| Show eleven hundred men meet death as result of an explosion most appall ng mm ng catastrophe in the history of the world bring ng sorrow to S x thousand fathers mothers wives and children pans A mine catastrophe of lineal horror and magnitude has stricken the great coal center 0 northern prance an explosion ot fire damp at 7 clock saturday morning carried death and destruction through out the net work of coal mines cen at Courrier es and fire following the explosion made rescue difficult and almost impossible the death list number 1100 and the whole of the region stands ap palled at the terrible tragedy which has brought sorrow to six thousand fathers mothers wives and children about 2 miners work the group ot mines and with their families make a population of from to 8 souls the explosion took place shortly after 1795 men had descended into th mine there was a deafening ex which was followed by the cages and mining apparatus being hurled from the raguth rao uth of biers mine men and horses nearby outside the mine were either stunned or killed ahe root of the mine of fie was torn off immediately following the elpio sion flames burst from the mouth ot the pit driving back hose without who sought to enter and dooming those within the work ot attempting to rescue the imprisoned miners was hastily begun by officials engineers and miners from the surrounding mines who formed parties and made heroic ef torts to penetrate the smoke and foul gases and bring out the imprisoned men the families of the entombed min ers crowded about the shaft seeking fathers or husbands and threatening in their efforts to obtain details to force back the gendarmes who kept them from the mouth of the pit the populace of the district Is ap palled by the disaster which affects every household those persons who were 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 ind escriba ble scenes of grief occur as women recognize loved ones heartrending scenes too are wit hessed about the mouth of pit no 4 where in the presence of ministers dubief and gauthier Gau the bands of res auers are continually descending and et 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 proceed to the mortuary chamber some times the burden consists of a mere heap of burned flesh and in nearly very case the body is terribly lac rated only one halt of the bodies ec have been identified the last great mine disaster in france occurred in 1885 when persons were killed and 80 injured but that and all others sink into insle before Courrier es |
