Show eleven hundred men meet death as result of an explosion most appall ng min ng catastrophe in the H story of the world bring ng sorrow to S x thousand fathers mothers wives and children pans A mine catastrophe of meal f flable horror and magnitude has stricken the great coal center of northern france an explosion of fire damp at 7 clock saturday morning carried death and destruction through out the net work of coal mine cen at Courrier es and fire following the explosion made rescue difficult and almost impossible the death list n aber 1100 and the whole of the region stands ap palled at the terrible tragedy which has brought sorrow to s x thousand fathers mothers wives and children about 2 miners work the group of mines and with their families make a population of from 6 to 8 souls the explosion took place shortly after 1795 men had descended into the mine there was a deafening ex which was followed by the cages and mm ng apparatus being hurled from the mouth of the cour biers mine men and horses nearby outside the mine were either stunned or killed the roof of the mine of alc was torn off immediately following the ceplo sion flames burst from the mouth ol 01 the pit driving back those without who sought to enter and dooming those within the work of attempting to rescue the imprisoned miners was hastily be gun by officials engineers engine erb and miners from the surrounding mines who formed parties and made heroic ef forts to penetrate the e and foul gases and bring out the imprisoned men the famil es of the entombed min ers crowded about the shaft seeking fathers or husbands and threatening in the r efforts to obtain details to force back the gendarmes who kept them from the mouth of the pit the populace of the district is a paced by the disaster which affects every household those persons who rescued were terribly burned the latest es place those taken out at for the time being the mine build ing has been transferred into a mor auary chamber and all about in it lie the carbonized and almost sizable bodies of miners which were taken there as they were brought up from the mine stricken relatives ar rive at the mine building from time to time searching for missing mem bers of their families and ble scenes of grief occur as women recognize loved ones heartrending scenes too are w t hessed about the mouth ot pit no 4 where in the presence of ministers Mini dubief and gauthier the bands of res auers cuers are continually descending and returning with bodies the women with children in their arms attempt to break through the cordon of troops which forms a lane through which the body bearers pro aeed to the mortuary chamber some times the baiden consists of a mere heap of burned flesh and in nearly every case the body is terribly lac crated only one half of the bodies recovered have been identified the last great mine disaster in france bocc erred in 1885 when persons killed and 80 injured but that and all others sink into einsig ance before Courrier es |