The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-31
ALIVE 20 DAYS UNDERGROUND
10 FRENCH COAL MINERS FOUGHT
OFF DEATH.
Living on Bark. Hay, Oats ard Horse
flesh, They Make Their Way to an Open
shaft and Surprise Salvage Men-Owe
Their Lives TO Courage OF One a
Special chbie Despatch TO THE SUN.

LENS, France, March 3O.-Thirteen men
were brought up alive to-day from the
Courrieres coal mines in which, twenty
days ago, a terrible explosion Of gases
entombed and destroyed nearly twelve
hundred miners. Two weeks ago the mine
authorities abandoned attempts at rescue.
For twenty days the thirteen endured
horrible suffering s, supporting life by
gnawing the bark from timber supports,
eating bits of food that had g left by
their dead comrades, hay, oats and the
partially ~decomposed carcass of a horse,
From the lack Of water they we're reduced
to shocking extremities. The intense cold
added to their sufferings.
They came to the surface haggard;
eyes sunken, terribly exhausted, barely
able to walk, and with hardly enough
siren 9Th left to describe their experiences,
yet, with the exception OF one, in surpris-
ingly good health. Cropping in the dark
day after day, stumbling over bodies Of
their fellow workmen, never giving up hope,
and supporting their courage by the be-
lief that the mine authorities were work.
ing for their rescue, they made their way
finally to an open shaft in a remote part of
pit 2.
A salvage party was at work in pit ?
when the thirteen men broke through a
distant gallery and staggered toward them.
The superstitious miners, believing it inn
possible that the thirteen could be live men.
were terribly frightened. Some Of them
49,. I-...- -. ~@l- 4~I ~n@ nNhAEa
recovering their nerve, went quickly to the
help of the thirteen. who were weeping and
laughing from the joy Of their escape.
One Of the salvage party, making his
way up the shaft. ran to the house Of NJ.
Lavaurs, director of the Courrieres mine,
beside himself with excitement, shouting
the news as he ran and arousing the settle
ment of mining people. The man burst in
on M. Lavaurs, shouting:
Thirteen men have come alive from the
mine. There are others alive down there"
NJ Lavaurs was thunderstruck. He
could not believe it possible that any Of the
men had survived the long entombment.
You are mad, he cried to the workman.
They are oil dead, 1t is inconceivable
that any could be alive still"
Another workman meanwhile running to
Engineer Leon informed him of the escape
Of the thirteen.
Thirteen living corpses ask to be brought
up said the workman.
What do you meant" cried the engl-
neef,
why, living men," said the workman.
living men that "a saved themselves
from the catastrophe"
Director Lavaurs and Engineer Leon
FASTENED to the mouth OF the shaft and
directed the work Of bringing the men
to the surface. The news of their escape,
first communicated by the excited salvage
men from pit 2, had spread throughout
the section. In a short while an immense
crowd surrounded the mouth Of the shaft,
many in the crowd being relatives Of the
miners that had lost their lives. The
excitement was tremendous. Women
tainted from excess Of joy. Others wept
and aced each other, moved by the
belief that after all their loved ones might
have esca ped death and still be wandering
somewhere In the mines. Afterward the
crowd gave way to anger against the mine
authorities, accusing them Of indifference
and Of being more anxious to save their
property than to strive for the rescue OF
the miners.
The rescued men were brought to the
surface in the elevator. 1t was difficult
for the mine authorities, even with the as
sistance of the gendarmes that had been
summoned to help In preserving order.
to restrain the crowd which rushed for the
rescued men and attempted to embrace
them and force food or drink into th cir
mouths. The mems eyes had been so long
accustomed to the gloom of the mines
that they we're. blinded temporarily by the
glare Of the sunlight. They were eager
to talk and to Director Lavaurs, Engineer
Leon and their friends they told in a weak
voice the story OF their experiences.
A woman, the mother Of Victor Martin, a
fourteen-year-old boy, who was one Of the
thirteen, made her way through the crowd
until her eyes fell upon her son. She
dropped to her knees and thanked God.
Since March 10, when the explosion oo-
CURED, she had been TO the mine nearly
every day insisting that her son was alive
and expecting that he had been rescued.
They told her that 1t was impossible. Her
faith remained mistaken. She had
dreamed, she said, that her son was alive,
and she remained 30 confident that it was
believed her mind had become unbalanced
through grief.
The first question her son asked when he
stepped from the cage was: How is my
mother2" His father, waiting in the crowd,
heard it. There" he cried, your mother
knew you were alive"
Every one of the survivors had his own
story to tell OF the suferings they endured.
They all declared that they owed their
lives to one of their party, a miner named
Nemy, who from the first day tool charge
Of the party. Throughout the prolonged
and agonizing trial he kept calm, cool and
Jolly, telling stories and jokes to keep up
their spirits, cheering them with his own
undaunted courage and assuring them
that they certainly would be rescued. 1t
was Nemy. they said, who had helped them
find things to eat and who had taken charge
Of the apportionment OF food 30 that every
man would have a proper share and that
zone should profit at the expense Of the
whole party. From the simple stories told
by these men it appears that this obscure
miner, with nothing but a cool head and
bare hands, accomplished what the scientific
appliances Of the company and the skill Of
it's engineers could not do.
Nemy told the story Of the twenty days