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Show ONE WDRED VICTIMS Or ! PARIS RAILWAY. HORROR PARIS, Aug. 11 Eighty-four bodies have been recovered and the deatn list will probably exceed one hundred hun-dred in the underground railway disaster disas-ter which occurred here last night.' . The accident, which occurred on the Metropolitan Klectric railway, assumed ihe proportions of a: awful catastrophe during the early hours today when more than 1'our score of bodies and suffocated victims were removed from the subterranean passage. The work continues and indications are that the death list will perhaps exceed five scores. ' - The : scenes at the mouth of the tunnel tun-nel where the victims were brought lorth were of the most heartrending description crowds of weeping men, women and children struggling for-word for-word in an effort to recognize their j missing relatives and friends. Heroic Rescues. Most of the victims are from the middle and working classes as the trains were carrying them home from their work. Although the accident occurred oc-curred at S o'clock lust, evening the officials and tiremen were unable to descend into the tunnel this morning, owing to the blinding cloud of smoke from the burning: train. Frejuent attempts at-tempts were made by heroic volunteers whom it was necessary to rescue, half suffocated, and carry away to the hospital. At ten minutes after 3 o'clock Sergeant Ahrens, wearing a respirator, succeeded in making the descent. He remained seven minutes and brought the first information to the effect that corpses were strewn all about the roadway road-way of the tunnel. Then he collapsed and was taken to the hospital. Twenty minutes later firemen forced their way down through the tunnel station -at Menilmontant and returned soon afterword after-word with seven bodies three men, two young: boys and two young women. These persons had been asphyxiated as their positions showed they had been groping- their way through the smoke that filled the tunnel, seeking a way' to escape when they were overcome. Bringing Up Bodies. " The work of bringing up bodies. went on steadily after that, under the personal per-sonal direction of Prefect of Police' Lepine. who summoned a large reserve force to hold back the surging crowd, including the relatives of the victims. Long lines of ambulances were brought into requisition and the bodies were carried to the morgue and the nearby military barracks. After daylight day-light the crowds at the entrance of the tunnel increased to enormous proportions, propor-tions, obliging the police to form a solid cordon through which were admitted ad-mitted only those seeking to identify their relatives among the victims The failure of many men, women and children chil-dren to return home during the night gave many the first news of the catastrophe. catas-trophe. Fathers and mothers came hurrying to the mouths of the tunnel to try and find the absent ones. At the second descent the firemc-n found a great number of bodies massed near the ticket office of the station where many had evidently been "Mrr-come "Mrr-come while seeking tickets. They had uccn suipuscu oy me columns or smoke, and had sought to run back up the stone stairway, leading to the street."A struggle had ensued and some escaped but the others had been trampled on. One woman had fled within the ticket office where her body, was found. The ticket seller himself succeeded in escaping. Pitiable Scenes!. At the station of Les Couronnes the same scenes of death and despair had been enacted. The accident occurred midway between the stations of Menilmontant Menil-montant and Les Couronnes, so that the work of salvage proceeded 'from oth ends of the tunnel. In addition to the blinding smoke the tunnel belched forth a terrific heat, as one of the trains was slowly burning within. with-in. The firemen succeeded in throwing several streams of water in the direction direc-tion of the wreck, while some firemen and military engineers at great hazard, pushed on inside the tunnel. They brought out two bodies and- soon afterwards after-wards three more. The latter we?e laborers la-borers who had almost succeeded in reaching the exit when they were over-, come and suffocated. Further on the firemen stumbled upon a terrible mass of bodies. These were the passengers of the burned train. They had leaped from the coaches when the fire broke ovt ana groping through the suffocating clouds of smoke sought the exit at Les Couronnes Cou-ronnes station. But the tunnel makes a sharp turn near th? gpne Of me disaster dis-aster and at the angle the entire mass of humanity apparently became tightly wedged in. The panic which took place at this point within the dark subterranean subter-ranean passage must have been terrible. The corpses from this death ansle soon swelled the list until at 6:50 a. i. Prefect Lepine placed the number of victims at forty-five already recovered, recov-ered, while the steady file of firemen bringing up bodies continued. M. Lepine summoned a large force of doctors and municipal ofHciaJs who superintended su-perintended the moving of the bod'ies. The number of corpses brought up. from the angle where the mass was wedged was so large that four and eight bodies were placed in each ambulance. Many of the victims had handkerchiefs stuffed in their mouths, they having evidently tried to keep out the asphyxiating asphyxi-ating smoke. The faces of the dead were red and congested. Some women held their children tighUy in their arms. Agonizing Cries "Went Up. As the firemen brought out the bodies agonizing cries went up from women and children who recognized their dead husbands and fathers. The clothing of the victims Indicated that they were j almost entirely second-class passengers. passen-gers. There were several first-class coaches on the tralas and it is believed that their occupants were also among I the victims. The body of one woman was handsomely dressed, while two among the male victims were evidently persona of importance. About 7 a. m. the bodies of ten women were brought out in a bunch. -The bodies of two little girls .and three infants in-fants were found with them, clinging to their mothers. Many poor people claimed the bodies bod-ies of their children and tried to take them home but the police gently but firmly insisted on the bodies being taken to the morgue and barracks in order that the magnitude' of the catastrophe ca-tastrophe might be determined. At the Hotel Dcville. 