Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-06-28

board would nave escaped. Dut,
sir, you know all this as well as |"
81 wish to refresh my memory"
Delcasse explained. II wish to see
if your memory, which | admire
so much, agrees with mine. Now
tell me this: what was done to pre-.
vent a recurrence of such an ac..
cident?" J
"The powder in all French mag,
azines was oyerhauled, and that
which there was any reason to
suspect was destroyed. To pre-.
vent future deterioration, the
magazines Of all our ~battleshipa
were equipped with a special cool
ing apparatus. In this, we were
soon followed by all other ma
TONS"
"And yet" said Delcasse, in a
low voice, "the latest and best of
our %battleships blew up this morn.
ing!"
II have brought my best men
with me, as-you suggested, SIR"
said Lepine. eff there were any
suspicious circumstances attend.
ing this explosion, depend upon it:
they will be laid before you when
you awake!"
"Do not wait for me to awake!"
cried the minister. eff any such
circumstances comes to light, wake
me-wake me on the instant"
Lepine bowed.
II will do so, SIR" he prom.
ised.
1t was some time past midnight
when the train reached T%oulon;
but apparently no one Of her 1OO,-
600 inhabitants had thought of
sleep. The streets before the sta
ton were crowded from house
front to house front. The car
riage containing the president and
his ministers had the greatest diff
fculty in proceeding. Everywhere
there were cries for vengeance,
shouts of treason, threats, wild i'm
precautions. Men stood with arms
extended cursing the heavens. The
Place de la Liberte was massed
with people, facing the fountain in
honor of the revolution, bare
headed, singing the Ca Ira. 1t
seemed as though the wheels of
time had rolled back a century,
and that at any moment the Sea-
green Incorruptible himself might
arise to thunder deAunciation. But
at last the president and his staff
reached their hotel.
M. Lepine, after final instruc-
tons to Pigot, joined them there,
and listened to the reports made
by the surviving officers of La
Liberte. They We're in despair,
these men, ready to kill them
selves at a word; their faces were
blackened, their uniforms in tat
ters, their hands torn and bleed
ing, for they had labored all day
at the work of rescue. They spoke
between sobs, but it was little they
had to tell.
Commander Jaurcs, it seemed.
had been absent on leave, the Sec
ond In command was ashore, so
that Senir Lieutenant GARNER
was in charge of the shin. inst he.
fore dawn, the watch had discoy.
cred a small fire in n of the
store rooms, but it was so insignif.
cant that no one thought of dan.
ger; the fire was not near the mag.
azines; in any event, the maya.
zines were all securely closed-the
officer in charge had seen to that
Suddenly, apparently without
cause, there had been three ex.
plosions, about a minute apart,
first Of the forward magazine, then
of the after magazine, then Of the
man magazine-it seemed almost
as though they had been fired at
spaced intervals, like a heavy gun
There had been time to get the
crew on deck, but the final explo.
sion had come before the boats
could be lowered. It had broken
the ship in two; the forward part
had turned over and sunk with all
on board; the after part was a
mere mass Of twisted wreckage.
The explosion had been so violent.
that the neighboring ships also
suffered-La Republique so seri-
ously that it was only by hurrying
her to a dry-dock she was kept
from sinking. No one had any
theory, any explanation; there
had been no warning, no Fremont
ftion. An instant, and it was over.
But all agreed that the fire could
have had nothing to do with it.
CONTINUED Next Week.
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