The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1903-08-15
HORRIBLE DISASTER

OVER ONE HUNDRED PERSONS
KILLED IN RAILWAY Acci.
DENT AT PARIS.
Train on Metropolitan Electric Road
Breaks Down While Running Under
around--cars Take Fire and the Pas.
sensers, Unable tdsEseape From the
Tunnel, Are suffocated by the Dense
Smoke.
Paris, Aug. 11.-Eighty-four bodies
have been recovered and the death list
will probably exceed hundred in the
underground railway disaster which
occurred here during the eight.
One electric train OH ve Metropoli-
tan Electric railway was stopped by
the motor refusing to act properly.
Another train arrived and pushed the
crippled train forward. The dam.
aged motor set fire to the engine Of
the first train, raising great quantities
OF smoke. The electric lights ON the
trains then went out, and a terrible
panic ensued among the passengers,
who were mostly of the working
classes. They got out and tried to
grope their way through the smoky
tunnel, but many were killed by the
current IN the rail and others died of
soffocation.
tarrnr ~ 1r,h@
the train was increased by q third
train crashing into the fiery mass, and
sending another panic-stricken crowd
to death in the tunnel. 1t was several
hours before any bodies were recov-
cred.
Although the accident occurred at
o'clock in the evening the officials
and iremen were unable until early
next morning to descend into the tun-
mel, owing to the
Binding Clouds of Smoke
from the burning train. Frequent at
temptS were made by heroic volun.
teers, whom it was necessary to rescue,
half suffocated, and carry away to
the hospitals.
At 3:1O a. m. Sergeant Ahrens,
wearing respirator, succeeded in
making the descent. He remained
seven minutes and brought the infor-
nation that corpses were strewn all
about the roadway of the tunnel Then
he collapsed and was taken to the
hospital. Twenty minutes later fire.
men forced their way down through
the tunnel station at Menilmontant
and returned soon afterWard with
seven bodies, two young boys and
three women. These persons had
been asphyxiated, as their positions
showed they had been cropping through
the smoke that filled the tunnel, seek
Ing way to escape, when they were
overcome.
The work of bringing up bodies
went on steadily after that, under the
personal direction of Prefect Of Police
Lepine, who summoned a large re.
serve force to hold back the surging
crowd, including the relatives of the
victims.
The scenes at the mouth of the tun.
mel where the victims were brought
forth were of the most heartrending
description, crowds of weeping men,
women and children struggling for.
ward In an effort to recognize their
missing relatives and friends. Most
OF the victims are from the
Middle and Working Classes
as the trains were carrying them home
from their work.
Long lines of anbulances were
brought into requisition and the bodies
were carried to the morgue and the
nearby military barracks.
At the second descent the fremen
found a great number of bodies massed
near the ticket office of the station,
where many had evidently been over.
come while seeking tickets. They
had been surprised by the columns Of
smoke and had sought to run back up
the stone stairway leading to the
some escaped, but the others had been
trampled on.
At the station of Les Charonnes the
same scene of death and despair had
been enacted. The accident occurred
midway between the stations of Menil.
montant and Les Charonnes, so that
the work of salvage proceeded from
both ends of the tunnel In addition
to the binding smoke the tunnel
belched forth a terrific heat, as one of
the trains was slowly burning within.
The firemen succeeded in throwing
several streams of water in the direc-
tion of the wreck, while some flremen
and military engines at great hazard
Pushed on Inside the Tunnel.
They brought out two bodies and soon
afterwards three more. The latter
were laborers who had almost succeed
ed in reaching the exit when they
were overcome and suffocated.
Further on the firemen stumbled
upon terribne mass Of bodies. These
were the passengers of the burned
train. They had leaped from the
coaches when the fire broke out and,
of smoke, sought the exit at Les Char.
onnes station. But the tunnel makes
a sharp turn near the scene Of the
disaster and at the angle the entire
mass of humanity apparently became
tightly wcdged. The panic which took
place at this point within this dark
subterranean passage must have been
terrible.
Prefect LepinO summoned large
force of doctors and municipal Off.
cials, who superintended the removal
of the bodies. The number of corpses
brought up from the angle where the
mass was wedged was 80 large that
four and eight bodies we're 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. Many poor people claimed
the bodies of their children and rela-
tives and tried to take them home, but
the police gently and firmly insisted
upon the bodies being taken to the
morgue and barracks in order that the
magnitude of the catastrophe might be
determined.
Wabash Freight DeraiIed.
Bloomington, ILL.,, Aug. 1.-THE de.