The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1906-03-16
THE WORST MINE DISASTER IN
FRENCH ANNALS.
ELEVEN HUNDRED VICTIMS
SiE Thousand Fathers, Mothers
wives and Children Ia and Around
Courricres, Bcrcavcd By the
Terrible Calamity.
An Explosion OF Fircdnmp Carried
Death and Destruction, and of
1880 Mcn In the Workings
400 Lost Their Lives.

uOphe Of incalcuabe horror and mag,
nitude has stricken the great coal cen.
ter Of northern France. An explosion
OF tredamp at seven O'Clock Saturday
morning carried death and destruction
throughout the network of coal mines
centered at Courrieres, and fire fol.
Owed the explosion, making rescue diff.
iicnlt and almost impossible.
The intense excitement and Confu.
sion In the vicinity prevented early es'
Inmates of the exact loss Of life. but
the worst fears as to the enormlty OF
the disaster have been realized. The
death list numbers 100, and the whole
Of the region stands appalled, at the ter.
rible tragedy which has brought scr.
row to 5000 fathers, mothers, wives
ard children.
The Worst In French History.
The last great mine disaster in Franc,
occurred in 1855, when 2g3 persons were
killed and 80 injured, but that and all
others sink into insignIfcance before
Enprricres.
The vast nlOrtuary camp Is uBdel
military guard. 400 soldiers having ar.
river there to assist in holding in check
the crowds Of distracted mourners. FoI
a time hope had been held out to the
people that tappings on pipes by the
imprisoned men had been heard, but
gradually this hope vanished and the
people demanded admission to see the
bodies, and even threatened to break
fhrnnp n uh
the greatest difficulty in keeping the
crowds from the pit. On man named
Sylvester succeeded in entering The
mine, but he never returned. 1t Is be.
lieved he CROPPED about inside until he
vas overcome by the gases aud per
:shed. 1t Is reported that rescue
party numbering 40 had been cut OF;
by the Caviug in of one of the galleries
Ministers AZ the Scene.
Minister OF Public Works Gauther
Minister Of the Interior Dubief AMI ths
secretary Of President Failleres are Oh
the ground endeayOring to comfort the
distressed families of the miners. Pres.
ident Fallleries has given s. 0Oo to aid
in relief measures. The ministry will
add a further sum to this, and the
chamber OF deputies will be asked tC
vote 100000 for the purpose OF allevl
ating distress.
Ministers GauthIer and Dubief have
received complete details of the catas.
trophe from NJ Layaurs, the director
Of the mine
"Of / 500 miners who were down IL
the pits when the explosion occurred"
he said, 1913 were working In Pit No
a. 4S2 were in Pit No 3, 81 IN pit No
2 and the remainder in pit No. 10"
The Number Rescued.
Those rescued were taken out as fol.
lows:
From pit No. 4. 1901 from pit No. 3.
1G, escaped through pit No. II; 400
came up from pit No. and "A from
pit No 10. A number Of these were In
jured and some of them have died since.
At the present moment over 1000 |
men remain imprisoned.
Another director declared that the |
imprisoned men numbered LOO.
Minister Dubef inquired: Have you
still any hope?" To this the director |
replied: mo. | believe all of them are |
dead"
This was whispered into the ear OF |
the minister, In order that his words |
might not be overheard by the pale
faced miners who stood anxiously about
the mine building waiting for an off,
cial view Of the state of affairs.
An Improvised Morgue.
For the time being the mine build
ing has been transformed into NOR
tuary chamber and all about In IL lie
the carbonized and almost unrecogniza.
bic bodies of miners which were taken
there rs they were brought up from the
mine. Stricken relatives arrive at the
mine building from time TO time, search
ing for missing members of their fam
lilies, and indescribable scenes Of grief
occur as women recognize loved ones.
HenrtrcndinE Scenes.
Heartrending scenes. TOO. are wit
messed about the mouth Of pit No. 4.
where, In the presence of Ministers
Dubief and Gauthier the bands Of res
cuers are continually descending and re-
with bodies Women with chill
dren in their arms attempt to break
through the Gordon Of troops which
forms lane through which the body
bearers proceed to the mortuary cham
Der. Sometimes the burden consists OF
a mere heap Of burnt flesh, and In near
~ every case the body is terribly LAGER.
ated. Only one half Of the bodies re-
covered have been identified.
Heroic Rescue Workers.
Desplts the danger incurred, the vol
unteers, who include number of those
who were successful in escaping at the
time Of the explosion. do not hesitate
to descend the shaft. Some of them
have been down more thar a dozen
times. One Of them, after having
brought up IA bodies, was s,iffocated
On his fifteenth attempt. and 1t Is feared
that other fatalities among the volun-
teers will follow, as the air In the mines
still impregnated with noxious gases. A
number OF men engaged In rescue work
have already been brought to the sur
pare tucon eptntYa |