The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-02-23
A MINE MASSACRE.
Collapse of a Sink Above
a Coal-Shaft at Braid
wood, Ill.
The Pit Flooded With n Vast Torrent
Of Water, and About Eighty
Men Drowned.


Tribune.l
The mosi awful tragedy which has ever
visited the Wilmington coalfields occurred
to day mt the No. 2 shaft of the Wilmington
Coal Mining and Manufacturing Company,
known as the Diamond Company three
miles and half northwest of this city.
The little village of Diamond Is scene of
desolation calculated TO wiring the heart of
even the most hardened TO scenes of misery
and Woe
Sixty-eight men and six boys lie dead in
the mine, and it may be weeks before even
the melancholy satisfaction of recovering
their bodies is accorded. No such calamity
has ever befallen this section of country, or
for that matter nothing as horrible has ever
been chronicied in the history of mining in
the United States. The destruction occurred
in an instant, and came with overwhelming
force.
In every home there is weeping and sor-
row for the Braidwood miners who will re-
turn no more. The whole population of
Diamond is devoted to mining, and this
crushing blow carries ruin TO n hundred
families. In several instances all the male
members have been swept away, and what
will be the future OF Diamond it is impossi-
BILE TO forecast.
vastating. A section of prairie-land. forty
by ninety feet, over which the floods had
extended until the water stood three or four
feet Deep suddenly caved in, the result be-
ing the instantaneous flooding of Il mine in
which 800 men and BOYS were at work. In
side of half an hour the water had extended
to all parts of the workings, and tonight it
stands within five feet of the top OF the main
shaft Seventy-four human beings were
choked to death in the grim recesses of the
mine.
All hope of the possible rescue of any of
these unhappy beings by the opening of a
driveway from an old air-shaft into the
workings was abandoned at dusk, when the
water poured into the last-named shaft and
the workmen were compelled TO abandon
their last desperate attempt at the salvation
of their fellows
The scene of the horror was the Diamond
Pit No. 2, which has been operated for about
ten years. and in which anywhere from 200
Go 400 men were regularly employed This
morning from 300 to 300 went to work, and
by noon one-fourth the number were dead
The escape of the majority was almost by
a miracle The country around the mines is
an almost dead-level prairie, and the recent
tremendous rains have covered the whole
country with water. Hundreds of acres of
land are honeycombed by the mine-work-
ings, MANY of which have been worked out
and abandoned 1t was through break in
one of the abandoned workings that the
flood poured in to-day.
The Diamond shaft No 9 is ninety-two
feet deep. Above the coal lies from seventy
to 10 feet of earth The coal-ven varies
in thickness from two feet nine inches to
three feet four inches Above it is a layer
of soap-stone, and 1t rests on bed of fire
clay The vein winds and dips good deal,
and thus some parts of the mine are a good
deal lower than others
About II 30 the rumor spread among the
population of the mining village that the
ground had caved in over the main roadway
in the Diamond Shaft No =, and that the
water that had stood in a large pond on the
surface of the prairie was rushing into the
passages of the mine, cutting off the miners
and holding them in the passage Upon the
spreading of the rumor large crowds or
miners wives, with children in arms rushed
toward the scene or the catastrophe, anx-
ious TO hear of their husbands, brothers and
sons who were employed in the mines
When the crowd reached the main entrance
they found everything in state of the ut
most confusion. Around the shaft were a
crowd Of anxious men ard women, eagerly
rendering any assistance that was possible
to the haf-drowned miners who appeared
ut the bottom of the shaft
To the north could also be seen q crowd of
men collected around an air-shaft, who were
likewise fishing out the almost perishinp
miners who h q climbed to the top and
would have sunk back exhausted upon the
ground had it not been for the assistance
of the willing hands Women wrung
their hands, as, one by one, they
anxiously viewed each new face
that appeared above ground, but
found not the father or son who was miss
ing, and for whom some fell down upon
their knees and prayed The news was
upon the lips of every one. Friends anx-
ious for the safety of some lost one hurried
~ paced back and forth, trying to devise
some means of salvation for the poor Great
ures who were penned up never to be res
cued alive.
Little by little the terrible character of
the catastrophe became apparent Then it
was that the most heartrending scenes oc-
CURED. A wife bent over the shaft as her
husband was climbing the ladder in the air
shaft with his young son dead in his arms,
and extended her arms TO receive them, but
she was doomed TO disappointment, for the
man. worn ont with the desperate 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.
A Young German maiden saw her lover
brought out of a shaft in almost lifeless
condition, and, falling upon her knees, she
smoothed back the hair and thanked God
that he had been saved
Mrs. McQuistion. who was on the ground
when the news came that her husband and
\ three SONS were dead in the mine, was taken
with nervous prostration and had to be re-
moved from the ground. She is now in
precarious condition and her mind is per-
manently injured
The following is the story of John Huber;
an eyewitness of the whole affair, and
man who was in the mine ut 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 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 again, and q small stream
of water running down the center of the
track The truth at once flashed upon me
that was in danger, and that the water was
coming from some unknown locality. L
rushed "a fast as the nature of the passage
would allow me to where l thought
my two sons were at work, but
found that they had gone. then yelled at
the top of my voice TO the men near me,
and made as fast rs / could for the ir-shaft,
where knew there was a ladder and that
l could get out BY this time the water was
up TO my armpits and had hard time TO
get up the shaft, so exhausted was l with
the rapid run i had made in the
STOPPING position. When L got home,
great Cod What did 1 see! There
upon her bed lay my wife, tearing her hair
and Willing I'm almost a crnZy condition %