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Show AWFUL D1SAS1 Eft III FRENCH MIKE Eleven Hundred Men Meet Death as Result of an Explosion. Most Appalling Mining Catastrophe In the History of the World, Bringing Sorrow to Six Thousand Fathers, Mothers, Wives and Children. Paris. A mlno catastrophe of Incalculable Incal-culable horror and magnltudo has stricken the great coal center ot northern France. An explosion of fire damp at 7 o'clock Saturday morning carried death and destruction throughout through-out tho net-work ot coal mines centered cen-tered at Courrlercs, and fire following the explosion mado rcscuo difficult, and alniosl Impossible. Tho death list number 1,100, and the whole of the region stands appalled ap-palled at tho terrible tragedy, which has brought sorrow to six thousand fathers, mothers, wives rind children. About 2,000 minors work tho group af mines, and, with their families, mnko a population of from 0,000 to 8,000 souls, Tho explosion took plnco shortly after 1,795 men had descended Into tho mlno. Thero wns n deafening explosion, ex-plosion, which wns followod by tho cages nnd mining apparatus being hurled from tho mouth of tho Cour-Hers Cour-Hers mine. Men and horses nearby outside tho mlno wore cither stunned or killed. Tho roof of tho mlno of-flc of-flc was torn off. Immediately following tho explosion explo-sion flames burst from the mouth of tho pit, driving back thoso without who sought to .enter nnd dooming those within. Iho work of attempting to rcscuo1 tho Imprisoned miners was hastily begun be-gun by officials, engineers nnd miners from tho surrounding mines, who , formed parties nnd made heroic efforts ef-forts to penetrate tho smoko nnd foul I gases and bring out the Imprisoned men, ' The families of tho ontombed miners min-ers crowded about tho shaft scoklng fathers or husbands, and threatening In their efforts to obtain details to force back tho gendarmes who kopt them from tho mouth of the pit. The populace of tho district Is appalled ap-palled by the disaster, which affects ovcry household. Those persons who wero rescued were terrlblyburned. Thq latest estimates es-timates placo thoso taken nut at 591. For tho time being tho mine building build-ing has been transferred Into a mortuary mor-tuary chamber, nnd all about In It lie tho carbonized and almost unrecognizable unrecog-nizable bodies of miners which wera takdh thoro ns thoy were brought- up from tho mine. Stricken relatives arrive ar-rive at tho mlno building from tlmo to time, searching for missing members mem-bers ot tholr families, nnd indescribable indescriba-ble scene's of grlof occur ns women rocognlzo loved ones. Hcartrondlng scenes, too, nro witnessed wit-nessed about tho mouth of pit No. 4, ,whoro, In tho presence of Ministers Dublcf and Gauthlcr, the bands of rescuers res-cuers ure continually descending and returning with bodies. Tho women with children In their arms attempt to break through tho cordon of troops which forms a lano through which tho body bearers proceed pro-ceed to tho mortuary chamber. Sometimes Some-times the burden consist's ot a mere heap, of burned flesh, and In nearly every caso the body Is torrlbly lacerated. lac-erated. Only one-half of the bodies recovered have boon Identified. Tho last great mlno disaster In France occurred in 1885, vlien 29a persons wero killed and 80 Injured, but that and all others sink Into Inslg-nlflcanco Inslg-nlflcanco boforo Courrlercs, |