The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-01-21

passenger train No. 3 on the Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis (Bis
Four). which was destroyed by the ex-
plosion of carload of powder as it
passed freight train at Sanford, nine
miles west Of here. last night. The
number Of injured viii reach at least
thirty-hve.
The entire train was blown from the
track. the coaches demolished and the
engine hurled fifty feet. The passen-
gers were either blown 10 pieces, ere
mated or rescued in more or less in
jured condition.
The injured, some of whom are fatal
ly hurt. are at the hospital in Terre
Haute and Paris, H.. and at SANFORD.
The full extent of the disaster was
revealed at daylight, but the death
list Will not be complete until work
men have finished clearing the debris
away
Some Theories Advanced.
According to trainmen of the freight
the powder was exploded by the con-
cussion made by the passenger train.
which was slowing down for the sta
tion at Sanford. Another theory is
that gas escaping from an oil pipe line
nearby entered the powder car and a
spark from the passing engine ignited
the gas. Others express the belief that
the disaster was due TO a tramp or i'm =
tcxicated man firing a shot into the
car.
Cars were smashed to pieces by the
! force of the explosion. Huge pieces of
4 iron were found hundreds OF feet away
/ from the track. The tank of the en-
CINE was hurled nearly a hundred feet
from the track. Two passenger coaches
and one baggage coach We're consumed
by fire.
The freight train in which was the
lear Of powder was demolished. Sand
ford vas badly shocked. Windows
We're shattered. dishes and furniture
broken and doors torn from their
hinges.
Came Without Warning.
! The night was dark. and heavy rains
/ had rendered the streets Of Sanford
almCsl impassa BILE. As the passenger
! engine went by the powder car stand
+ ing on an adjoining track. the explC-
sion came without warning. The en-
( tire train was blown from the tracks
and crashed into the mud mass OF
/ debris. Dinning under it forty human
/ beings Fire broke out and before the
! eyes OF citizens who rushed to the res
cue many persons We're burned 10
/ death before aid could be rendered
( them.
( In the darkness, by the light Of the
/ burning coaches, the people of Sand
/ ford did their best for the stricken.
Cries Of the injured and the cracking
of the flames, together with the odor
4 of burning human flesh. greeted the
rescuers. who worked frantically, bur
soon were forced back by the terrible
heat
Work of Rescue.
! Among the first. rescued was l.. F.
Rose Of Mattoon, Ill. engineer of main
terance Of way of The Big Four rail-
road. His leg was broken and he was
severely bruised. He was carried &c
the home of c. E. Mars. 200 feet away.
Soon Mrs. Rose was brought in pain
fully bruised, but assisted IN the care
Of her husband until she collapsed.
Others were rescued as the flames
advanced. As men threw their strength
To the work OF discriminating the bu-
man forms from the wreckage the wO-
men of Sanford cared for the injured.
When the fire drove the rCscuers
away they waited til the fire died down
and then started 10 drag out the
charred bodies. Men searched nearby
fields and found pieces of human flesh
and wearing apparel.
There was no efficient water supply
TO fight the flames. and the bitter cold
added to the suffering
-Four badly mutilated bodies were
found in the woods several hundred
feet from the tracks.
Five Hundred Kegs of Powder.
One thousand feet of the track was
torn up and a 81 eat hole shows where
the powder car stood. This car was
being hauled from Concord Junction.
Mass, to East Alton, ILL.,, and con
tanned 500 kegs Of powder.
Engineer Welch and Fireman Jerrod
OF Nation. ILL.,. who were i'm charge of
the pa ssenger train, were hurled nearly
100 feet through the air and fell in a
muddy field.
The explosion and fire destroyed tele-
graphic communication, and Sanford
with its victims was alone for hours.
The first news TO leach here from the
wreck came by those who walked the
distance TO secure help. Relief trains
With physicians aud supplies were
started cut at once.
-Four of the injured were able 10
leave the hospital today None died
there. 80
Frank Fielder OF Findlay. o.. an en-
ploye of the Ohio oil company. was
among the killed.
Harry Shickel. who was at first re-
ported dead. is among the injured AT
Sanford. He will recover
The vreckage was cleared this even
ing sufficiently TO permit traffic TO re-
sumo.
Big Four officials who today ewere d.
recting the care of the injured. stated
that the dead might number thirty or
forty OF these eighteen have. been
identified. Four unidentified bodies
have been taken from the wreck, and.
according TO E. .Thwiers. local freight
agent, other arms, legs and remnants
OF bodies indicate ten or twelve more
victims