St. Paul daily globe., 1892-03-13
OVER TWO HUNDRED
Will Be the Total Of Fatalities at
CharlerOi.

Charleroi.
BRUSSELS, March 12.-There has been
little, if any, abatement in the excite
ment in and about Charleroi, near
which place the appalling explosion oc-
Cured yesterday morning in the An
derlues colliery. All of Friday night
hundreds of men, women and children
kept their dreary watch at the pit
mouth, hoping for the best, yet almost
knowing their hope was without reason.
Besides the dirt and rock, the carcasses
of forty horses block the approach to
the lower gallery, and these will have
to be cut up and removed before the
rescuers can proceed any further
in the direction of the gallery,
where the bodies are known to
be. The bodies that have been re-
covered were covered with thick. black
dust, which in some instances had been
blown deep in the skin. The faces were
cleaned as far as possible to allow of
Identification. but many were entirely
unrecognizable. Among the bodies re-
covered is that of a fourteen-year-ol
girl. That she suffered indescribable
agony is shown by the young face,
which is so horribly distorted that it
cannot be recognized.
1t has been ascertained that $50 per-
sons were working in the mine at the
time of the explosion. Most of them
were at work in the two gallaries
where the greatest damage was done.
One of these gallaries is 400 and the
other 500 yards below the surface. Min
ming experts, acquainted with the
Anderlues workings. say that
every person who was working
in the lower gallary must be dead
and few are expected to be rescued
alive from the upper gallery, which is
filled with deadly gases. Altogether
thirty three bodies have been recovered.
The fire in the mine grew fiercer and
fercer, and since o'clock this morning
the heat has been SO intense that it has
been impossible for the rescuing par
ties to remain in the pit. This afternoon
an immense column of flame shot
through the ventilating shaft, which
meant certain death for every person In
the mine. This fact was fully recog-
niZed by the Onlookers, and the wailing
and shrieks Of those near the pits
mouth increased III violence as the
lurid flame tore their last faint hope
from them. In the meantime water
had been commenced to be thrown
into the burning pit. Before it had
descended any distance it was
converted into steam and escaped with
a tremendous roaring noise, which
added to the horror Of the situation.
The scene has seldom. if ever, been
equaled in mining districts of Belgium.
All the heavy machinery fell crashing
down the shaft. acting as a damper
against the flames ascending the shaft
to the surface, and very little fire could
be seen. But it could be heard roaring
and seething through the galleries far
below the surface.
The total of the death roll is 215. Of
this number it is estimated that 40
were burned alive. The calamity has
crushed the entire Charleroi district.
Nothing is heard save lamentations for
the deaths. Many of the women, who
have lost their only support,
have become hysterical through
grief. and the doctors are busy
attending to them. In some cases all
the surviving members of families still
surround the blackened pits mouth,
ttracted by the very horror that has
endered them without a head. The