quickly found it's way into the mine. Plenty
 of time, however, there was between the
 time the alarm whistle sounded and the com-
 plete flooding of the mine, but unfortunately
 about the mine being flooded and the alarm
 was all but unheeded. The spot that gave way was twenty-five yards from the main
 shaft The water entered an abandoned part z of the mine and thence into the workings,
 completely filling the mine and bubbling out at the shafts mouth. There were seventy ES6V6u u16A uTOWu0U duO aDOub 4OGLy 6SCAp0Q.1
 The news spread like wiIdfre and the scenesl that occurred at the surface almost beggarI description. Men, women and children were. frantic with grief. One woman has goneI mad at the death of her husband. Two of the widows had only been 8 month married. IA pumping apparatus from Chicago was soonI lon the scene, but owing to the fearful cold itE was found impossible to get near the shaft. Thirty three of the miners leave widows. In some cases the husband and from one to! three boys were lost Fathers were lost try ling to save their sons and sons in trying to save their father or brother. Adam Mo iQuiston perished along with his three sons ;E 'of this family widow and girl only survive. Patrick Redmond was drowned trying to saveI 'his son. His other son escaped. Four boysa |of the Peason family of English descent triedA Ito escape. One succeeded; three were drowned The roof of the mine was very low and when the water rushed in with thel force of torrent the men were thrownf from their feet and carried away. TheyI were drowned or beaten to death against theS roof and sides of the fatal mine. The minersi when warned escaped by wading through water which was up to their necks in manyl |places, as the tunnels dip with the coal andI |the surface is uneven. One man only es |caped at the main shaft, the others escaped! |by ladders at an air shaft 15O feet from theI main shaft. The scenes about the shaft wereI very touching. The wives and children of the miners gathered at the shaft wringingI their hands and looking anxiously for theI faces of father and sons A wife bent overI the shaft as her husband climbed the ladderI with their young son dead in his arms. SheI Iextended her arms to receive him, but theS father fell exhausted and was not seen again. 'C. Redmond came to the surface of theI water and asked if Matthew. his son, was| saved. Receiving a negative reply bel plunged back into the water and was seen mol more Many of the men who perishedI leave families, and the grief is widespread.