The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-12
DEATH LIST
 REACHES 1,1OO EnormousEoss of Life
 in Ench Mine. THE ;fGloN IS APPALLED, $ vivors of Courrieres Disaster
 Tell Narrowing Stories. President FaIIieres Gives s2,ooO to Fund for Relief of Distressed and
 Government wiIlsAppro-
 priate s1oo,ooo.

1 Paris. March 1.-The worst fears
 as to the enormity of the mine disas-
 ter in the Courrieres district of tho
 Pas de Calais Saturday morning have
 been realized. The death list num-
 bers HOO and the whole of the region
 stands appalled, at the terrible tragedy
 which has brought sorrow to six
 thousand fathers, mothers, wives and
 children.
 The last great mine disaster in l France occurred in 1885 when 293
 persons were killed and eighty injured,
 but that and all others sink into in- | significance before Courrieres. | The vast mortuary camp Is under
 military guard. 400. soldiers having arr
 rived there to assist In holding in
 check the crowds of distracted mourn CTS. For time hope had been held
 out to the people that tappings on pipes by the imprisoned men had been 1 heard. but gradually this hope vanish | ed and the people demanded admission
 to see the bodies, and even threatened | to break though the cordon of troops | whc had the greatest difficulty in keeping the crowds from the pit. One | man named Sylvestre succeeded in entering the mine but he never return | ed It is believed he groped about Inside until he was overcome by the gases and perished. It Is reported that rescue party numbering forty, has been cut on by the caving in of one of 1 the galleries.
 Minister of Public Works Gauthier, Minister of the Interior DuBief and the Secretary of President Fallieres remain on the ground endeavoring to comfort the distressed families of the miners. President Fallieres has given $2,000 to aid in relief measures. The minist- " will add further sum to this and the chamber of deputies will be asked to vote $100.090 for the purpose of al- leviating distress.
 Details of Disaster.
 Ministers Gauthier and DuBief have received complete details from M Law aure, the director of the mine:
 ''Of 1,S00 miners who were down in the pits when the explosion occurred" he said. "673 were working in pit No. {; 4S2 were in No. 8; sri in No. 2, and the remainder in pit No. 10
 Those rescued were taken out as follows:
 From pit No. f. 19o, from pit No. 2 Is escaped through pit No. II; 49O came up from pit No. and "A from pit No. 10. number of these were injured and some of them have died since. At the present moment over 1000 men re- main imprisoned"
 Another director declared that the imprisoned men numbered HOO.
 Mir. DuBief inquired:
 Have you still any hope?"
 To this the director replied:
 No, believe all of them are dead" |
 This was whispered into the ear of | the minister that his words might not | be overheard by the pale faced miners | who stood anxiously about the mine | building waiting for an official view on the state of affairs.
 The ministers listened to a graphic ! description of the scene in the mine by | Leon Caref. one of the men rescued. and wbo still is suffering from the terrible effects of his experience.
 T was working with a gang when the explosion occurred. The foreman immediately shouted for us to follow him and dashing into q recess in the gallery we were followed by a blast of poisonous gases which rushed by how ever without affecting us. We remain ed there for eight hours, when feeling that suffocation was gradually coming upon us, we attempted to escape We crawled in single file toward the shaft, but several of the men dropped dead on the way, including my son and the fore man. carried my nephew on my back forty minutes and succeeded in saving him. It took us four hours to reach the shaft"
 A MOrtuary Chamber.
 For the time being the mine build ing has been transformed into a nor tuary chamber. and all about 1t lie the carbonized and almost unrecognizable bodies of the miners which were taken there as they were brought up from the mine. Stricken relatives arrive at the mine building from time to time searching for missing members of their families and indescribabIe scenes of afan lou ones.
 Heart-rending scenes, too are wit messed about the mouth of pit No. 4, where, In the presence of Ministers Du- Blef and Gauthier. the bands of res cuers are continually descending and returning with bodies. The women with children in their arms attempt to break through the cordon of troops which forms q lane through which the body bearers proceed to the mortuary chamber. Sometimes the burden con- sists of mere heap of burnt flesh terribly lacerated. Only one half of the bodies recovered have been identi- fled.
 Despite the danger incurred the vol who include a number of those who were successful in escaping at the time of the explosion. do not hesitate to descend the shaft. Some of them have been down more than a dozen times. One of them. after having brought up fourteen bodies. was suffo- cated on his fifteenth attempt, and 1t Is feared that other fatalities among the volunteers will follow. as the air in the mines Is still impregnated with noxious gases. A number of the mon engaged in rescue work have already been brought to the surface uncon- scious, and as they were driven to their homes in closed carriages. the wo- men followed and broke the windows suspecting that bodies were being hur- ried away.
 Several miners have come up from pit No. II which Is connected with pit l Mo- 8. They effected their escape by means of ladder and as they came from the mouth of the pit they ap- peared to be bordering on madness. , All of them were more or less injured. When asked about their comrades one of them said:
 Tt is horrible All of them are dead"