Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-11

remained intact and several rescues were
made. The first cages came up at 10
O'Clock with about dozen half-suffocatej
men. who were promptly taken to the hos
pital. Among them was NJ. Voisn, an en-
gineer, who had attempted to organize
succor.
Toward noon wounded workmen began to
be brought up in the baskets, and the
bodies of two dead men were taken from
pit 10. 1t was feared the remainder had
been asphyxiated.
Assistance reached Courriere from all
sections of the department and a large
force of volunteers took part In the efforts
made to rescue the entombed miners re-
cover the bodies of the killed and help in
the work of salvage
Story of a Survivor.
One of the rescued miners Pierre Dasson,
said: Il $50 meters from the shaft
when 1 heard a deafening explosion The
air Immediately became rarified and filed
with poisonous vapors. Instinctively l
CROPPED my way toward the bottom of the
shaft of pit 2. near which ! found a num-
Der OF suffocated comrades who had fallen
helpless In the galleries and were crying
for assistance. l assisted them to mount
the trolley and thus they were enabled to
reach the shaft
A state of stupor and desolation prevails
over the Courriere mining region. The
most agonzng scenes are witnessed at
the pit mouths, and the gendarmes expert
ence the utmost difficulty in restraining the
crowds of people eager to ascertain the
fate Of their relatives.
At Lille the estimates OF the dead are
n.In a
are given under all reserve until more ex-
act details are obtainable
Gas Prevented Rescue.
Gas is pouring into pit 2. preventing
an entrance, and it Is impossible to succor
the men imprisoned there. In pit 3 the
cages will not work having been damaged
by the violence of the explosion The res
cue work therefore, is proceedingly main
ly in pit 4. The rescuers are made up
of engineers and men from the surround
Ing mining towns The roof of the office,
near the entrance to the mine, was blown
off by the explosion Ten miners from pit
IL were removed alive, but none of the
S5S miners who entered pit have yet
been brought out.
or the 800 miners who descended there
this morning, according to dispatch from
Lens 3Ss have been brought out but the
rescue of the others Is impossible In pit
8 only thirteen men out of 433 have
been rescued, and as the ladders are broken
and the cages tammed, the rescuers despair
of helping the others.
The prefect of Pas De Calais. NJ. ArTas,
is directing the work of rescue at pit
H. near the scene of the main catas-
trophe. II is possible that the rescuers
may be able to approach the lateral gal
leries and fifty miners, headed by Engi-
neer Bar, have been formed into relief
gang and viii make an attempt to reach
them.
Foreman Lecomte came up from the mine
this afternoon and reported terrifying
scene below The crowd surrounding the
mouth of the mine is showing signs of i'm
patience at what it considers the slow
progress being made by the rescuers.
Chief Engineers Story.
The chief engineer of the department Pas
de Calais NJ Leon says that the fire broke
out in the pit at 3 o'clock last Monday ater-
noon and that the engineers coped with 1t
as best they were able. but that Friday, be-
| ing unable to master 1t. they closed all the
outlets. Fissures he thinks, must have
| formed which permitted the gases to es-
| cape, ana tEeSe DttcillllS iStiiteu, ieSulltu
| in an explosion. One OF the engineers of
| the mine told the Journals correspondent
| thar the cage was unable to descend more
| than 100 meters. while the gallery where
the miners are entombed is fifty meters far
| ther down.
Rescuers who descended in this cage re-
port having heard distinctly the imprisoned
men tapping on the water pipes, but the
hope that was rekindled by this statement
| was extinguished by Engineer Leon, who
| estimated that 1t would take eight days to
| dislodge the debris in the shafts and that,
meanwhile. the miners would die either
| from starvation or asphyxiation.
The latest news received in Paris was to
! the effect that rescuers were still at work,
| but were making slight progress, their work
being most difficult and dangerous. Uo TO
| the present time $50 bodies have been taken
| from pits ten and eleven. all the men hav-
| ing been asphyxiated.
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