THE CRESWICK ACCIDENT.

Kumara Times, Issue 1982, 5 January 1883, Page 2

THE CRESWICK ACCIDENT.

From a Supplement to the Ballarat Star of December 19th, we glean some further particulars of the terrible disaster which occurred in the Australasian mine at Creswick. This mine is the oldest in the Creswick distinct and fortunes have been made and lost in it. It is situated about two miles northwest of the town, on the Chines road. The names of the men who escaped up the shafts after the water burst through the reef drive were Truckers —A. Gunther, A. Smeaton, J. Woods, R. Hitchcock, Edward Woods, H. Polglaise, A. Gartou, H. Crosbie, R, Woods, A. Treloar, and J. Taylor. Facemen—George Fisher and Charles Meaner, Contractors —William Mason and Henry Reeves. Platman Michael Carmody. Captain—J. Hodge.

The names of the five who were found alive were—John Mauley, Patrick Bowen, Thomas Corbett, Peter Maloney, and Cornelius Quirk. Of the various narratives given by the survivors, we select Corbett’s statement. Corbett, who is in a ward of the Creswick Hospital, suffers from a sore throat, and will require medical attention for a day or two. He is already much better than when picked up, and his case is by no means critical. He has a slight cut on his forehead. He states :—“ I was one of the men in the Ho. 2 jump-up. I think John Hodge, the boss of the shift, was the first to give the alarm. To my mind it was he who sang out. I, with the others, at once made for No. 5 rise, which we knew was the highest. We were beaten back by the water, which rushed up the drive in a great body as high as my armpits, carrying logs of timber. All the men working at that part were riming together, and when the water was so heavy we ran back, as I thought to the No. 9 jump-up. I can hardly believe I was found in No. 11 jump-up; as I thought all the time it was No. 9. As soon as I got in the jump I stood upon a rock, and the scene was a dread-

ful one. Some of us were praying, and we were all in great dread, and it was quite dark. The water rose rapidly in the jump-up, and we made as best we could to the top of the place. The last I know about the water level was that it was up to within an inch of my ear. When I lost consciousness the men were talking to each other, and all agreed that it was a poor case, and that there was no chance of our escaping. I was holding to the caps, and when I lost my senses I dreamt, fancying myself at the theatre in Ballarat, where I was constantly slipping down from one slippery tier to another and back again. I think I got this idea because I was holding to a cap-piece in the shoot, and every now and then I would slip off it on to the cap-piece of the drive and then back again. We were wanting water all the time. We did not want food at all. We could not drink the water in the drive, it was so bad. I do not recollect the water lowering in the drive, and remember nothing distinctly from the time the water I'ose to its highest in the shoot until I was found to-day. I fancied when they came that I was in the theatre again, and that my mate was with me. I seemed to be asleep all the time I was uncouscious. I found that he who seemed to be my mate was one of the bosses taking me out of the shoot. I did not hear them connecting the pipes, and do not remember the water going down in the shoot at all. I thought we had no show of getting out of the drive. The water stank dreadfully, and the air was bad. Carmody, Bowen, and I passed all the time I can remember in pi’aying for the preservation of our souls. Some of the men in the shoot, when the water got so high, tied their legs to each other with their laces and trouser-strings, saying that when they had to drown they would do so together. This has been a very carefully-worked mine up to the present, as far as my judgment can determine.” Corbett, who is looking well, inquired how many were saved out of the shoot, and did not seem surprised when told that there were only five survivors. THE DEAD. The names of the dead are as follow: Edward Dargon, James Carmoody, Nathaniel Trescothick, John Gower, Jabez Bellingham (28 years), Benjamin Bellingham (21), James Minahan, William Curtis (40), John Hodge, jun. (18), Antoine Anderson, John Crougey (35), George Baulcombe (54), William Tregloan (36), John Thomas Clifton, Edward Woods (26), Michael Hayes, Abraham Wyatt (32), Thomas Chegwin, James Temby (34), James Welsh (35), William Serrurier (34), and Frederick Fisher (55).

Most of these men were married and had families, reported as follows: Jabez Bellingham, two children; Wyatt, three children - Minahan, nine children;

Baulcombe, eight children ; Carraoody, two children ; Ohegwin, three children ; Dargon; Fisher, six children; Crougey, five children ; Tregloan, three children : Welsh, three children; Curtis, four children ; Gower, six children ; Hayes, two children ; Temby, two children; Anderson, three children ; Serrurier, three children ; Trescothick. The following were single men :—B. Bellingham, supports mother aud two children; Edwards Woods, himself and brother are the sole support of a widowed mother; Clifton, John Hodge, jun.

The remains of the deceased men were interred in the Creswick Cemetery. It was estimated that there were from 15,000 to 20,000 spectators present. The military were present and farmed a square in order to keep back the rush of persons, though we learn that had not the desired effect.