The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-02-19

| awful tragedy which has ever visited the
| Wilmington coal fields occurred to-day at
the No. 2 shaft OF the Wilmington Coal
Mining and Manufacturing company,
known as the Diamond company.
three miles and a half northwest of the
city.
The Diamond coal mine is located in the
extreme corner of Will county, the little
village where the miners live being just on
the line of Grundy county. The Whining
| ton Coal Mining and Manufacturing COM
/ pany. which operates this mine. adopted,
| years ago, the name of Diamond for their
| coal. and their shafts and pits are known
as Diamond No. L, Diamond No. 2, and
| so on.
The Diamond shaft No 2 is ninety-two
feet deep. Above the coal lies from 70 TO
| 10 feet of earth. The coal vein varies in
thickness from 2 feet inches to feet
| four inches Above it is a layer of soap
| stone. anil it rests ON bed of ireclay.
! The vein winds and dips good deal, and
| thus some parts of the mine are a good
/ deal lower than others.
| A section of prairie land 40x90 feet. over
which the floods had extended until the
water stood three or four feet deep, sud
denly caved in, the result being the instan-
| tancous flooding of d mine in which three
hundred men and boys were at work.
Inside of half an hour the water had ex
| tended to all parts of the workings, and to
| night it stands within five feet of the main
shaft
This morning from 200 to 300 men went
to work and by noon one-fourth of the
number were dead
The escape of the majority was almost
by miracle. The country around the
mines is an almost 1ead-level prairie, and
the recent tremendous rains have covered
the whole country with water. Hundreds
of acres of land are honeycombed by the
mine workings, many of which have
been worked out and abandoned: 1t
was through break in one of the aban-
doned workings that the flood poured in
to day.
Seventy-four human beings were
choked TO death in the grim recesses of
the mine.
1t was at first hoped that some of the ]
men would come out alive. as there was a
possible chance that the water would clog
up somewhere in the various passages and
the men be rescued, but by o'clock it was
generally conceded that they were all dead.
First it was twenty. then thirty. forty, fifty,
sixty. and the latest authoritative reports
Ulace the number at seventy four-sixty-
eight men and six boys, who lie dead in the
mine. and it may be weeks before even the
melancholy SaGiSIaCllOn recovering
bodies is accorded.
The following is the story of John Huber,
an eye witness of the whole affair, and
man who was in the mine at the time of
the accident Il was working in one of
the west sections of the main corridor. and
had Just got my car ready for transfer
when I heard voice which sounded weak
at first saving: 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 warn
ing again and again, and a small stream of
water running down the centre of the
track. The truth at once flashed upon me
that I was in danger, and that the water
was coming from some unknown locality.
l rushed as fast as the nature of the pas
sage would allow TO where l thought my
two sons were al work. but found that
they had gone / tnhn yelled at the top of
my voice to the men near me, and made
as fast as | could for the air shaft-where l
knew there was a ladder, and / could get
out. By this time the water was up to my
arInpits, and / had hard time to get up
the shaft, so exhausted was | with the
rapid run / had made in the STOPPING
position. When got home, great God
what did see There upon the bed lay
my wife, tearing her hair and wailing in
almost crazy condition. % John she
said, where are the boys?. The truth then
flashed upon me that perhaps they were
dead | went back as fast as I could,
and found that my horrible anticipations
were only too true, and that the boys had
not been seen since entering the shaft in
the morning.
JOLIET, Feb. 17.-The gloom, despair
and desolation generally that has settled
IL 3 e,
something, that cannot be pictured. The
greater portion of the families who suffer
are of foreign birth and have been resi-,
dents of this country but short time.
The prairies about the shafts are wide
waste of water across which cold pierre
ing gale is now sweeping, adding much to
the horror of the catastrophe. As matters
are settling down and attention turns to
the cause of the disaster, some blame the
corporation because more experienced
man was not kept at the bottom of the
shaft whose duty it was to watch the
pumps and sound an alarm. Thomas Dai
ly, a new hand stood at the post. When
he saw the water was gaining on him in
stead of sounding the alarm, he rushed to |
the top of the shaft to see if
the pumps were at work. Upon his re-
turn he found the water up to his waist
He then directed the divers 10 run back
and escape by the air shaft and yell to the
men as they ran, and did what he could
himself. He saved one of the boys, all
AZ 4.