| OCR Text |
Show ' !5Te BBBMBBjBBl Bf' H BbI J i I OVER ONE HUNDRED DEAD H -, W 1 Frightful Disaster on French Underground Electric Rail- H road Scores Trampled to Death in Wild Struggle H " to Escape Flames BBMB BB One hundrod anil two porsons aro BB Bead as tho rosult of a dlsastor In tho BB Metropolitan underground railway at BBj Paris, France, In which throo trains BBj wcro hurnod. BBj .') Tho ronl horror of tho disaster took BBj place wlillo thn hundreds of pasBon- BBj 4. gore woro fighting each other llkn BBj maniacs in tho dark tunnel while seok- BBj log to oscapo. Women and children BB This diagram shows tho' unsoon portion of tho Paris Jlotropolltan Underground railway, on which the awful BBJ catastrophe occurred. This soctlon of tho tunnel Is nt thu corner of tho Avenue do la Republic nnd tho Boule- BBg r rt Illchard Lenoir, showing tho Courcelos-Monllmontnnt lino running undor tho subterranean canal at St. Mar- BBJ ' tin. Tlio ground structure Is shown with tho shafts leading down to tho tunnel stations. Tho accident which ro- BJ Bnltcd In such torriblo loss of llfo occurred only a short dlatanco from tho section shown In tho diagram. J woro pulled down and tramplod undor BBJ foot by fronzlcd man who sought safe- BJ jty only for themselves. BBJ A majority of tho bodies bad arms BBJ raised and lists clenched and legs J itwlstod, and soma of thorn woro bent BBJ double Almost nil had wounds on BBJ U10 faco nnd hands. Mnny of tho vie- BBl tlms hold handkerchlofs in their BBl smoko-bogrlmod hands. BBJ Tho walls of tho tunnel woro splash- BBb ed with blood to a height of six foct. BBb Ono pool of blood was ho deep that BBJ hats and ovon loavoa of bread wora BBJ floating in It. Tho floor of tho sub- j 1 found with hor breast torn away. Ono BBBJ; ), survivor says ho shouldered his way BBBj! 1. through tho struggling mass to the BBBj 1 1 Flnllon, whoso locality ho know, and BBBJ wont straight to tho stalrcaso. Whtlo BBBJ nscondlng this two womon clung to BBBJ his legs and woro saved. BBBJ I A. rescued passenger said: "I do BBBJ' not know how I got out but I could BBBfi j not hnvo gono another twonty yards. BBBJ: Tho train was much nearer to tho Ruo BBBc , dos Couronnes station than to tho BBBl j Monllmontant, but many passengora BBBJ riiBlied in tho latter direction. i:very BBBJ ono was mad with terror. I trod on BBBJ ' Hovoral persons who wcro lying on BBBJ tho ground," BmVJ That part of tho underground rail- BBBJ ' way In which tho disaster occurred BBYJ comprises tho two Intermediate sta- BBBJ ' tloiis of Monllmontant and Los Cour- BBBb onncs. Train No. 43. consisting of BBJ eight coaches, coming from Port Dau- BBJ iphln and going towards tho Plnce do BBJ .In Nation, stopped at tho Boulevard BBJ jCarbos owing to a slight acctdont to BBJ U10 motor, nnd the passengers alight- BBM ,ed. Then train No. B2 arrived. Its BBBBlv passengers also were debarked. The BBBB4 I Itwo trains woro thon couplod togotuor BBBBt and No. G2 pushed No, 43 along tho BBBB line towards tho workshops. No stop- BBBB pages wero mado at Ii Uiapello and BBJ Auborvlllers, Combat and Bollovilla BBJ stations, but nt Los Couronnes tlio BBBJ , drivor slowod down slightly! BBJ Tho two trains then procoodod Into BBBJ tho tunnel, tho trainmen closing tho BBBB doors. Suddenly, as tho first coach BBBJ ' was drawing lnto Monllmontant sta- BBBB itlon, a vlolont explosion occurred and BBBB a bluo flamo roso bctweou tho coach BBBB containing the motor nud tho next BBBB ono. In a few minutes all of