The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1906-04-03

Thirteen Rescued After Twenty Days
ii a French ColIierv.
APPEARED AS FROM A GRAVE

Living on Bark, Hay. OAts and Horse
Hesh. They Make Their Way to an
Open SHAFT and surprlse salvage Men
--owe Their Lives 10 tho Courage OF
one Man.
Lens, France Thirteen miners who
were entomBed in the Courrieres mine
at the time of the great fire disaster
there on March 10 have been taken
alive from their underground prison
by searching party which was en-
gagged in exploring the mine.
The men had lived for twenty days
shut of from the light and almost de-
prived of air. With one exception
they were all wen 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 the
direction from which the answers came
and finally reached the fourteen men,
who were quickly taken to the ground
above.
When they were cut off from escape
by the explosion and fire which fol-
lowed the miners took refuge in
stable used for the mules employed In
the mines. They had subsisted for
days on the lunches of their dead com
rades, which had been taken down
on the day of the disaster.
When this food had been exhausted.
they resorted to eating wheat and oats,
which were kept in the stable for the
mules. Water was also found, and in
this manner the entombed miners man
aged to sustain their lives.
One OF the rescued miners was a boy
of 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, l groped my
way about, stumbling over bodies and
seeking refuge from the gases. /
found some comrades sheltered In a
ASAAVAS AASACs W 2 tttC ctl Ill anu Udtk
for eight days and then these provis-
ions gave out. We continued to grope
among the bodies seeking for an out
let from our prison, but were forced
back 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 want
of water. Finally we became desper-
ate ana separated into three parties
and communicated with each other by
shouts. At last we felt a draft Of
fresh air which finally guided us TO an
opening"
Another rescued man, Lefebvre, when
asked if he had slept, replied: I'VE
never closed our eyes. Sometimes we
dozed, but Nemy who took command,
would not permit us to Sleep.
The rescued men are being kept in
eemi-darkness. Doctor Loutiers, who
Is in charge of the patients, says that
the men are suffering from ptomaine
poisoning, from eating the decomposing
horse flesh.
The party originally numbered TWEEN
ty men, of whom six disappeared dur
ing the groupings in the d-rkness.
The Courrieres disaster was one Of
the worst in the history of mining. 1t
occurred on Mares TO- An explosion
of fire damp set the Zine ablaze The
exact number Of deaths has been estl-
mated at about 1900