Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1907-10-21
SMOKING RUINS MARK
SITE OF DISASTER
Bodies We're Blown Completely
Out of Existence and Tales
of Suffering are Heard In
Every DireCtion--Mlr-
dCulOuS Escapes.


mass of smoking ruins. the great
mills of the Dupont Powder com
many lie amid the shattered trees
and houses surrounding what was
once one of the most peacetul couh-
try regions in Indiana. In Fontanet,
a mile away, the scene is Almost az
desoIate, though a number of the
wrecked houses here have been
made habitable and communication
has again been restored with the
outer world. Fontanet may never
recover from this explosion,
Dante's Inferno is faint enort
compared to the horrors which one
can see by a visit to Fontanet ana
the entire valley in which the great
powder mills stood week ago.
Sights which even today, when most
of the grim horror OF plood stains
and particles of mangled nesh nay
been removed, are too much lor
even the strongest nerves.
More than forty lives were snuHeo
out when the great mills exploded
followed three quarters OF an noui
later by the vast powder magazine
The property damage Is 100 sle"' ~
be estimated.
Over 1 200, 900 Pounds of Powder.
over 100000 pounds of giant
poWder. or the unmiXed ingredlenls
Of that explosive together with ~
900 pounds of dynam te were the
means which caused the disaster.
The greater part of this poWder
was stored in the magazine, some
distance from the. plant, but a great
amount was in the mills.
How IL Happened. -,
Louis Mack, a survivor OF the US
aster, says that for several Gays ne
and others about the mills, inciudlng
the the superintendent, knew that a
journal on a machine in the glazing
room was not working just rlght
and that he and others had warned
the superintendent OF the lIhpelLeo4
tion. but that official failed to shut
down the plant to properly repair
the damage. and together with 40
of his employees and his wlte anu
sister, he paid the penalty.
A workman saw spark OF hre
hiss from this journal into keg OF
powder in the glazing room; ne he
crashed at it, but a second later the
room was filled with purple name
and then one by one the big build
ings of the plant blew up.
Terrible heat.
Out of the terrible explosions ana
heat staggered men bearing the
bodies of MANNED and broken com
rades. and in this way many reached
comparative safety, though the en-
ployes of the plant, with three ex-
ceptions, these three having been az
outside work, were all badly hurt
The heat from the burning pow
der and buildings was intense, ana
despite the efforts of the town peo-
pie, many of whom ran to the mlll
after the explosion, nothing could be
done to save the place.
Magazine Did the Damage.
Forty-hve minutes after the first
explosion. the big magazine with its
million pounds of dynamite and giant
powder, some distance from the
mills exploded because of the great
heat. This explosion killed many OF
the rescuers who had come from
Fontanet and on the Big Four train
from Terre Haute. 1t also ruined
every house in FOntanet ana Tor
many miles around.
The Awful Results.
Forty were dead-hideously kill
ed Eight hundred were in suffer-
ing and distress. A town had been
razed. A baby in its crib six miles
away from the scene OF TINS dlsaster ,sr
died under the falling timbers or lts
A quarter Of a mile away the
home of Supt Monohan, of the Du-
pont mill, caved under the shock
took fire, and seven people, includ-
ing the superintendent, his wife, her
sister, a little child and a traVellns
man named Hellun perished in the
flames.
Three school houses within ra-
diOus of five miles tumDled ike jack
straws. There were 80 pupils in one
of these school houses, all of whom
were injured, but miraculOusly not
one was killed. The walls fell out
and the roof surged down, but the
warning had come in time and the
children fell under their stout oak
desks and were saved from being
crushed under the timbers.
The bell in the tower crashing
down, struck the desk Of the teacher,
Miss Susan Bishop. She was badly
hurt.
Bodies Vanished.
The bodies Of those men who re-
ceived the full shock of the force
vanished like swirls Of mist. Pieces
of human flesh were found three
miles distant from the mill site.
A tremendous heat blast spread
from the explosion. one woman,
who was passing a hundred rods
from the mill at the time, fell un-
der this blast, and when she was
picked up ii was found that both
eyes had been burned out. Many
others were blinded In a similar
way. Most Of the bodies found were
burned to charcoal. Following the
calamity were the usual distressful
scenes, with the usual widows and
the usual orphans.