tho six- BBBB toon coachos wero on flro. BBBB The trntnmen Jumped on tho rails pBPer and flod towards th ntntion. Thoy. BBBB woro Just In tlmo. for tho llamos al- BBBBL ready had reached tho roof nud walls BBYBf of the tunnel. The oloctrlo wires woio BBBH fusing nnd tho tunnel, except for BBBBji , the flnmos from tho burning coachos, BBBBJ V was In darkness. BBBBJ, tt , L Thick amoko began to entor the B i r iBBB- Monllmontant station and also to roll B-HH-bH-H-H-H-B-bj BmBMBmBmBmBmBmBmBMBMBMBMBBMBBv v towards Lcs Couronnes. Whllo tho two trains woro burning a train approached from Poro la Chalso station. The ofllclals at Monllmontant Monll-montant station warnod tho driver of tho dangor nnd ho at onco rovorsod his direction and went hack as quickly quick-ly as possible, thus oscaplng with all his paRsongcrs. Mcanwhllo another train, No. 48, came up from Ilellovlllo behind tho burning trains nnd stopped nt Lcs Couronnes Just as tho smoko bogan to enter tho stntlon from tho tunnel. Then tho cntastropho hnpponed. On soelng tho smoko tho passengers Jumped on tho doparturo platform for tho direction of Mcnllmontant and tried to mako their way to tho staircase stair-case at tho end. They woro driven hack by tho smoko towards tho other end of tho platform, whero thcro Is a white brick wall. There thoy mot tho fugutlvcs from tho two burning trains crowded together and thoro later BBB 7cr. Riri s ( . m " , tif jf ', i?- .frypqf? -sift BBBj Socllon of tho Railway Running from VIncennes, Past tho Louvre, Champs BBBJ Klysces, to tho Mall. BBBj j"; wny wns covered with pieces of cloth- BBBj j Iiik torn from tho victims, battered BBBJ 1 J hats and twisted umbrellas, showing BBBj' V how dosperato was tho strugglo BBBj, I among the panic stricken fugitives in BBBj1 the dense blackness of tho tunnel. H' I Ah Khowing tho brutality attendant BBBj': !i upon tho struggle of the crowd to BBBJ. 1, oscapo, tho corpso of one woman Was sovonty-flvo bodies wero found In a heap. Two pnssongcrs tried to escape es-cape by a Httlo stairway leading down from tho sldo of tho brick wall on to tho lino. Thoy soon fell on the rails in a slata of asphyxiation. Three others porlshcd whllo cnd.eavorlng to oscapo by the tunnel at tho stalrcaso end. Although tho accident occurred at 8 o'clock In tho ovcnlng, tho flromen wcro unablo until tho noxt morning to descend Into tho tunnel, owing to tho blinding clouds of smoko from tha burning train. Froquont attempts wero mado by voluntoers, whom It was necessary to rcscuo half suffocated suffo-cated and send to tho hospitals. As tho firemen brought out tho bodies agonizing cries went up from womon nnd children who recognized thoir dead husbands and fathers. Tho clothing of tho victims Indicated that thoy wero almost entirely second class passengers. Thero were several sev-eral first class coaches on tho trains, and it Is hclloved that throo occupants occu-pants woro also among the victims. Tho body of ono of tho women waa handsomely dressed, while two among the mnlo victims wero evidently persons per-sons of importance. M. Vlgnos, ono of tho directors of tho Metropolitan company, places tha responsibility for tho disaster entirely on Driver Oeorges Chauvln of train No. 43. He said: "Chauvln Is ono of our oldest ana most devoted employes. At tha Darbos station a short circuit occurred in his motor. Instead of oboylng printed Instructions and Isolating tha damaged motor, ho meroly employed tho extinguishers, bollovlng these would suffice to stop tho flro." |
