Ancient history

Death for three cents

On August 10, 1903, around seven o'clock in the evening, a metro employee arriving in Barbès saw the beginnings of a fire in his train. He immediately sends the passengers down. The flames are extinguished - or rather we believe they are extinguished - then the train leaves empty, pushed by another train evacuated by the public.
The convoy passes through Belleville and Couronnes, arrives at Ménilmontant. There, we realize that the fire has only grown. Travelers waiting for their train on the platform are asked to evacuate the station.
But the movement is slow. Employees at the back of the train. fearing that they would not be able to reach the exit in time, they preferred to flee from the back, following the tunnel towards Couronnes station.
At Couronnes, the crowds were even greater than at Ménilmontant, because the travelers who got off the damaged train and the one pushing it have just arrived in a third train. This convoy must of course stop.
The employees who emerge from the tunnel warn their comrades of the seriousness of the incident. Order is then given to the public to evacuate the station as soon as possible. But the travelers do not seem in a hurry to obey. Dissatisfied with this breakdown, the cause of which they do not know, they complain, argue, vehemently demand the reimbursement of their tickets. We hear shouting:
My three pennies! My three cents!
At this moment, intense smoke coming from Ménilmontant arrives through the tunnel and suddenly invades the small station. The panic begins. Everyone wants to go out at once. A traffic jam occurs. Finally, the electricity goes out. It is then a terrible panic. We hear screams of terror.
Meanwhile, in Ménilmontant, the fire is raging.
Tons of water are poured into the station. Swirls of smoke pour out of all the orifices.
The firefighters arrive, but they cannot enter the scene of the disaster. They should be provided with breathing apparatus. Finally they go down the stairs of the two stations. A frightful sight presented itself to them. They find 77 corpses pressed against each other in Couronnes and 7 in Ménilmontant.
We will learn later that the unfortunate travelers were poisoned by carbon monoxide. A draft occurred in the tunnel. The deadly gas was sucked from Ménilmontant to Couronnes.
This disaster was - hopefully - the worst the metro was ever to experience.