The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-02
LIVED ENTOMBED Is DAYS
Another Survivor Taken From Cour-
rieres Mine in France,
Angry Men and Women Assail the Ofi'
cials For Neglect in Prosecuting the
Search For the Buried Men.

Lens, Department of the Pas de
Calais, France.-Another living sur
vivor of the mine disaster at Cour-
rieres, March 10, has been discovered
and brought out of the pit.
The finding of another miner alive
after twenty-five days entombment
caused intense excitement. The man
was found in pit No. 4 of the Salllu-
mines vein. He was in good condi-
ton.
According to his first statements this
man, Auguste Berton, suffered less
than the preceding rescued men. He
was thirty-two years old, and was born
in the same place as Nemy, the leader
of the thirteen men rescued March 30.
AS the Jews spread through the re-
gion it caused extreme evaporation
against the engineers who have been
directing the salvage work. NJ. Leon,
the State Engineer, when he arrived 1T
| the pit was surrounded by a crowd Of
| people who cursed and swore at him;
one woman struck him.
Berton was. found in the following
manner: One Of the party of salvage
men was working il the mine in the
morning when he felt the touch of a
hand on his shoulder and a man, who
turned out to be Berton, said:
II am saved"
The alarm was Immediately given,
Berton va taken to the pit mouth, doc
tors were summoned and Nine. Ber-
ton, the wife of the rescued man, was
sent for and an affecting scene &C.
cured.
Berton, who was covered with a
layer of coal dust, described his ex-
periences as follows:
II was working with my cousin
when all explosion occurred and we
became separated. Afterward, alone,
I CROPPED about in the darkness, trying
to find an outlet. I frstIfound a dead
horse, but was unable to eat any of it's
flesh. Later I found some lunch bags
which had belonged to men who had
been killed by the explosion, and I
lived on the food I found in them.
I suffered from the cold and took shoes
and clothing from the dead. l also
found three watches and twenty-four
/ cents. At one time I gave up hope
and tried to commit suicide by open
ing a vein. I slept ten times and tried
to count the days, estimating that eight
days had passed since the explosion" =
After being entombed in the coal
mines of the Courrieres district for
twenty days, ever since the terrible
explosion there, by which nearly 1900
men met their deaths, thirteen sur
vivors crawled out of pit No. 2 ON
March 80, very feeble and suffering
from blood poisoning, but with suf-
ficient vitality to insure their recovery.
They stated that there were other neil
alive in the mines. saying that they
heard tappings.in different parts Of the
galleries, and salvage operations We're
renewed.
There were touching scenes as wives
and mothers greeted those whom they
had long given up as dead. Crowds
besieged the hospitals to which the
men were taken, cheering the survivors
and imprecating the ineffective nature
of the salvage work that followed i'm
mediately after the disaster.
The total number Of men missing
after the catastrophe was 1912. The
bodies recovered approximately num-
bered 500, and there are still unac
counted for approximately 700.