PARTICULARS OF THE CATASTROPHE.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 31, 5 August 1895, Page 2

PARTICULARS OF THE CATASTROPHE.

(Per Press Association.) Melbourne, August 4. Tbis dreadful mining accident took place at the McEvoy gold and tin mine, 5 Eldorado, 162 miles north-east of Mel- * bourne, early on the morning of July 20. I One hundred and thirty men are en--1 gaged on the mine, and 29 went on shift at midnight to come off at 8 o'clock tbe 5 next morning. At five minutes to 4 i o'clock, there was a deafening concus- , sion, followed by a great rush of slum, I which came in in immense quantities . from one of the crosscuts, and in a few I minutes filled nearly all tbe crosscuts, . and rushed towards the main drive. , Five men who were working in a crosscut near that from which the rush of ' mullock came were saved by tbe readiness and bravery of Joseph Ferguson, • who instead of rushing for the shaft when the concussion came, ran along to the interior and shouted, •• Up the drive for God's sake ! Come out ! I don't see there is much chance, but come 1" ! The men working in the crosscut had not felt the air rush, being in the crosscut, but when they reached the drive the force of the airknoclicd them down. 1 The mullock soon came pouring down, I like a flood, and before they could get to the shaft they were wading through it up to their necks. It carried slabs and trucks along with it in indistinguishable confusion, along with mullock, and just behind the men came a huge boulder of pipeclay, which had evidently been carried through with tho first in break, and when it reached tbe opening into the main drive it stuck fast and blocked tbe rush of mullock behind, and this enabled the men to escape. The entombed men whose bodies have just been found were: — John Kneebone, aged 60 married, wife and six children ; John Edgar Crane, aged 28, single ; Fred Burke, aged 48, wife and eight children, Charles Dawkins, aged 50, wife and four children ; James Thompson, aged 31, wife and three children in Eldorado ; James Armstrong, aged 50. Sydney, August 4. At Broken Hill tbe mine floor of the quarry continues to settle, and there is but little diminution of smoke. Carbolic acid gas has evidently had little effect yet. This Day. It took nearly six hours to completely decipher the messages scratched on the cans in the Eldorado. All the men as well as Dawkins wrote brief pathetic messages.