The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-08-19
A TUNNEL HORROR.
The Collision and Burning of TWO
Underground Trains.
PANIC OF TIE PASSENGERS,


Who, SsIhec by the Smoke and
Bewildered by the Darkness
Strive in Vain to Find
the Exits.
An awful catastrophe occurred in
Paris, France, on Monday evening Of
last week, on the Metropolitan Elec-
tric Railway, which runs mostly un-
derground, in which many persons
lost their lives. One Of the trains
broke at Menilmontant Station, which
is in a poor and populous section OF
the city. This train was promptly
emptied and the train which followed
was ordered to push to the repairing
sheds. On the way these two trains
caught FIRE, but the employees sue
ceeded in escaping. Meanwhile, a
crowded train reached Les CurienneS,
the preceding station, and the officials,
seeing smoke pouring out OF the
tunnel, gave the alarm. A panic en-
sued, the passengers struggling to es-
cape from the station. Amid the in
creasing smoke many attempted to
return along the line towards Belle
vile, but they were sufocated.
The fremen started in to flood the
burning cars, and shortly afterward
they were able to enter the tunnel.
They brought up the corpses OF tive
men and two women al belonging the
working class.
EIGHTY-FOUR BODIES
have been recovered, and the death
list probab bly, will exceed one hundred.
The accident, which occurred on
the Metropolitan Electric Railway as
sumed the proportions Of an awful Ca
tastrophe during the early hours TO-
day, when more than four-score bod
les Of the burned and Sufocated VIC
Tins were removed from the subter-
ranean passage. The work continues,
and indications are that the death
list will perhaps exceed FIVE score.
Long lines Of ambulances were
brought into requisiLion and the bod
les were carried to the morgue and the
nearby military barracks. After day
light
TIE CROWDS AT THE ENTRANCES
to the tunnel increased to enormous
proportions, ooliging the police to
form a solid Gordon, through which
were admitted only those seeking to
identify their relatives among the
victims. The failure Of many men,
women and children to return home
during the night gave many the fist
news Of the catastrophe. Fathers
and mothers came hurrying to the
mouths Of the tunnels to try and find
the absent ones.
The fremen found a great number
Of bodies massed near the ticket Of
fee Of the station, where many had
evidently been overcome while seek
ing tickets. They had been surprised
by the columns Of smoke, and had
sought to run back up the stone stair
way leading to the street. A strug-
gle ensued, and some escaped, but the
others had been trampled on. One
woman had fed within the ticket Of
fee, where her body was found. The
ticket seller, herself, succeeded in es-
Gaping.
At the station Of Les CuronneS,
the same scenes Of death and despair
had been enacted. The accident oc-
Cured midway between the stations
of Menilmontant and Les Couronnes,
50 that the work Of salvage proceeded
from both ends of the tunnel. In
addition to the binding smoke the
tunnel belched forth terrific heat, as
one Of the trains was slowly burning
within. The fremen succeeded in
throwing several streams Of water IN
the direction Of the wreck, while some
fremen and military engineers, at
great hazard, pushed on inside the
tunnel.
Further on, the fremen stumbled
upon
TERRIBLE MASS OF BODIES.
These were the passengers Of the
burned train. They had fed from the
coaches when the fire broke out, and,
cropping through the suffocation clouds
OF smoke, sought the exit at Les
Couronnes Station. But the tunnel
makes sharp turn near the scene of
the disaster and at the angle the en-
tire mass Of humanity apparently be-
came tightly wedged. The panic
which took place at this point, with
ir this dark Subterranean passage
must have been terrible.
NJ. Lepine, prefect of police, sum-
moned a large force of doctors and
municipal officials, who superintended
the removal of the bodies. The num-
Der Of corpses brought up from the
angle where the mass was wedged was
50 large that four and eight bodies
were placed in each ambulance. Many
OF the victims had handkerchiefS
stuffed in their mouths, they having
evidently tried to keep out the
asphyxiating smoke. The faces Of
the dead were red and congested.
Some women held their children tight
ly in their arms.
Several versions Of the disaster are
given, but
rr3E MAIN FACTE
which have been established, are
the following:
Train No 43, which caused the acci-
dent, trance to the Bois de Boulogne,
in the western part Of Paris, and pass