The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-02-28
Death in The Mine! f!

UUuW III luu MluU /.
Details of the Disaster
ut Diamond, HI.
Sixty eight Men and Six Boys Perish
by the Flooding Of Coal SHAFT
Startling Scenes.
JOLIET, ILL.,, February 1.-THE
Diamond coal mine, at Braidwood,
large mining town twenty-five
miles south of this point, caved in
yesterday, burying seventy-five men.
A subsequent dispatch says forty
five of these miners are dead.
A dispatch from Chicago says that
Mr.. A. l.. Sweet, president of the
four mines comprising the Diamond
|minecompany, confirms the reports
Of the terrible disaster at Braidwood.
Mr.. Sweets information is that 800
men were in the various shafts
yesterday afternoon when the ground
sagged in under the weight of water
that had both saturated and loosen
ed it. Sixty-two we're in one shaft
which caught the bulk of the fall
ing debris, and which was instantly
flooded. Every one was drowned or
smothered inside of five minutes.
Their bodies are now buried under
many tons of earth. One hundred
acres have been excavated. and the
niners not in the one unfortunate
shaft all escaped. Digging and
pumping is going on vigorously, but
it will be many hours before the first
bodies can be reached.
The mine was OF the ordinary
kind, supplied with regular shafts,
and supposed to be well protected
from accident. The wires to Joliet
are in bad shape and no report is yet
received.
JOLIET. ILL.,, Feb. 11.-Gloom.
despair, and desolation have gener
ally settled over the poor miners OF
Diamond. The number drowned is
definitely fixed at seventy-four. a.
already stated. The greater portion
of the families who suffer are of for
eign birth, and have been residents
of this country but short time.
The prairies about the shafts are a
vide waste of water. across which a
cold, piercing gale is sweeping. As
matters are settling down, and at
tention turns to the causeof the dis
aster, some blame the corporation
because more experienced man was
not kept at the bottom of the shaft.
whose duty it should be to watch
the pumps and sound an alarm In
case of danger. Thomas Daley, a
new hand, stood at his post. When
he saw the water gaining on him. IN
stead of sounding an alarm he rush
ed to the top of the shaft to see if
the pumps were at work. Upon his
return he found the water up to his
saist. He then directed the drivers
to run back and escape by the air
shat. and yell to the men as they
ran, and did what he could himself.
He saved one boy, all he could reach,
when he ascended and sounded the
steam whistles, which called out the
villagers.
EXTENT OF THE CALAMITY.
Sixty-eight men and six boys lie
dead in the mine and it may be
weeks before even the melancholy
satisfaction of recovering their bod
les is accorded. No such calamity
has befallen this section of the coun-
try or any other mining region.
Whole of Diamond is devoted to
mining. and this blow carries death
into hundred families. In several
instances all the male members Of
family have been swept away. A
section of prairie land forty by nine
ty feet, over which the floods had
extended until the water stood three
or four feet deep, suddenly caved
in. the result being the instantane-
.ous flooding of a mine in which
three hundred men and boys were at
work. Inside of half an hour the
water had reached all parts of the
works, and tonight stands within
FIVE feet of the main SHAH, Seven
ty-four human beings were checked
to death in the grim recesses OF the
mine. All nope Of possibly rescuins
any of them by the opening OF q
driving from an old ore shaft into
the works was abandoned at dusk,
when the water poured into the last
named shaft and the workmen were
compelled to desist.
LOCATION OF THE NINE.
The mine is in the extreme corner
of viii county. The miners live in
the village just across The hne in
Grundy county. The Diamond Com
pany's pits are known as Nos. l, 2,
etc. One of the leading stockhold-
ers is Hugh j. Jewett, of the Erie
railroad. Pit No. 2, the scene OF
tn DAYS horror, has been operated
about two years. and two hundred
to four hundred men and boys have
been regularly employed in it This
morning two hundred and ninety on
three hundred went in. Those who
escaped did so by q miracle. Shaft
No. 2 is 81 feet deep, and above the
coal lies 90 TO 100 feet Of earth. The
coal vein varies in thickness from
two feet nine inches to four feet.
Above it 10 layer OF soapstone rest
ing on a bed of FIRE clay. The vein
winds and dips agood deal, and thus
some parts Of the mine are lowes
than Others. From the main shaft
radiate passages in every direction,
in which coal u to be found. These
must be ionr feet high and six wide.
The miners prop their passages with
timber and soapstone, These props
did not prove 10 be strong enough
for the superintendent mass of
soggy earth.
HEAkTRENDING SCENES.
News of the accident soon spread