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Show 1 SPECTACLE JiRWhen Liberie is Rent Asunder-Heartrending mm Scenes BKl T0UL0N Franco, Sept, 25. The Iff liexploslon which wiped out one of lllFrance's most powerful battleships, Mlfbcciirred at 5:53 o'clock this morning. hI&JI was the result of an outbreak of M yfire The flames spread rapidly in frfpite of all efforts to extinguish them , and reached the magazines before gflff there was time to flood thom. The I magazines exploded with tremendous i-iolence, sowing death and iestruc-:ion iestruc-:ion In every direction. While the" naval officers estlmato ' he killed at three hundred, it is fear- , d this figure will be exceeded. It -"JIl be necessary to go through tbo ihip's muster drills, a task of many lays, before a full ll6t of the victim an be prepared. Several men al-eadj al-eadj vhavo boon taken alive from the orn and twisted mass of wreckage, !H "Sand the hope Is strong that others ?Imay be reached. T Fire Burning for Hours. 3 fL Exactly from what cause or when "jj ithe fire broke out has not been ascer-m ascer-m Itained, but it is believed it had been xsm0,derJn5 for hours. Of the veBsel'3 P 'Ijfull complement of 742 men. Captain rjaures, brother of the socialist leader, lead-er, and the second officer In com-'jpnand, com-'jpnand, were both ashore on leave, as '.also were 140 officers, and men. The . i command of the ship devolved on 7 T T the senior lieutenant, who perished. The fire first discovered at 1 a. m. and thef bugles Immediately sounded tho alarm. Tho crow rushed to quar-torrf quar-torrf and fought desporately tho spreading flames, but It soon was ovldcnt that tho firo had obtained a firm hold. Slgn.ils of distress woro flashed to the other ships, and theso despatched steam pinnaces and launches laun-ches to assist in tho work of extin-gulshnig extin-gulshnig the flames and rescuing tho men. The position of the fire made it Impossible to flood the magazines, and finally the commanding officer, realizing that the ship was doomed, ordered the bugler to sound the "sauve qui pcut" (let him save himself him-self who can) and shouted to tho men to Jump for their lives Witness Horrible Spectacle. At 635 the first explosion occurred It was followed by three others at one minute intervals. Then came the final terrific detonation which shattered shat-tered the windows of the entire city and was 'heard for manv miles The Libertc was rent asunder, her bows were thrown high Into the air and then the vessel slowly settled down and In 19 minifies nothing was visible vis-ible but the topworks Those still on deck were hurled I skyward amid a shower of iron and steel The boats of the rescuers were sunk and serious damage was done to the Republlquo, which lay at anchor close by. Two of her decks were stove In and one of the Llberto's armor ar-mor plates landing against her port side and demolished the cabin of an absent ensign. For a few minutes after the final explosion an Intense black cloud or smoke hovered over tho harbor. When it shifted, a horrible spectacle met the eyes of the people of Toulon, who awakened by the first explosion, had hurried to tho shore. The twisted upperworks of the battleship bat-tleship were protruding from a mass of wreckage among which struggled the seamen from tho rescuing boats that had been sunk by tho flying debris de-bris or sucked down in the maelstrom. Place List Dead at 400. Late tonnlght the naval authorities said the number of victims is greater great-er than at first appeared. Tho official offi-cial estimate Is now given as between 350 and 400 dead or missing. Tho work of rescue began quickly. An ambulance station was Installed in the arsenal and Admiral Marin Dar-bel, Dar-bel, maritime prefect, went out to tho wreck and superintended the work of extricating these Imprisoned under the shattered steel The first body recovered was that of an officer, which was hauled from under an awning with a boathook Up to this evening forty bodies had been taken out and 94 lnjirfed transferred to the hospital. Heartrending Sight. Electric shears, to cut through tho plates, and a floating crane to lift the masses of steel were used in conjunction with divers who are at work exploring the interior of the hull The ship Liberie appeared as though her bows had doubled over onto the stern. Mon burled in that part of tho wreckage above the watei could bo hoard groaning and screaming for help. Tho lower deck was a heartrending sights One man had his foot hold under un-der a mass of