Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-03-11
GAS EXPLOSION IN coURSlEHE PIT
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED MEN At WORK
lest PROBABLY DEAD or ASPHYMATIoU
Cages Are Blown from shafts and
Ladders wrecked, MakiHg
Impossible TO COntInue
Rescue Work.

PARIS, March IA dispatch from Lens.
timed l;2O this morning, says the number
of entombed m,n is now given as l,lsa.
and that the crowd around the pits totals
5000
PARIS. March ia mining catastrophe
OF incalculsble horror and magnitude has
stricken the great coal center OF northern
France An explosion OF FIRE damp at !
o'clock this morning carried death and de-
struction throughout the network of coal
mines Centcred at Courrieres, and ire fol-
lowed the explosion, making rescue work
difficult and almost impossible.
The intense excitement and confusion in
the vicinity prevented early estimates of
the exact loss of life but a dispatch re-
ceived here at 435 p. m. gave 1,404 miners
entombed and probably lost. At s;tS
o'clock this evening a brief dispatch from
Lille announced the total OF 1873 dead
All France has been PROFOUNDLY shocked
by the magnitude of the disaster. which
is said to be the greatest in the history
Of continental mining. President Fallieres
sent his secretary, accompanied by Min
lister OF Public Works Gautier and Minis
ter OF the Interior Dubief. on special
train to the scene Of the disaster. The
ministerial crisis was temporarily forgot
ten, senators and deputies joining in the
universal public manifestations OF sorrow.
The scene Of the catastrophe is the
mountainous mining region near Lens, In
the department OF Pas de Calais Here
are huddled small hamlets of the mine
workers who operate the most productive
coal mines in France The subterranean
chambers form a series of tunnels.
es4-- -.
ers at Courrieres. Verdum and many other
points. The output of these mines is par
ticuarly combustible. and is largely used
in the manufacture of gas and smelling.
About 1000 miners work the group OF
mines. and. with their families make =
population OF from 5000 to 5000 souls.
Cages Hurled from Mine.
The catastrophe took place shortly after
| 1,795 men had descended into the mine this
| morning There was a deatening explo-
sion, which was followed by the cages and
mining apparatus being hurled from the
mouth OF the Courrieres mine. Men and
horses nearby outside the mine were either
stunned or killed The roof OF the mine
office was torn on.
Immediately following the explosion
| flames burst from the mouth OF the pit.
driving back those without who sought to
| enter ana uOOuliHB lnOSe
The work OF attempting to rescue the i'm
prisoned miners was hastily begun by ofii-
cials, engineers and miners from the sur
rounding mines, who formed parties and
made heroic efforts to penetrate the smoke
and foul gases and bring out the impras-
oned men.
The families OF the entombed miners
crowded about the shaft. seeking fathers
or husbands and threatening In their efforts
to obtain details to force back the gend-
armes who kept them from the mouth of
the pit The populace OF the district is APP
paTed by the disaster. which affects every
household.
Those persons who were rescued were ter
ribly burned. The latest estimates place
those taken out at 59l.
Throughout the afternoon the heroic ef-
forts at rescue were continued. but night
fall brought the conviction that the en-
tombed men had been suffocated and the
dispatch from Lille at s:45 o'clock announ-
cling the number OF dead at 11s3 appears to
be the last hope that others may be brought
to the surface alive.
Al O'Clock tonight rescue party at
Courrieres brought out several enginsers.
two Of whom were unconscious, but who
were revived under medical attendance.
Rescue work Abandoned.
The attempts al rescue have been given
up, as the galleries have fallen in.
Crowds stil surround Pit and the scenes
are heart-rending The chief engineer OF
the department Pas De Calais. NJ, Leon.
says that the hre broke out in the pit at .
O'Clock last Monday afternoon. and that
the engineers coped with it as best they
were able. but that Friday. being unable 70
master 1t. they closed all the outlets. F1s-
sures. he thinks, must have formed which
permitted the gases TO escape. and these
becoming ignited resulted in an explosion.
o. q the engineers OF the mine told the
JOuguAgs correspondent that the cage was
unAble to descend more than 1b0 metres.
WA1s the gallery where the miners are en-
tombed is fifty metres further down. Res
cuers 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
extingushed by Engineer Leon, who esti-
mated that IL would take eight days TO dis
lodge the debris in the shafts and that
meanwhile the miners would die either
from starvation or asphyxiation.
The latest news received in Paris is to the
eftect that the rescuers were still at work
but were making slight progress. their
work being most dinicult and dangerous
Up 10 that time 80 bodies had been taken
I frona pits 10 and IL the men having been