The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-03-31
Thirteen Men Px$js After Suffering '<,tiVatiOns
 in COutrieIes Mines
LIVED ON HORSEFLESH,
 BARK, CARROTS AND HAY

Relatives of Men Are Indignant That
 Efforts Were Not Made Before to
 See If Any of the Men
 Wsre Alive.
 Lens, France, March So.-rhe disaster at the Courrieres coal mine had start sequence today when thirteen miners were taken out. alive, after having en- dured unspeakable horrors during twen- ty days of entombment. The story of the survivors, so far as 1t has been told. ling sequence today when thirteen miners on putrid horse meat, amid total dark ness, and in the stench from scores of decaying corpses. The presence of human flesh would speedily have forced the starving men to resort to the last des- perate extremity if they had not been rescued.
 The survivors were sturdy young miners from 1T to 25 years of age, except their leader, Henri Nemy, who is Ss years of age.
 Emaciated, Exhausted and Blinded.
 All show the terrible effects of their experiences, being emaciated, exhausted and blinded. Their rescue caused a tenn porary nervous lucdity during which they greeted their relatives and graph ically related their sufferings. The doc tors then enforced quiet upon them, fear ing the result Of fever and poisoning from their having eaten decayed horse flesh.
 There were touching scenes as wives and mothers greeted those whom they had long given up as dead. Crowds be- sieged the hospitals to which the men were taken. cheering the survivors and mprecatng the ineffective nature of the salvage work that followed immediately after the disaster.
 The rescue of these thirteen men re- vived the hope of D. any families that others are alive. and the relatives of those whose bodies have not been re- covered clamorously demanded that ef- forts be redoubled to bring out any pos sible survivors
 Five Others Are Below.
 There is a report that in addition to the thirteen men who were brought out of the mine today, there were five others who came with them almost to the bot tom of the pit but were unable to come further on account of exhaustion.
 The total number of men missing after the catastrophe was 1913. The bodies re- covered approximately numbered ooO ana there are still unaccounted for approxl- mately 700.
 The engineers explain that smouldering fires prevented tn sm from exploring re- mote passages of the mine where it was thought that there could be no survivors The mine owners also claim that the strike of miners reduced the number Of rescuers available. Many engineers and scientists agree that all in the mine must have died long ago. Engineer Laur, how ever dissents, asserting that the salvage work has been deprobably inefficient and he believes that scores died of exhaus- ton owing to poor work of the salvage companies
 Appearance Causes Stupefaction.
 The sudden appearance of the impris- oned men caused stupefaction. A gang of salvagers had just changed their night work when they were startled to see a group of miners, terribly haggard and exhausted and with sunl.en eyes, appear from remote part of pit No. 2. The strongest of the party said .hey had broken out of a distant gallery where they had been entombed since the dlsas- ter of March fO The rescued men were taken up the elevator but were unable to see, owing to the dazzling daylight. The mine officials were deeply effected as the weeping survivors were taken to A hospital. The men were able to talk feebly, but sensibly. They all asked for news of relatives or friends and wished to go home immediately. The doctors, however, prevented them with difficulty from so doing.
 Later crowds besieged the mines In the Hope of further escapes, necesstating the employment of a strong police force and detachment of troops to maintain order. l. is said others of the entombed miners are alive and about to be brought out, their signals having been heard. One Of the men rescued today, a man named Nemy said that for the first eight days the party ate the bark off the timbering of the mine. Later they found the de- composed body of a horse which they cut up and ate with hay.
 Bring Up Portions of Meat.
 The survivors brought up portions of the decomposed horse meat. Nemy. who was the most lucid of the miners, gave a graphic description of their imprison- ment as follows:
 After the explosion I grouped my way about, stumbling over bodies and seeking refuge from the gases. I found some comrades sheltered in remote niche We ate herbs and bark for eight days and then the provisions gave out
 We continued to grope among the bodies seeking for an outlet from our prison, but were forced back time and again. We found some hay which we ate and two days after we found a dead borse which we cut up and ate with the hay and bark. We suffered most for the want of water. Finally we became desperate and separated into three par ties and communicated with each other by shouts.
 Last night we felt draft of fresh air which finally guided Us to an open ing"
 Forbid Survivors Talking.
 The doctors have forbidden the s,rvl- vors to do any further talking. Vast crowds of people surround the hospital where the escaped men are being treated.
 The families of the miners are intensely indignant They claim that salvage oper- ations were never undertaken in the part of the mine from which Nemy and his companions escaped, and disorders are expected. The most severe repres-