The weekly Corinthian. (Corinth, Miss.) 1894-19??, 1907-10-24
SHAFT SPARKS
CAUSED HORROR
POWDER MILL EMPLoYE TELLS
( WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT
EXPLOSION
THIRTY DEAD ARE IDENTIFIED
Hospitals Contain ESQ, and at Least
400 Others Are Less Seriously
Hurt--Monahan Case
Pathetic.

Terre Haute, Ind, Oct. 17.-TheI
cause of the terrible explosion at
Fontanet was hot box, friction on a
shafting in the glazing mill sendingl
sparks into loose powder.
William Sherrow, workman inI
the glazing mill, where the first ex-
plosion occurred Tuesday. recovered
consciousness In the hospital herel
and said: THE explosion was caused
by loose boxing on the shaft. Thel
day before we had to throw water onl
1t when the friction made it hot. This
time It got too hot, and sent OF the
sparks that caused the explosion"
The loss of life is as yet only to be
estimated. The property loss runs
through almost completely a town on
1900 population, whose people owned
their own homes.
Word from Montezuma, Ind 23
miles away shows better than any1
thing the terrible force of the explo1
sion A heavy stick Of wood, covered
with blood, was hurled with terrific
force through the home of Gus Bailey
in that town. The piece of wood.
crashed through the roof of the Bail
ley home
Thirty bodies, though most Of them
are badly mangled, have been identi7
fed: Arthur r. Monahan, superin-
tendent of the mills, his wife and an.
S-year.old niece of Mrs. Monahan;l
Earl Wood, George Hodge, John
Grey, Earl Dial, vess Dial, Frank
Dial, James Biggs, Fred Cress. Sam
uel Nevens, John Nevens. Edward
Nevens, Samuel ingalls,, Frank In
gals, Miss Susie Bishop, Willie
Hodge. George Justice, John Bobo.
William Sheriff., Henry Harrington.
Adam Webster, William Yates, t. T.
Kellup of Wilmington. Del, repr@en-
tative of the company. in office at
time of explosion; Henry Chandler,
! w. E. Crif, George Bobo and L. J..
I Carroll
Kept His Head During Terror.
During the reign of wild excitement
and confusion, following the explo-
sions. it was superintendent Hough-
ton of the Big -Four railroad who
thought of the approaching night. He
telephoned Gov. Hanly, asking thai
the state provide its emergency tents
and rations. The governor acted im-
mediately and the Big Four railroad
furnished special cars for the pur-
pose. These were run on siding
here and used for shelter by those
who could not be provided with tents.
! Monahsn Case Pathetic.
There is no sadder story in con
nection with the disaster than that of
the tragic death of superintendent
Monahan and his family Men who
were intimately acquainted with Mon
ahan say that during the last few
months he has frequently spoken OF
desire to quit Not more than a
week ago he occupied a seat in a
train with Homer Talley, a Tere
Haute coal operator, who has mining
interests in Fontanet. Mr.. Tale said
that Mr.. Monahan remarked then
that he had written two letters of res
ignation to the Dupont Company and
had been promised a successor, but
he did not come. Monahan was eth
er burned to death in his office OIL
his body blown to atoms. Perhaps all
that is mortal of him lies scattered
over the ravine that he 50 earnestly
desired to leave,
There was p whole family of chil
dren, and they were only to spend one
day in the city with their aunt and
cousins.
Upon their return home a friend
asked; What did you see in the
city,"
"oh. we saw all of It," was the
reply
"All oil it, In one day?"
Yes, you see we've lots of cousins.
so one of them took one OF us to one
place, another cousin took another
of us to some other place. and so on.
Each Of us went to a different place.
but the family of us saw pretty near
IL tha HvbnIa riivD