Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, April 29, 1924
One victim found dead in workings; Robert D. Doucett loses life, but rescuers have hopes of finding Manley Cooney and O.C. Wise alive
Caught by a cave-in last night, 1,500 feet below the surface, in the eleventh, south level of the Pacific Coast Coal Company mine at Black Diamond, one miner was killed and two others entombed. The body of Robert D. Doucett was rescued this morning. The two other miners, Manley Cooney and O.C. Wise, are believed to be alive.
Rescue crews which have been working one-hour shifts since last night, found the body of Doucett this morning, and later reported having heard one or both of the entombed men working behind the cave-in. Signals of the rescuers were answered by tappings, and it is now believed that both entombed men will be rescued alive.
Fifty men are on the rescue shift and have redoubled their efforts in the hope of reaching the miners this afternoon.
Cooney and Doucett were married but had no children. The miners all lived at Black Diamond.
The cave-in followed what is known in mining parlance as a “bump” or miniature earthquake. It occurred in chutes Nos. 29 and 30, which adjoin each other, and the falling earth and rock covered a space about forty or fifty feet square. The time of the cave-in has been placed at 9:30 o’clock.
The three miners were at work in one of the chutes, possibly in both—company officers do not know. Believing there was a possibility that one or more might have escaped death, provided rescue came quickly enough, a rescue force was organized at once under the direction of Jack Parker, deputy state mine inspector, who was at Black Diamond, and D.C. Botting, manager of mines for the company.
Rescuers at work
Fifty men were set at work immediately after the cave-in last night was discovered, and their numbers divided so they could be worked full speed in hourly shifts. The rescuers began their digging about the edges of the “room” where the cave-in occurred, working toward the center where it was thought the buried miners might be found.
The 11th level where the cave-in occurred is near the bottom of the mine.
Chief Deputy Coroner T. Frank Koepfli left Seattle this morning for Black Diamond.
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