The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-02-22
A MINE MASSACRE.
Collapse Of a Sink-Hole Above
q Ooal-Shaft at Braid
wood, I'll.
The Pit Flooded With VAST Torrent
OF Water, and About Eighty
Men Drowned.

j
Tribunc.l
The most awful tragedy which has ever
visited the Wilmington coaliclds occurred
to-day Mt the No 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 1t may he weeks before even
the melancholy satisfaction Of recovering
their bodies is accorded. No such calamity
has ever hefallen this section Of country, or,
for that matter. nothing us horrible has ever
been chronced In the history Of mining In
tho United States The destruction occurred
in an instant and came with overwhelming
force.
In every home there IL weeping and sor-
row for the Braidwood miners who will re-
turn no more. The whole population of
Diamond il devoted To mining. and this
crushing blow carries ruin to hundred
families In several instances NIL the male
members have been swept away. and what
will be the future of Diamond 1t Is impossi-
bic To forecast
The tragedy was NJ unique as Ii was de-
vastating A section Of prairie land. forty
by ninety feet, over which the Hoods had
extended until the water stood three III four
feet deep, suddenly cayed III, the result he
ing the instantaneous floading Of Il mine in
which :Nu men and boys We're nj work. In
side of half an hour the water hid extended
to all arts Of the workings. and to night II
stands within five feet of the top OF the main
Shaft Seyenty-four human beings were
1nE al IN In llx,tr
mine.
All hope of the possible rescue of amy OF
these unhappy beings by the opening of n
driveway from an old ar-shaft into the
workings was abandoned ut dusk when the
water poured into the last named shaft and
the workmen were compelled to abandon
their last desperate attempt nj the salvation
OF their fellows
The scene of the horror was the Diamond
Pit No. =, which has been operated for about
ten years, and In which anywhere from .W
to 4o0 men were regularly employed This
morning from 2.N to 100 went to work. and
by noon one fourth the number We're dead
The escape of the majority was almost by
miracle The country around the minesls
IN almost dead-level prairie, and the recent
tremendous rains have covered the whole
country with water. Hundreds of acres Of
land are honeycombcd by the mine work
ings, many of which have been worked out
and abandoned Ii was through break in
one of the abandoned workings that the
flood poured in to day.
The Diamond shaft No ? is ninety two
feet deep. Above the coal lies from seventy
to Ito feet of earth The coal-vcn varies
in thickness from two feet nine inches To
three feet four inches. Above II is n LAYER
Of soap stone, and Il rests on bed OF fire
clay. The vein winds and dips good deal,
and thus some parts of the mine are good
deal lower than others
Ahouf II ..Nl the rulnar gnrnnI ampn,r the
population of the mining village that the
ground had caved i'm 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 rnmor large crowds or
miners wives with children in arms rushed
toward the scene OF the catastrophe anx-
ious to hear OF their husbands brothers and
sons who were employed in the mires
When the crowd reached the main entrance
the, found everything in q state OF the ut
most confusion. Around the shaft We're
crowd uf anxious men ard women, eagerly
rendering any assistance that was possible
to the half 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 pcrishing
miners who hid climbed to the top and
would have sunk back exhausted upon tho
ground had 1t not been for the assistance
Of the willing hands Women wTung
their hands, as, one by one, they
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
ious for the safety of some lost one hurried
" paced back and forth, trying to devise
some means of salvation for the poor Great
nres 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 heartrendlng scenes oc-
cured. A wife bent over the shaft as her
husband was climbing the ladder i'll the air
shaft with his young son dead i'll his arms,
and extended her arms to receive them. but
she was doomed to disappointment, for the
man, worn out with the desperate struggle
which he had undergone To save the body Of
his son, fell back into the pic lifeless corpse,
and has not since been seen
4 Young German maiden saw her lover
brought out of shaft in almost n lifeless
condition. and, falling upon her knees. she
smoothed back the hair and thanked God
that he had been saved.
Mrs. McQnistion, who was on the ground
when the news came that her husband and
three sons We're dead i'll the mine. was taken
with nervous prostration and had TO be re-
moved from the ground She is now in a
precarious condition and her mind il per-
manently injured
The following is the story of John Huber:
an eyewitness of the whole affair, and u
man who was in the mine at the time OF the
accident.
4 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 SnllY.Ia6 v-sau M fSrSf Aay.insr ank
out; the water is coming. Fora few moments
/ did not comprehend the awful meaning Of
the language used. and Went back to
block up the coal. when heard the same
warning again and again. and 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. /
rushed as fast rs the nature of the passage
would allow me to where | thought
my two sons We're 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 as could for the air shaft
where knew there was a ladder, and that
l could get out BY this time the water was
up To my armpts, and had a hard time 10
get up the shaft, so exhausted was l with
the rapid run | had made III the
great God. What did | see. There
, upon her bed lay my wife. teaIin. her hair
aud waillng in almost "A crazy condition. -,
John she said, where are the boys The
/ truth then flashed upon me that perhaps
! they We're dead went hack A. fast ~
could. and found that my horrible anticpa-
i tons We're only too true, and that the hays
had not been seen since entering the shaft
+ in the morning"
The situation at the scene of the Diamond
Mine havoc was thus described by a CORE
spondent Of the Chicago Times, Feb ~
There have been no new developments to.
day. and nothing could afford ray OF com
fort 10 friends and relatives Of the miners
buried In the watery sepulcher Instead i;
il feared that further homes max be mad,
desolate when all the victims are discovered
II the recovery of all the bodies j. eyer
accomplished Ii has been learned
] Other persons We're likely Ia II.
IN tie mime beside these represented I'll III.
companNs books Not an hour in the tia,
passes but the miners have fresltls from
, other points going maaier ground Ia -.
, them, and il l. feared that some of such ina,
. have been in the Diamond when thu torrent
II rushing water burst through tn. mine