'the president of the municipal council announced that the city of Paris would bear the entire expense ex-pense of the funerals of the victims. By S:no a. m., the total of the bodies lying at the morgue had reached forty and the total at the barracks of the municipal guard forty-four, niak-, ing eighty-four altogether. At 9 o'clock the number of bodies was unofficially estimated ct above 100. Stories of the Disaster.- Several versions are given of the dis- j aster, but the main ones are as follows: The train which caused the accident came from Porte Daupine at ,the entrance en-trance to the Dois de Boulogne, in the western part of Paris. After circling j the northern quarter of ibe city where numbers of workmen were picked up. the train reached the neighborhood o' the -cemetery of Pere La Chaise, where the electrical motor failed to act prop- ' erly. 'The "train.then waited at the sta- I tion f Les Couronnes until the a-ntval 1 I of a second train which pushed the t crippled train forward, making a total to-tal of sixteen coaches. After proceeding about 200 yards toward to-ward Menllmoritant station, the damaged dam-aged motor set fire to the engine of the first train. The fire burned fiercely. Simultaneously the electric .lights on the trains went out, leaving the passengers pas-sengers in darkness except for the light of the burning engine far ahead. This impeded the progress of the uains toward to-ward Menilmontant. The terror-stricken terror-stricken passengers got ou: and tried to jjrope their way Lack. The powerful power-ful electrical current which continued in the rails is believed to have stunned or killed many. A number of the passengers pas-sengers managed to reach Les Couronnes Cou-ronnes station, but the main body of the passengers was overcome by the heat and smoke. Terrible Panic. A terrible panic occurred among those behind and the horror of the situation sit-uation was increased by a third train crashing into the fiery mass and add ing another crowd of panic-slru-ken passengers to those seeking an outlet. The cars continued to burn ifntil twenty were consumed. The burning debris gave forth a fierce heut which puffed out of the mouths of-the stations sta-tions of Les Couronnes and Menilmontant. Menilmon-tant. The ercape of most of the trainman train-man was due to their superior knowledge know-ledge of the subterranean passage. A number of heroic incidents occurred. oc-curred. Several soldiers, rh emeu nd employes of ihe road nearly iost their lives in seeking to aid the victims. The catastrophe has caused great excitement throughout the city, even the Humbert trial bei'n,jr forgotten in the-widespread feeling of horror and grief. At noon; Colonel Meaux St. Mar-con, Mar-con, on behalf of President Loubet, visited the morgue and Premier Combes went to the scene of the disaster. dis-aster. M. Hurteaux. piocureur of the republic, and Judge .Tolliot of the Seine tribunal, have proceeded to Les Couronnes station to open a judicial investigation into the affair. Engineer Was Careless. j - The chief stationmaster at Les Couronnes, Cou-ronnes, M. Didier, says he saw the flames running along the gear of the cars when the first train passed I through the station, and called out to the engineer to stop, saying there was not time to reach the next station, but the engineer declared he had ample time and proceeded. A few mlnutis later a large blue (lame flashed through the tunnel, followed by a violent detonation. deto-nation. Looking into the mouth of the tunnel. M. Didier could see flashes from the burning cars. Premier Combes descended into the tunnel and made a personal inspection. He asked the chief of police for a re-Port re-Port of the causes of the disaster and a list of victims, und announced his intention of proposing at a council of ministers measures for the relief of the poor families of Ihe victims. The. flag over the Hotel de Ville has been lowered low-ered to half-mast as a "'feign of the city's mourning. Exit Was Closed. M. Gauthier. the magistrate for the distict, says one of the main causes of the loss of life was thai those escaping took the wrong exit, one passage letting let-ting out to the street while the other-was other-was barred and it was used for admitting admit-ting passengers. Many of the victims sought the barred exit and. were found j massed against the wall where they had slowly been suffocated. The firemen have gathered a large collection of torn clothing, battered hats, twisted umbrellas and bloodstained blood-stained handkerchiefs showing how-desperate how-desperate was the underground struggle. strug-gle. At the American consulate it was learned that there wee no Americans among the victims. The prefecture of police confirms this. ' - President LoSbet has telegraphed to the president .of the n unicipal council1 saying he shares the profound grief J into whicir the city has been plunged. I Story of a Survivor. Eugene Olliever, one of the few survivors, sur-vivors, described the terrible panic which occurred in the darhness. The people, "he says, rushed and fought with one another, madly seeking to get away.. He was sick. but. nerved to desperation by the situation, managed to get through the struggling mass. As he went, he passed over the bodies of those vho. had fallen exhausted, .but it -was impossible to render them aid. The names and . occupations or the victims- give pathetic evidence of their humble condition. The names arc characteristic of the French working classes, and the occupations are given as nainter. mason. nlumher. tailor seamstress, locksmith, etc. Outside the workmen about every third name is that of a woman. Pitiful scenes were enacted at the morgue throughout the day as the relatives gathered seeking to identify the bodies, which were innged in long- lines on white marble slat?. The clothing of many of, the victims is torn, showing the fierceness of the struggle. . Struggle Was Terrific. Another survivor i.amed Jules Bouat describes 4he struggle during the panic in the tunnel as terrible. Women were screaming "Save me, save me." An old man fell suffocated at his feet. The women screamed until they fell asphyxiated. as-phyxiated. M. Bicnvenu, the chief engineer of the Metropolitan railroad, says that from the technical view every precaution precau-tion to avoid danger had been taken. The chief misfortune was that the employes em-ployes did not or?;nize assistance with sufficient rapidity to permit the passengers pas-sengers being quickly drawn out. A large force of mounted guards is at the mouths of the tunnel. |