Red River prospector. (Red River, Taos County, N.M.) 1900-190?, 1907-03-28
SHIP BLOWN Up
TERRIBLE SCENES ON A FRENCH
BATTLE SHIP, lena.
EXPLOSION IN The MAGAZINE
Several officers and Eighty Men
Killed, anu Hundreds Wounded
Cause a Mystery.


Toulon.-The powder magazines on
board the French battleship lena blew
up at 1875 Tuesday afternoon and
as a result Captain Adigard, com
mander Of the battleship; Captain Yer
tier, chief of staff of the Mediterranean
squadron, and from seventy to eighty
blue jackets are dead, while Rear AID.
miral Manceron and hundreds of men
are suffering from injuries. Naval cir
cles are aghast and the public is
stunned by the appalling catastrophe,
coming so soon after the loss of the
French submarine boat Lutin, in which
sixteen men were killed.
The entire after part of the lena
was blown to pieces. The bodies of
the victims were hurled through the
air by a succession of explosions and
panic-stricken workmen at the arsenal
fed for their lives from the vicinity of
the dry dock. Scores on board the
lena jumped overheard onto the stone
quays and sustained serious injuries.
The primary cause Of the accident
was the explosion of a torpedo. What
originated this is not known, but the
powder magazines were set On fire
and the resulting explosions practically
destroyed what was considered one of
the best vessels in the French navy.
The lena had just undergone a final
inspection of her hull and machinery,
the latter part having been partly over
hauled preparatory to joining the
squadron tomorrow. The crew was in
its full strength, being composed of the
real adimal, twenty-fOur other officers
and $50 men. The magazines had been
replenished recently, and contained
many tons of powder as well as a mum
Der of charges for torpedoes.
The first shock of the explosion was
extremely violent and shook the vessel
fore and aft. 1t was followed instantly
by other shocks. The crew rushed
wildly about the dock. The men for
ward clambered over the bulwarks and
Jumped down, some of them into the
dock and others to the stone quay
many being fatally hurt.
The hundreds of men below deck
were e%nshrouded in smoke, and while
they CROPPED their way toward the ex-
its they became the prey of ~suffocatine
fumes which caused many of them to
fall unconscious.
Shells and charges OF Explosives III
the magazines continued to explode
and masses of metal were hurled into
the air and fell about the docks and
arsenal. These flying missiles demol
ished the torpedo shed, the engine
works and the pump house near by
and constituted a most serious menace
to the lives of those who made theil
way toward the battleship to begin the
work of rescue. The lena was aiamt
from bursting ~projectiles, and the fire
prevented approach.
1t is declared that for thirty minute
the authorities we're unable to discover
the keys with which to open the lock
ers to flood the dry dock and submerge
the ship, but when they did finally
open the locks the water rushed in OF
the lena and the explosions came &c
an end.
Amidst masses of dense smoke thf
search for the dead and be
gan. The lower decks of the lena were
Uttered with fragments of shattered
and torn bodies. while the surrounding
water was dotted with human frag
ments.