Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-10-16
ALL OF FONTANET WIPED OUT
Great Plant of the Du Pont Powder Company Blows Up, Damaging Places Many Miles of Forty Thousand Kegs of Material In Works.


 Fontanet, Ind, Oct 16-Upward o1
 fifty persons were killed. the majority
 being blown to pieces; 600 persons out of total population of 1000 were in . jurcd and every building in this town
 was razed in series of explosions in the Du POnt powder plant, which cul minated in the blowing up of the mag
 azine, containing 10000 barrels of
 blasting powder. The force of this
 crowning blast was so terrific that the
 earth trembled and buildings were
 blown down four miles distant. A
 schooIhouse in Coal Bluff, two miles
 away, was thrown over and smashed
 The teacher and forty pupils were
 buried in the wreck A passenger
 train, travelling forty miles an hour on
 the line of the Big Four railroad, four
 miles distant, was almost thrown from
 the tracks Every window ill the train
 was shattered.
 Reports from other points show that there was widespread terror of an earthquake The last and greatest eX- ploson was heard at points fifty miles from here. but it appears that the greater part of the state and large sec tionS of Ohio and Illinois were shaken, In Terre Haute, twenty miles as the crow flies, windows were shattered and ceilings were shaken down. In Charlottesville, thirty-tive miles away
 walls were cracked, and in one large building of recent construction the , tiled floor sank more than an inch. Great damage was done fifteen miles distant in Brazil. There was a gen. eral flight from the houses. in the be- lief of an earthquake. until at the end of a minute there came the distinct roar of the explosion. In many places the explosion was taken as thunder.
 Town Simply BIotted Out.
 Nothing remains of this town to mark it for what it was Even the sidewalks have been Obliterated. Not a tree stands for two miles around. Hedges. stone ditCheS. wire fences. all have gone. There are great Assures in the earth as if one of the giants of the anCientS had turned tremendous furrow. Here and there are great holes like dents in the ground, and over all the field of deSolatiOn is strewn the wreckage of homes. Doors, raft CTS, window frames, bricks. mortar, all are scattered flat. with not a foot of wall protruding anywhere, And with this wreckage of bare walls and floors are Strewn the furnishings of 400 fam lilies. Pianos. beds, tables, chairs. pie lures, clocks are scattered on all sides, not an article intact. all broken and cast with a direction as if a mysterious hand had brushed over the town and plotted it out
 There were four explosions. To the devotion of the tOwnSfolk to the men caught in the mills was due the heavy loss of life and the appalling list of and threatening the magazine not man. woman or child deserted the town Instead all gathered around the plant ready to sacrifice their lives to rescue those dead and dying in the wreck of the mills. and the work was in progress. injured men being carried out by the score. when the magazine blew up.
 It was sGid hy survivors that there was fash and then it seemed there was a moments suspense. followed hy Il crash that struck every person with in radius of a mile either dying ar ScnscleSs. Those who escaped death bled from ears. noses and mouths. and cd. Farmers were the first to invade the stricken area. They found the hundreds beginning to regain their senses. All communication by telegraph and telephone was cut off, hut fortunately the train which so escaped disaster carried the news tO a station. from which 1t was tclcphoncd to Terre Hautp and Brazil Relief trains were dispatched within an hour from those cities. and as quick ly as the injured were picked up they were carried on strctchers to the t.ains | Four specials bore them to Terre Iaute The hospitals there were m. able to accommodate all. and two schools were impressed as temporary ! hospitals.
 Militia Guarding the Ruins.
 Twelve policemen were sent here | from Tcrre IIaute. and the ruins of | the town are guarded ny state militia. ! ordered here by Governor Handy. Not a veStigc of the great powder plant . remains. Even the stones of the walls !, were blown to atoms At the spot where the magazine stood there is a hole in the earth fifty feer deep and 8 hundred feet across Huge howldcrs in the ground were cracked and bro ken. and rocks in the fields surround