Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-09-29
TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
Between 400 and 500 Persons
Killed on French Battleship.

Killed on French BsttIeship.
Toulon, France, Sept. 25.-The bat
tleship Liberte was torn apart and
totally destroyed by an explosion of her
magazines today. Four hundred Off
GERS and men were killed. The battle
ship Republique was badly damaged
and the battleships Democratic and
Verite suffered severely from the masses
of twisted iron and armor plate that
were hurled upon their decks.
This is the greatest disaster that has
ever fallen upon the French navy and
in magnitude is almost without prece-
dent in the annals of the worlds fight
ing ships. The grief which prostrates
the fleet and nation is intensified by the
memory of the recent review here,
notable display of Frances naval great
ness, in which the doomed ship was one
of the finest figures.
The explosion, which wiped out one of
Frances newest and most powerful
battleships, occurred at :53 O'Clock in
the morning. 1t was the result of an
outbreak of fire. The flames spread
rapidly in spite of all efforts to master
them and reached the magazines before
there was time to flood them. The
magazines exploded with tremendous
violence, sowing death and destruction
in every direction.
While the naval authorities estimate
the killed at $50 or 400 it is feared that
this figure will be exceeded. 1t will be
necessary to go through the ships mus
ter rolls before full list of the victims
can be prepared. A number of men
have already been extricated alive from
the Enthusiastically torn and twisted mass
of wreckage and the hope is strong that
there are others within the broken hulk
who can be reached.
Exactly from what cause or when the
fire broke out is not known, but it is
believed that it had smouldered several
hours. Of the vessels full complement
of 742, Captain Jaures, brother of the
socialist leader, and the second officer
in command, were both ashore on leave,
as well as 40 officers and men. The
command of the ship devolved on the
senior lieutenant, who persisted.
The fire was first discovered at a. m.
and the bugles Immediately sounded an
alarm. The crew rushed to quarters and
fought the spreading flames desperate
ly, but it was soon evident that the fire
had obtained firm hold. Signals of
distress were flashed to the other ships,
and these despatched steam pinnaces
and launches at full speed to assist in
eXtingushing the flames and rescuing
the men. But their services availed
little.
The position of the fire made it i'm
possible to food the magazines at this
time, nevertheless efforts to do so were
made, and finally the commanding Of
ficer, realizing that the ship was
doomed, ordered the bugler to sound
the "Sauve qui peut" Oet him save
himself who cam, and shouted to the
men to jump for their lives. At 5:35
the first explosion occurred. It was
followed by three others at one minute
intervals. Then came the final eXplo-
sion, the terrific reverberation of which
shattered the windows of the whole
city and was heard for radius of many
miles. The Liberte was rent asunder.
Her bows were thrown high in the air
and then she slowly settled down and in
nineteen minutes nothing was visible
but the top works.