New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-03-11
OVER ONE THOUSAND PERISH.
Twelve Hundred Men Die in Burning Pits of
French Colliey.
FLAMES FOLLOW GREAT EXPL LOSION.
Efforts Rescue Entombed Miners Fus-Coieres Cave InPhe
Scenes Mouths of Shafts

dozen half suffocated men, who were promptly
taken TO the hospital Among them was NJ.
Voisin. engineer, who had attempted to or
ganize rescue party.
Toward noon wounded workmen began to be
brought UP in the baskets, and the bodies of
two men were taken from Pit No 10 II
was feared that the remainder had been as
phyxiated
Assistance reached Courrieres from all sections
of the department. and large force OF volun-
teers took part in the efforts made to rescue
the entombed miners. recover the bodies OF the
killed and help in the work of salvage.
One of the rescued miners Pierre Dasson.
said:
was ESQ metres from the shaft when heard
deaIening explosion. The air Immediately be-
came filled With poisonous vapOrs. Instinctive-
ly l groped my way toward the bottom Of the
shaft OF Pit No. 2. near which l found number
OF sufocating comrades who had fallen helpless
in the galleries assisted them to mount the troll
ley, and thus they were enabled to reach the
shaft.
Gas poured into Pit 2. preventing an en-
trance and it was impossible to succor the men
imprisoned there. In Pit the cages would not
work. having been damaged by the explosion
The roof of the office near the entrance to the
mine was blown off by the explosion.
Ten miners from Pit II were removed alive
but none Of the s5S miners who entered Pit 4
were saved.
or the five hundred miners who descended into
one pit this morning. according to a dispatch
from Lens. 3sS were brought out but the
rescue of the others was impossible In Pit only
thirteen men out of 443 were rescued, and
the ladders are broken and the cages tammed.
the rescuers despair of reaching the others
The crowd surrounding the mouth of the
mine is showing signs of impatience at what
it considers the slow progress being made by
the rescuers Agonizing scenes are witnessed
and the gendarmes have great difficulty in re-
straining the crowds of people.
The chief engineer of the Department Pas de
Calais. NJ. Leon. says that the fire broke out
in the pit at o'clock last Monday afternoon
ard that the engineers coped with it as best they
were able, but that Friday. being unable to
master It, they closed all the outlets Ffssures. he
thinks. must have formed. which permitted the
gases to escape, and these became ignited and
exploded.
One of the engineers of the mine told the
Journals correspondent that the cage was
unable to descned more than 80 metres while
the gallery where the miners were entombed
was so metres further down. Rescuers who
descended in this cage report having heard
distinctly the imprisoned men tapping on the
water pipes. but the hope that was rekindled
by this statement was extinguished by NJ Leon.
who estimated that it would take eight days 10
dislodge the wreckage in the shafts, and that
meanwhile the miners would die. either from
starvation or asphyxiation.
The latest news received in Paris is that the
rescuers are still at work. but are making slight
progress their work being most difficult and
dangerous Up to the present time 150 bodies
have been taken from Pits Nos. 10 and II. all
the men having been asphyxiated.
Paris. March 11.-A dispatch from Lens. timed
1:2O o'clock this morning says that the number
of entombed men is now given 1,219, and that
the crowd around the pits totals $4,000.