The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-22
Hundreds Of People Are
Homeless.
TWELVE DEAD ARE FOUND
Persons Shot at Car Loaded With
Dynamite.
Fifty Or More Including Mayor Ser.
fousIy Hurt--Dfsaster One of
she Worst In History
of the District.

utdtHs, tue iHJuEiuS Oh SCORES OF OtueL
persons and 100000 damages to prop
erty were caused here today when a
carload OF dynamite standing on
track near the Southern Railway depot
exploded with a report that was heard
for twenty miles. Buildings were shat
tered in the business sections of tha
town and nearly every piece of glass
within a radius of one mile of the scene
was broken.
The dead: George Atkins. aged 80,
iineman for the East Tennessee Tele-
phone Company; John Cook. aged Sc.
car inspector for the Southern Rail
way; Walter Rodgers. aged rs. clerk
for the United Cold Storage Ware
house. cut to pieces and almost unrec-
cgniable; John Gordon, a negro: James
Sharp. a negro: William Lovette. aged
IL: Ida Rayne. aged years; James
Reynolds. John Hoch, John Cook. Jo-
seph Sellers. engineer on Louisville
and Nashville. One body remains un-
identified. making the total twelve.
There is a bare possibility that other
bodies may be recovered from tha
ruins OF buildings, but this is hardly
pr obable.
List of the Injured.
The most seriously Injured are: E. v.
Campbell, engineer OF the Louisville
and Nashville. shoulder bruised; Fin
lay Gibson. badly cut on head; Judge
and Mrs. Foreman. proprietors Of tho
Carmathian Inn. both badly bruised
and cu5, William Vaird. employee of the
Louisville AMI Nashville Railroad.
badly cut on head; James Carson, Cor
bin, KY. cut en- head and bruised;
r. D. Abbotts G-year-old son knocked
senseless and fatally Injured: Isaac
Range. cut on head and right eye lost;
Mark Atkins. head and arms cut: Jay
Baird. bookkeeper for Italian Coal
Company, seriously cut on head;
Charles o. Baird, cashier of the Ma
tional Bank of Jellico, cut over left
eye; r. J. Baird. President OF the Ma
/ tional Bank of Jellico. and Mayor Of
Jeliieo. slightly cut on neck; George
Hudson, cut and severely bruised on
body. may die; sherman Wilson, head
and breast badly cut. L. A. Holman.
cut on both shoulders; Mr.. and Mrs
J. NJ. Jones, both badly bruised, their
house having fallen In upon them;
William Rose. cut on h cad.
The explosion occurred at o'clock
this morning. The freight car. ona be-
longing to the Pennsylvania Railroad,
contained $50 boxes, or 10000 pounds,
OF high explosives consigned to the
Rand Powder Company at ClearfieId
Tenn.
Two Causes Assigned.
Two causes are assigned for the ex-
plosion. One is that three men were
shooting at mark on the car and that
a bullet entered the car and caused the
explosion. The other Is that while
the car was standing on a side track n
carload of pig iron was switched
against II and that the impact caused
the explosion. People here are divided
as to the theories. some going so far
as to say that they actually saw the
men firing at the car with a rife.
Jellco is situated on the Tennessee
Kentucky line, about sixty miles from
Knoxville. the business portion OF the
town being on the Tennessee side The
depot of the Southern Railway, which
was located near the scene of the ex-
plosion. was wholly wrecked. Two ho-
tells, the Glen Morgan and the Carma-
THAN, were badly wrecked. the third
story of the latter being wholly de-
stroyed.
The list of injured will number 200.
counting those slightly hurt.
Business houses were badly dis
figured and stocks of goods ruined.
while residences suffered severely,
windows and doors being blown out
in houses as far from the scene as
one mile.
Among the buildings totally destroy
ed were the Armour Packing Compa-
ny's warehouse; the Jung Brewing
Company's warehouse; Pinnacle Brew
ing Company's warehouses: oil tank
and warehouse of the Kentucky Con-
sumers oil Company and the Standard
Oil Company's warehouse.
Building Collapsed.
Besides the two damaged hotels. the
Jellico Furniture company's building
collapsed and the stock of the Smith
Dry Goods Company was practically
ruined, although the building. a part
of which 1t occupied. the Cumberland
Opera House. the finest structure IN
Jellico, escaped with little damage
Fully twenty other firms suffered
losses but they occupied small build
ings.
Rescuers began work soon after the
explosion and medical aid was asked
of Knoxville. which sent a dozen ply
sicians to the wounded. Twelve of the
most seriously injured were sent to
Knoxville tonight to hospitals in that
city. The holding of inquest over the
bodies of the victims was begun this
afternoon but was not completed.
Many people are homeless as the result
of the disaster.
, Some estimates made tonight on the
loss of life estimated the number as
high as forty. but it is believed this
is an exaggeration.
The disaster Is the worst since the
terrible explosion In the Fratervtlie
Mines In 1902. when 1874 miners lost
their lives in a coal mine near Coal