Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1883 — A MINE MASSACRE. [ARTICLE]

A MINE MASSACRE.

Collapse of a Sink-Hole Above a Coal-Shaft at Braidwood, HI. The Pit Flooded With a Vast Torrent of Water, and Abont Eighty Men Drowned. [Braidwood Telegram (Feb. 16) to Chicago Tribune.) The mosi awful tragedy which has ever visited the Wilmington coalfields 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 this city. The little village of Diamond is a scene of desolation calculated to wring the heart of even the most hardened to scenes of misery and woe. Sixty-eight men and sik boys lie dead in the mine, and it may he weeks before even the melancholy satisfaction of recovering their bodies is accorded. No such calamity has ever befallen ihis section of country, or, for that matter, nothing as horrible has ever been chronicled 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 sorrow for the Braidwood miners who will return no more. The whole population of Diamond is devoted to mining, and this crushing blow carries ruin to a hundred families. In several instances all the male members have been swept away, and what will be the future of Diamond it is impossible to forecast. The tragedy was as unique as it was devastating. 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 being the instantaneous flooding of a mine in which 300 men and boys were at work. Inside of half an hour the water had extended to all parts of the workings, and to-night 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. 3, which has been operated for about ten years, and in which anywhere from 200 to 400 men were regularly employed. This morning from 290 to 800 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, manv of which have been worked out and abandoned. It was through a break in one of the abandoned workings that the flood poured in to-day. The Diamond shaft No. 2 is ninety-two feetdeep. Above the coal lies from seventy to 110 feet of earth. The coal-vein varies in thickness from two feet nine inches to three feet four inches. Above it is a layer of soap-stone, and it rests on a bed of fireclay. The vein winds and dips a good deal, and thus some parts of the mine are a good deal lower than others. About 11:30 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. 2, 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 of the catastrophe, anxious*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 a state of the utmost confusion. Around the shaft .were a crowd of anxious men and women, eagerly rendering any assistance that was possible to the half-drowned miners who appeared at the bottom of the shaft To the north could also be seen a crowd of men collected around an air-shaft, who were likewise fishing out the almost perishing miners who h <1 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 missing, and for whom some fell down upon their knees and prayed. The news was upon the lips of every one. Friends anxious for the safety of some lost one hurriedly paced back and forth, trying to devise some means of salvation for the poor creatures who were penned up never to be rescued alive. Little by little the terrible character of the catastrophe became apparent Then it was that the most heartrending scenes occurred. A wife bent over the shaft as her husband was climbing the ladder in the airshaft 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 out with the desperate struggle which he had undergone to save the body of his son, fell back into the pit a lifeless corpse, and has not since been seen. A young German maiden saw her lover brought out of a shaft in almost a 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 removed from the ground. She is now in a precarious condition and her mind is permanently injured The following is the story of John Huber; an eye-witness of the whole affair, and a man who was in the mine at the time of the accident: “I was working in one of the west sections of the main corridor, and had just got my car ready for transfer, when I heard a voice which sounded weak at first saying, ‘Look out; the water is coming,’ For a few moments I did not comprehend the awful meaning of the language used, and so went back to block up the coal, when I heard the same warning again and again, and a small stream of water running down the center 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. I rushed as fast as the nature of the passage would allow me to where I thought my two sons were at work, but found that they had gone. I then yelled at the top of my voice to the men near me, and made as fast as I could for the air-shaft, where I knew there was a ladder, and that I could get out By this time the water was up to my armpits, and I had a hard time to get up the shaft, so exhausted was I with the rapid run I had made in the stooping, position. When I got home, great God! What did I Bee! There upon her bed lay my wife, tearing her hair and wailing in almost a crazy condition. *O, John,’ she said, ‘where are the boys?’ The truth then flashed upon me that' perhaps they were dead I went back as fast as I could, and found that my horrible anticipat.ons were only too true, and lhat the boys had not been seen since entering the shaft Jn the morning.” - '