The Indianapolis journal., 1904-03-13
More than 500 Quarts Detonated
Near Knightstown, Causing
Death of S. A. Clark.
HUGE HOLE IN GROUND
Pieces of Flesh of Clark and His
Horses, and Bits of Debris
Found Far Away.
MANY WINDOWS BROKEN
Knightstown Buildings Rocked by
Force of Explosion-Specu-
lation as to Cause.
pecial to the indianapolis Journal.

Special TO the Indianapolis Journal.
KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind, March 12.-More
than 800 quarts of nitroglycerin exploded
at the big magazine a mile and a half
northwest of this city this morning. and
Stephen A. Clark, who was working there,
his team of horses and wagon, and the
magazine and factory were blown to atoms.
The force of the explosion was felt all over
this city, windows being shattered all over
town.
The explosion occurred at 1926 o'clock
this morning A terrific concussion was
felt. and there was panic for a few mo-
ments, until the cause was learned. At
first ii was thought to be an explosion of
gas. A mass of smoke could be seen north
west of the city. and people were not long
in determining what the explosion was.
Hundreds of people rushed to the glycerin
factory in vehicles or afoot. The scene
was appalling, as the havoc wrought was
awful The ground trees and adjacent OBJ
jects were all covered with a reddish hue,
and everywhere the flesh and bones of man
and horses were to be seen.
A huge hole, fully forty feet in diameter
and fifteen feet deep, torn in the
ground on the spot where the magazine had
stood. Nothing was left of the building,
which was of brick, except few pieces of
the stone that formed it's foundation. The
factory stood about a hundred feet west
of the magazine and the boiler room about
seventy-five feet west of that. Both were
demolished, and now stand as heaps of
iron timber and rubbish. A small frame
building, used as a repository for dead ami
mails, about 300 feet distant, was partly
wrecked.
BRICK REDUCED TO DUST.
The force of the concussion was great
as to grind the brick in the magazine to
dust, and this covered the adjacent ground
with a reddish tinge. Whole tops were
torn off the trees that stood near, and some
of them were laid bare to the trunks.
Strung about among the barren limbs. here
and there. were 10 be seen particles of
clothing and flesh, human or horse flesh.
and small pieces of debris, caught in their
fiight-a grewsome spectacle. Particles OF
flesh and pieces of debris were found at
the top of the hill, and much of 1t south
ward in an adjoining field, some far
away from the magazine as half mile.
Much of the force of the explosion spent
itself In westerly and southerly direction.
How the accident occurred may never be
known Mr.. Clark left the city this morning
and drove south of the city to shoot a well.
He returned. and a little after 10 o'clock he
went to the factory. Clark grip, gloves,
lap robe and some of his tools were found
intact at the smaller magazine, which was
not affected by the explosion. 1t is thought
that he stopped there and left these Things
and went on to the big magazine to take
the explosive out TO thaw. Until recently
the cans used have held eight quarts, but
those Clark had held ten quarts. The
wagon which he used was also higher than
he had been accustomed to, and Ii Is con-
sidered probable that he either dropped the
can or knocked Ii against the wagon, caus-
ing the explosion.
Charles Terry a gas-well man, probably
was nearer the magazine than any other
person when the explosion took place. He
was on the road about a half mile away
plosion and as he looked ahead of him the
magazine seemed to rise into the air. and
then burst into thousands OF pieces OF de-
bris which were hurled in every direction
all enveloped in dense cloud of red dust.
FREAKS OF FORCE.
The force of the explosion was so great as
to perform almost incredible feats. Nc
part of the wagon was found larger than
piece of the tongue. probably foot long
Small bits of Mr.. Clark's clothing were
found no larger than two or three inches
in size These bits were easily recognized
as being his Several large acid drums
which weighed probably 500 pounds. were
hurled a distance of 200 feet, some of them
being torn full OF holes and twisted into
various shapes. A hoof of one of the
horses was found hundreds of yards away
barred of flesh, and with a No. 8 wire blown
completely through it. A hub of one OF
the wagons was found with the boxing
blown out of ii.
steven Clark was fifty-two years old. and
had lived in Knightstown for about fifteen
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