The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1906-04-05
ENTONBED MINERS SAVED
Thirteea Rescued Aiter Twenty DAYS
ia a French CoIIiery.
APPEARED AS FROM A GRAVE

Living ora Stark, Hay, Oats and Horse
flesh, They Make Their Wa to au
-Owe Their Lives to the Courage of
One Man..
Lens. Erance-Thirteen miners who
were entombed in the Courrieres mine
at thestime of the great fire disaster
there on March 10 have been taken
alive from their underground prison
by a searching party which was en-
gagged in exploring the mine.
The men had lived for twenty days
shut off from the light and almost de-
prived of air. With one exception
they were all we'll when reached by
The rescuers, although they could not
have lived much longer.
The rescued men were taken from
Shaft No. 2. AS the searching party
was engaged i'll this shaft noises were
heard. The explorers called out and
there were answers to their shouts.
They began digging hurriedly in he
direction from which the answer came
and finally reached the fourteen men,
who were quickly taken to the ground
above. ~
When they We're cut off from escape
by the explosion and fire which fol-
lowed. the miners took refuge in a
stable used for the mules employed in
the mines. They had Subsisted for
lays on the lunches Of their dead COM
rades. which had been taken down
9n the day of the disaster.
When this food had been exhausted,
hey resorted to eating wheat and oats,
wbich were kept in the stable for the
mules. Water was also found, and i'll
his manner the entombed miners man.
aged TO sustain their lives.
One of the rescued miners was a boy
81 fourteen who had endured the hard
ships to which all had been subjected
with all the courage manifested by his
seniors.
Nemy, who was the most lucid of the
miners who escaped, described their
imprisonment, as follows:
After the explosion, | CROPPED my
way about, stumbling over bodies and
seeking refuge from the gases. l
sOund some comrades sheltered in a
'emote niche. We ate earth and bark
cor eight days and then these prOvis-
tOnS gave out. We continued to grope
among the bodies seeking for an out
:et from our prison. but were forced
0ack time and time again. We found
some hay which we ate and two days
afterwards we found a dead horse
which we cut up and ate with the hay
and bark. We suffered most from wan
Of water. Finally we became desper
ate anS separated into three partie!
and communicated with each other b.
shouts. AT last we felt a draft OF
fresh air which finally guided us to al
opening"
Another rescued Lefebvre. when
asked if he had slept, replied: 1--WE
never closed Our eyes. Sometimes w
iozed, but Nemy, who took command
would not permit us to Sleep
The rescued men arc being kept il
seu,i-darkness. Doctor Loutiers, wht
is in charge of the patients, says tina
The men are suffering from ptomain,
poisoning. from eating the decOmposin'
horse HeSh.
The party originally numbered TWEEN
y-men, of whom six disapp cared dur
ingthe groupings i'll the d-rkness.
The CourriereS disaster was one o
= the.Worst in the history of mining. L
3ccurred on March 10. An explosion
Of fire damp set the mine ablaze. Til,
exact number of deaths has been est
mated at about 1900.