Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-12
ABOUT 100 DEAD.
Over 30 Bodies Recovered from
the Paris Disaster.
Entrances to Tunnel Crowded With
Thousands Of Anxious People.
Hcartrendins Scenes as Relatives
Identify Their Dead.

| Paris, Aug. 11.-Eighty- four bodies
have been recovered and the death list
/ probably will exceed 100 in the under
ground railway disaster which occurred
! here, Monday night.
The wreck, which occurred on the
! Metropolitan Electric railway, assumed
/ the proportions of an awful catastro-
! phe during the early hours of Tuesday
/ morning, when more than four score
! bodies of the burned and suffocated
! victims were removed from the subter-
| ranean passage.
The work continues and indications
are that the death list will, perhaps,
exceed five score.
! The scenes at the mouth of the tun-
I mel where the victims were brought
fourth, were of the most heart-render-
| ing description, crowds of weeping
| men, women and children struggling
| forward in an effort to recognize their
missing relatives and friends. Most OF
! the victims are from the middle and
working classes, as the trains We're car
rying them home from their work
Although the accident occurred at s
o'clock. Monday evening. the officials
, and fircmcn We're unable until early
| Tuesday morning. to descend into the
| tunnel, owing to the binding clouds of
smoke from the burning train. FIRE.
| quent attempts were made by heroic
| volunteers, whom it was necessary to
rescue and carry away to the hospi-
| tails.
At $40, Serg't. Ahearns, wearing Il
respirator, succeeded in making the
| descent He remained several minutes
and brought the first information to
the effect that corpscs were strewn all
about the roadway of the tunnel. Then
| he collapsed and was taken to the hos
pital. Twenty minutes later firemen
| forced their way down through the
tunnel station at Menilmontant and re-
turned soon afterward with several
bodies, two men, 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 seeking u
| way to escape, when they were over
| come.
The work of bringing up the bodies
| went on steadily after that under the
| personal direction of Perfect of Police
| Lcpine, who summoned a large reserve
| force to hold back the surging crowd,
including the relatives of the victims.
Long lines of ambuances were
brought into reauisition and the bodies
were carried to the barracks. After
| daylight the crowds at the entrances
| to the tunnel increased to enormous
| proportions, obliging the police to form
a solid Gordon through which were adj
mittcd only those seeking to identity
their relatives among the victims. The
| failure of many women and children
| 10 return home during the night gave
i many the first news of the catastrophe.
| Fathers and mothers came hurrying
to the mouths of the tunnel to try and
| find the absent ones.
| Al 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 street.
| struggle had ensued and some escaped,
| but the others had been trampled on.
| one woman had fled within the ticket
office where her body was found. The
ticket seller succeeded in escaping.
| At the station of Les Couronncs the
| same scenes of death and despair had
| been enacted. The accident occurred
| between the stations of Menilmontant
| and Les Couronnes so that the work of
salvage proceeded from both ends OF
i the tunnel. In addition to the binding
smoke the tunnel belched forth terri
| fic heat, as one of the trains was slowly
! burning within. The firemen succeed
! ed in throwing several streams of water
i in the direction of the wreck. while
some frcmen and military engineers at
great hazard pushed on inside the tun
mel. 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 on a
mass of bodies. They were the passen-
| gers of the burned train.
They had fled from the coaches when
the fire broke out and grouping through
the clouds Of smoke, sought the exit at
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