Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-10-23
POWDER MILLS EXPLODE;
Is TO so PERSONS KILLED
Dupont Plant at Fontanet, Ind, Blows
Up and Destroys the Entire Town
--More Than 600 Are
Injured.

FOntanet, Ind.-FOntanet was Drac-
tically destroyed by the explosion of
the plant of the Dupont Powder CON-
pany Tuesday. The dead number
from Is to so. Over 900 persons were
injured and every building in the
town was wholly or partially leveled
with the ground.
Where stood thriving and busy
town of 1000 people there is ruin and
scattered wreckage. The dead and
more seriously injured have been
taken away. Five hundred inhabit-
ants, all more or less wounded, remain
to gather their scattered household
goods and sleep under tents and on
cots, guarded by soldiers of the state.
Seven Mills Blow Up.
Without warning the powder mills,
seven in number, blew up at 9:l5
Tuesday morning. They employed 200
men and of these Is were at work
when the first explosion occurred in
the press mill. In quick succession
the glazing powder magazine blew up,
followed by the cap mill. In the
magazine, situated several hundred
yards from the mills, were stored 49,
900 kegs of powder. The conclusion
when it blew up was felt nearly 200
miles away.
Every house in this town was de-
strOyed. Farm houses two miles away
and schoolhouses equally distant were
torn to pieces and their occupants in
jured. A passenger train on the Big
Four railroad four miles away had
every coach window broken and sew
eral passengers were injured by fly
ing glass.
The Identified Dead.
Following is list of the identified
dead:
A. B. Monahan, general superin.
tendent; Mrs. A. B. Monahan, Mrs.
Monahan's sister, George Justice, John
Bobo, George Bobo, William Sheriff.,
Henry Harrington, Sylvester Dial, Ad
Webster, Sammy Nevins, Yates,
Will Dalton, T. P. Kellup, Whining
ton. Del; Henry Chandler, w. E. Criff,
Earl Wood, L. J. Carroll.
The mills went up with three dis
tinct explosions, followed 80 min
utes later by fourth even more seri-
Gus than the others when the maya
zines went up. Immediately following
the explosions the wreckage took fire
and the inhabitants of the town who
rushed to the rescue OF the mill en-
ployes found themselves powerless to
aid those burning in the ruins.
Brave Work Of Rescuers.
They worked Practically. in constant
danger from possible succeeding ex-
plosions, unmindful of their ruined
homes. Dead and dying were picked
up and collected. Eighteen bodies
horribly burned and mangled were
carried to protected spot to await
Identification while the badly injured,
numbering upward of so, were put on
a special train and taken to Terre
Haute for hospital accommodations.
Scarcely one of the 1000 inhabitants
of the town but carried blood on
hands and face from his own wounds
or those of people who had required
aid.
The mills were located one mile
south of the town. With the first
explosion the employees ran for SAFE
ty, but most of them were killed or
wounded by the following ex-
plosions in the other mills. When the
heat from the burning mills exploded
the great powder magazine, 80 min
utes later, destroying the town by the
conclusion, many of those engaged in
rescue work were badly injured and
several were killed.
Superintendent, Monahan of the
plant was killed while sitting in his
office and his wife and sister-in-law
were killed in their home some dis
lance away.
People Fled from Houses.
That the death list is not far greater
is due to the fact that the people of
the town had left their houses at the
first explosion and were not in them
when the explosion of the 10000 kegs
of powder in the magazine hurled
their household goods in heaps of de-
their homes to pieces and scattered
br1s.
Among the buildings DESTROYED in
the town were the Methodist and
Christian churches, two school build
1ngs, the depot, all business blocks,
including a large block just complet-
ed; large warehouse and 500 homes.
In many of them the fronts were
blown away while in others the roofs
were hurled into space, the sides
blown out or they were left a con.
fused mass Of collapsed wreckage.
A Big Four railroad freight train
on the switch leading to the mills
was partly destroyed by the explosion
and the wreckage' caught Are, Engi-
neer Charles Wells was badly burned
Utah Day at Jamestown.