Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-09-26
THE EXPLOSION
ON IA L|bERTE.
Four Hundred and Thirty-five CaSu-
!alties---Suspected Plot to Destroy i.
French Navy. -A


battleship Liberte may have been the
result OF deliberate plot to destroy
the entire navy is suspicion that is
rapidly gaining ground among naval
officers today. The many mysterious
fires in the naval arsenal here, the
accidents to ships in dry dock, and
finally, the fact that fire was dis
covered in the hold Of the battleshlp
La Patrie late last night which re-
uuired a desperate battle to exiting
uish, has caused the port officials to
intimate that the most rigid inves-
tigation is necessary. 1t is under
stood that the French secret service
has been ordered to take charge OF
the matter at once.
The fire on La Patrie was near the
powder magazine. They were i'm
mediately flooded and the fire finally
eXtinguished. The naval officials
now place the number OF dead at
436, but these figures will be re-
yised when roll calls are completed
on the ships, and the number of men
on leave located.
Five sailors who were imprisoned
in the forward turret, part of which
is still above water, were rescued
this afternoon, none the worse for
their experience.
While the dry docks were being
hastily put IL shape to receive the
Verite, Republique and Democratic,
all badly damaged as result Of the
fire that destroyed the Liberte yes
terday, detachments from every ship
in the harbor were working on the
wreckage of the Liberte, trying to
rescue members Of the crew known to
be alive in the debris.
A repair ship is anchored alongside
the mass Of wreckage. only small
portion of which is still above wa
ter. The chrome steel plates are
being burned through with acetylene
jets, but the work is necessarily slow
because Of the danger OF the dis
lodging some of the plates and
crushing the victims In their prison
below the surface of the waters in
the roadstead.
The official count Of the dead and
injured is progressing, and it is now
certain the list will be nearly 400.
Minister of Marine Del Case and
Admiral Germinet, after personal In
Yestigation of the incidents relative
to the explosion and talks with the
survivors, rejected the opinion of
the experts that defiagration of the
B" powder in the magazines
caused the explosion. They say
they are convinced the fire started
in the oil store room among a guam
tity of high grade oil and turpentine.
There is a disposition today to
blame the higher officials of the Lib
erte for being absent. The fact that
the captain and next two in COM
mand were away and that the warship
was in command Of senior lieutsn-
ant injured discipline, it is said. 1t
| is also intimated that the best means
| we're not employed in fighting the
| fire.
Had experienced officers been on
duty, it is intimated, bunkers and
magazines would have been flooded
simultaneously with the fire and an
explosion would have been impossi-
| BILE.
The court Of inquiry to determine
the responsibility fol the disaster
will be named at once. 1t will con-
sist OF officers of flag rank, and they
will be ordered not only to fix re-
spensibility but to recommend
changes in construction to prevent
such disaster in the future.
The Toulon water front has been
transformed into vast hospital and
morgue. Many Of the victims are
so badly mangled that recognition is
impossible.
In the temporary hospitals hastily
established, terribly burned seamen
are being cared for. Of the fifty in
jured sailors in the chief marine hos
pital, twenty-five have already died
and few of the others can recover.
Paris, Sept. ga number OF
newspapers today declare that there
is reason to believe that the destruc-
tion of the battleship Liberte was the
| result of a plot. They base this be-
lief on the fact that there has been
no explanation of the fire that nearly
DESTROYED the battleship La Patrie
last night, and which was only ex-
tinguished after all of the bunkers
and ammunition magazines hao
been flooded. officials of the war
ship, according to the local news
papers, insist that the fire could
hardly have been of spontaneous
combustion origin.
Gaulois says that the fire In LIB