Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-10-22
TOWN is WIPED OUT.
More than Six Hundred Hurt and
Scores of Others May Die.
DESTRUCTION is WIDESPREAD.
Mysterious Blasts Ruin Village and
Spread Death and Injury.


as many fatally burned or hurt, 600
others injured more or less seriously.
and prosperous town leveled to the
earth-such was the harvest of a
series of terrifying explosions at the
Du Pont blasting powder mills near
Fontanet. Ind, Tuesday morning.
After the explosions, which followed
one another with frightful effect, came
fire, and what the one horror left I'M
done the other completed. Thus, many
people who might have been dragged
from the ruins and revived were the
victims of the flames. How many
bodies have been moderated is mat
| ter of guesswork, but twelve hours
after the catastrophe the fatalities
| were believed to be below fifty. The
of powder blew up
Governor Hanly and a detachment
| of the Indiana National Guard at once
| took control of the death camp. Sol
diers paced up and down the wreck
| crammed streets. In and about the
| smoking ruins of the great powder
plant privates in the ranks in detach-
ments endeavored to discover the re-
mains of unknown victims. Scores of
| women and children whose husbands
and fathers were missing were in the
background, anxiously awaiting word
| from the relief corps.
! Town is Hopeless Ruin.
Tuesday morning Fontanet was a
| prosperous, coy little town of 1000
persons. That night it was a hopeless
ruin Every building, including homes,
| stores offices and factories, was shaken
into pieces. A hand of infinite power
sweeping all before it with demoniac
| wrath could not have worked greater
havoc.
The dead aud more seriously hurt
| have been removed to other points
| most Of them 10 Tere Haute, eighteen
| miles distant At least 300 inhabitants
| of Fontanet remain however. Nearly
| all Of them bear bloody traces Of the
| visitation They are camping out in
| tents hurried there by the Governor,
| and must be fed and cared for during
/ many months to come. The town is
devastated. Yet its people, so far as
| -.1ceihIo eoo,, dotar,nipad 70 ronlo IN,
| and make the best of their misfortune.
The explosions at the powder mills
| came without warning. What caused
the first one is a mystery and may
never be explained.
| Once the combustion had started
| there was no stopping it and one by
| one seven mills were shot into the air
| in spIinters. Two hundred men were
employed at the works, but luckily only
seventy-five were at their labors when
| the first explosion took place.
| Big Mill liz Shattered.
| The big press mill was destroyed
| first. This was at DID o'clock. The
shock and defamation were indescriba-
BILE. The ground shook for miles around
1T is reported that the effect was felt
| at distance of 200 miles-buildings
| rocked as if riding a seismic swell.
And then within two minutes the
| glazing mill was ruined. The building
burst outward and upward, shooting
timber, metal and glass in all directions
and killing many.
Next. the two coming mills and final
| ly, as an unspeakable climax, the mag
azine and cap mill were torn to bits
! The magazine was situated about 300
yards from the main buildings of the
plant and did not ignite for over an
! hour. Then the flames which were
| licking up the debris had so heated the
atmosphere that the magazine respond
! ed.
There were 10000 kegs of blasting
| powder stored in the magazine and
| every one blew up seemingly at the
! same moment. 1t was this detonation
that shook 10 pieces the homes and
stores and factories in Fontanet and
which brought death or injury to scores
| miles distant.