St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1911-09-30
.BATTLESH|P
BLOWS UP
Over Three Hundred Persons
Receive Horrible Death.
Great French Sea-Fighter De
stroyed In Toulon Harbor
Fire Burns Way Into Maga-
zines Causing Explosion
Other Vessels in the Harbor
Are Badly Damaged.

AAA~ 0S$AAy IoAA4e%SNNs
Toulon, France, Sept. 25.-The
sbattleship Liberte was torn apart
and destroyed by an explosion of hel
magazines to-day. Three hundred OF
mere officers and men were killed
The battleship Republique was badly
damaged, and the battleships Demo
cratic and Verite also suffered severe
ly 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
precedent in the annals of the world s
lighting ships. The grief which pros
trates the fleet and nation is made
more intense by the memory of the
recent review here, q notable display
OF Frances naval greatness, in which
the doomed ship was one of the finest
figures.
The explosion which wiped out one
of this country's newest and most
powerful battleships occurred at 5:53
in the morning. and was the result
of fire. The flames spread rapidly,
In spite of ali efforts, and reached
the magazines before there was time
to food them. The magazines ex-
ploded with tremendous violence,
scattering death and destruct' on in
every direction. While the naval
authorities estimate the fatalities at
500, it is expected that this figure
will be exceeded. 1t will be neces-
sery to go through the ships muster
rolls, a task of some days, before a
full list of the victims can be pre-
pared. A number of men already
have been extricated alive from the
fantastically torn and twisted mass
Of wreckage which once was the
Liberte, and the hope is strong that
others within the broken hulk can,
be reached r. -s-A--ls''
CAUSE NOT KNOWN.
Exactly from what cause or when
the FIRE broke out has not been estab-
lished, but it is believed to have been
suouldering for hours. OF the YES
sells full complement of 742, Capt.
sMres, brother of the Socialist lead
eS and the second officer in COM
Smand, were both ashore on leave, as
iswell as 140 officers and men. The
command of the ship devolved upon
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 desperately fought
the spreading flames, but is was soon
evident that the fire had obtained a
firm hold Signals of distress were
flashed to the other ships, and these
sent steam pinnaces and launches at
] full ,speed to assist in the work of
extinguishing the flames and rescuing
fheSmen Their services were of
! little wall. The position of the fire
madeM impossible to food the maya
zines.$ Nevertheless, efforts to do SO
were made, and finally the command
ing officers, realizing that the ship
was doomed, ordered the bugler to
sound the "Sauve qui-peut (''Let him
save himself who can.'o and shouted
to the men to jump for their lives.
At 5:35 the first explosion occur
red. 1t was followed by three others
ar one minutes intervals. Then came
the final terrific detonation, which
shattered the windows of the entire
city, and was heard for radius of
many miles. The Liberte was rent
asunder; her bow was thrown high
in the. air, and then slowly settled
down. In nineteen minutes nothing
was visible but the topworks.
REPUBLIQUE DAMAGED.
Those still on deck We're hurled
skyward, amid shower of iron and
steel. The boats of the rescuers We're
sunk and serious damage was done
to the Republique, which lay at an
chor close by. Two of her deck'
were stove in ane one of the Liberte''
amor plates was hurled against he
port side and demolished the cabil
o. an absent ensign. For a fev
minutes after the final explosion, al
z intensely black cloud of smoke hover
led over the harbor.1 When it shifted
+ horrible spectacle met the eyes o
the people of Toulon, who. awakened
by the first explosions, had hurrie'
to the shore The twisted uppe
works of the battleship We're pro
truding from a mass of formles
wreckage, among which struggles
the seamen rushing from boat
that had been sunk by the flyin
debris, or sucked down in the mael
strom.
Lateeto-night the naval authoritie
declared that the number of victim
is greater than at first appeared. Th
officiai estimate is now given as be
tween $50 and TOO dead or missing
WORK OF RESCUE.
q The work of resuce was begu
ssquiekly. An ambulance station wa
Installed in the arsenal and Admira
Marin-Darbel,, maritime prefecl
went out to the wreck and superin
4 tended the work of extracting thos
imprisoned under the shattered stee
The first body recovered was that. g
an officer. It was hauled from uffde
al awning. with "a boathook.
i This evening forty bodies had bee
taken out, and ninety-four injure