steel weighing tons. After three hours vain effort to lift the mass a surgeon amputated the foot Through a hole In the armor, portions of bodies contorted and piled together could be perceived, all of them charred by the flames. Story of a Survivor. One of the survivors, a warrant officer, of-ficer, who came out of the hurricane of firo with only a slight cut on tho forehead, told of tho disaster tonight: to-night: "Tho fire broke out in the general storo, among cans of oil, turpentine, paint and other inflammables In spite of every effort the flames reached reach-ed tho coal bunkers and after that It was difficult to prevent them gaining the powder magazine. It was about 5.30 o'clock and dawn wns breaking before the danger seemed to bo realized real-ized Assistance was then being sent us from the port and from three other warships lying In the harbor "Just when tho whole ship's crew seemed to havo reached the boats In safoty thero was a terrific explosion. The Llberte was hurled over on her sldo aud the fore part, whore the full force of the explosion was felt, lurched lurch-ed forward heavily with an anpalllmc crash Cries resounded on all sides. "The greater part of the ship's boats with reBcucrs and mon from the Llborto Instantly sank. From that moment all that I was conscious of, wbb that I was being carried aboard the Republlquo, whero I was takon care of. When I had somewhat recovered re-covered my senses they told me what had happened. Bugler Hurled tA Another Ship. "After the explosion an enormous fragment detached from the bows of the Llberte and other pieces of Iron fell on the Ropubllque, smashing the bridge and plunging between tho decks The bugler of the Llberto was hurled through the air from our ill-fated ill-fated ship to the deck of the Republlquo, Republl-quo, where he was picked up badly hurt. In his hand he still held tho bugle with which he was sounding the alarm." All the boats that surrounded the Llberte were ongulfed In tho whirlpools whirl-pools caused by t:i sinking ehlo. They vanished" amid tho despairing cries of the crew. On roachlng the wreck, a reporter found the battleship was a mass of buckled plating, inextricably mixed with torn hollers and broken machinery ma-chinery Puffs of smoko and steam darted In and out from the vessel's mangled hull. Commander Dokoraudlen of the Ropubllque Ro-publlque said that when tho explosion occurred hlB vessel was shaken from stem to stern Due to Poor Powder. It Is now considered almost established estab-lished that disaster was duo to tho dotonallon of "Ti" nowdor. as In tho caBe of the' Lena. Toward 5 o'clock the watch perceived a dense smoko coming from the forepart of the ship Ho reported this to the officers who promptly ordered that the magazines be flooded as a first precaution. Tho mon whose duty It was to open tho sea valves, returned precipitately sny-ing sny-ing that It was Impossible to carry out orders on account of the thick, pol-'Honous pol-'Honous fumos rushing from the maga-zine6. maga-zine6. rord of the daugor flew from mouth to mouth. Men rushed to the boats or jumped Into the sea At this juncture help arrived from the other ships and tho officers of the Liberto decided to mako another, effort ef-fort to conquer the fire, The bugler was ordered to sound the rally. The spirit of discipline was so excellent that the mon who had Jumped overboard over-board asked the boats which picked them up. to put them back on board the Liberie. Some Jdca of the violence of the explosion may bo had from the fact tbnt tho officers commanding the gunnery gun-nery school ship Fpudrc, anchored T three kilometers (1.S6 miles) fr6m the Llberte, was klllod on his own quarter deck by a lragmont of shell hurled from the Llberte, and two sailors, sail-ors, standing beside him were wounded. wound-ed. Men Were in Tears. There was a roll call of the remnant rem-nant of the crew of the Llberte on board tho lmtleshtp Sufforn tonight. Tho scene was pitiful aB many of the men were injured and most of thom were in tears Experts aro of the opinion that the fire on the Llberte was not the cause, but the result of the explosion. Eye wltnosses say that It was not until after tho mlror explosion that smoko was 8e.en Issuing from the J ship. A ferryboat with more than a hundred hun-dred workmen on board was nearly Involved in the disaster, as It was nearlng the Liberie, smoke and flames j were observed from the battleship I and the captain Immediately revorscd the engines, removing his boat from the danger zone. |