Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1907 — FRENCH NAVY HORROR [ARTICLE]

FRENCH NAVY HORROR

Blast on a Battleship Wrecks the Vessel and Kills Eighty or More. Toulon, March 13.—A terrible disaster occurred here. The powder magazines on board the French battleship lena blew up and as a result Captain Adigard, the commander of the battleship; Captain Yertier, clllef of staff of the Mediterranean squadron, and from seventy to eighty bluejackets are dead, while Rear Admiral Manceron and hundreds of other men are suffering from Injuries, some of them horrible In their extent. Naval circles are aghast, and the public Is stunned by the appalling catastrophe coming so soon after the loss of the French submarine boat I.utln, In which sixteen men met death. The entire after part of the lena was blown to pieces. The bodies of the victims were hurled through the air by a succession of explosions, and panic-stricken workmen at the arsenal fled from the vicinity of the dry dock for their lives. Scores of those on tlie lena jumped overboard, or to the stone quays and sustained serious injuries. The primary cause of the accident was the explosion of a torpedo. What caused the explosion is not known, but the powder magazines of the lena were set on fire and their contents in exploding practically destroyed what was considered one of the best vessels in the French navy.