The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-11-18
DYNAMITE
KILLS TWO
Explosion Follows Fire
in Deg>.
3
MANY Pss$sors INJURED
Tw. 0r Three May Die Of
: Their Wounds.
Col. N. B. Spears, Prominent
Republican Politician, Has an
Arm Broken-The Depot
Blown to Atoms.

Birmingham, Nov. H-(Special.):-A ter
place at o'clock this morning at Pell
City, a small town on the Southern Rail-
way, thirty-five miles east of here al
the junction of the East and West and
Birmingham and Atlantic Railroads. The
depot of the Southern Railway was dis
covered on fire and a short while after
wards a lot Of powder and dynamite In
the freight section of the depot exploded
Two men were killed outright and ten
others seriously injured, two or three
of them perhaps fatally.
How the fire started is not known
There are suspicious of incendiary as the
depot was burned down twice before.
In the freight section of the little
mite for the Alabama Coal. Iron and
Railroad Company at Talladega,, and this
went oft with a fearful defamation.
The Dead and Injured.
The killed are ]. D. Hall. hop jack
dealer, Pell City, and Thomas Whitfield,
a brick mason Of Cedartown, Ga.
Those seriously injured are John Griffin,
engineer on the Southern Railway, res
idence in Avondale. suburb Of Birming-
ham. cut in side and back by flying en-
bers; Frank Hightower of Cedartown
Ca, bruised about forehead; d. A. Pike
agent at Peii City for Seaboard Air Line
arm broken and leg injured; Colonel N
B. Spears Of Pell City. prominent Re-
publican OF State. arm broken and seri-
n. T.. hiatt
proprietor OF the new Ccrbett Hotel In.
formally injured.
The following were painfully injured
]. NJ. jackson, conductor. on Southern
Railroad, shoulder dislocated: F. P. Sin
clair, right hand broken and slight GU
on head; Macy Seaborn. OF Pell City, hand
bruised; NJ: Tilden OF Atlanta, Ca, slight
ly bruised.
The fire was discovered by NJ. c. Roop
the night operator at Pell City. He call
ed the crews of two freight trains which
happened to be there at the time to as
sist and twelve cars which were standing
on the sidetracks near the depot were
moved out of the reach of the flames.
Pratt Gave Warning.
Colonel Pratt President Of the Coosa
Manufacturing Company, who lives al
the Corbett Hotel. just opposite from the
dcpot, warned tne Dig crOWd OF people
who gathered around the fire to watch
out for an explosion. but a miner who
was in the crowd expressed an opinion
that the explosion could not occur with
out a jar of some sort The big crowd
of citizens were assisting in removing
the freight from the depot when the ex-
plosion occurred.
The depot was blown to atoms and a
hole was dug in the ground large enough
to have buried the building. The PEG.
pie were thrown in all directions That
more were not killed outright is a mir
acie. Almost every building in Pell City
was more or less damaged.
The hotel was damaged to the extent
Of about 5000. Window panes were brok-
en- In many other houses.
Some of the injured may die. Engineer
Griffin and Conductor Sinclair were
brought to Birmingham to an infirmary
for treatment. Had the explosion been
delayed half an hour it would have
caught the early morning mail train from
Atlanta and would have played worse
havoc.