Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1907-01-24
WRECKsON B|GFOUR
EXPLOSION CAUSES DEATH OF
TWENTY-SEvEN.
MANY MORE WERE INJURED
Wreck at Fowler, on the Same Road,
Also Causes Great Loss
Of Life.

Terre Haute, Ind, Jan 20.-Big Four
accommodation train No. 8, which left
Terre Haute at $3.50 o'clock last night,
was destroyed by the explosion of a
a Of powder at the siding east OF
Sanford. Ind, at $3.50 O'Clock last
night. Fifteen persons were killed
outright and the death list probably
will reach twenty, with thirty or thir-
ty-five injured. The train, two
coaches and a baggage car, was de-
molished.
The first intimation people had or
the disaster was a shock which was
felt In Terre Haute and as far east
as Brazil, Ind, and as far south as
Sullivan, Ind. The wires were blown
down and 1t was some time before the
Big Four officials here learned o. the
explosion.
Relief trains were ordered out from
Terre Haute and Paris, Ill, and the
dead and injured were taken from the
wreck to both cities.
The work Of the r~escuing party was
hampered by the almost complete de-
struction Of the train and the blazing
timbers which were ignited immedi.
ately after the explosion.
G. M. Armstrong, agent at Sand
ford, stated that he thought the car
contained about 600 or 500 kegs of
powder. He said he was standing in
the door Of the station when the explo-
sion occurred and that he at once call.
ed some section hands and they secur-
ed an engine.
They then broke an in~terlocking
switch and went to Paris, H., for the
relief train.
All means Of communication be-
tween this city and Sanford was cut
of and the men from Sanford
had not stopped to ascertain how
much damage was done. The pas
sengers received no aid until the re-
lief trains reached the scene. The
entire passenger train was a mass of
flames and the relief party was able
to reach only the passengers who had
been either blown from the train or
were able to crawl from the coaches
after the explosion.
Two of the men who we're cremated
were still alive when the relief party
from the city reached the wreck, but
rescuerS were unable to reach them
and were compelled to stand and
watch them burn.
They were lying under a mass of
reached or moved.
The flames lighted up the scene so
that the escue did not have to work
In total darkness.
The station at Sanford was turned
into a mergue, and a large number of
the dead and injured were taken
there where their injuries were dress.
ed and the dead kept until the train
started back to this city.
1t is not known how many passen.
gers were on the train, but it is said
that both cars were almost full, since
about sixty have been accounted for,
1t is thought that a number not YET
accounted for were either killed out
right by the force Of the explosion or
were buried In the wreckage ann
burned to death. No acts or great
heroism were displayed by the rescu-
ers, for the simple reason that no one
could get lei the cars while they
were burning.
From the most definite information
~obtainable, the freight train had Just
cleared the main track and had come
to a standstill when the passenger
started to pass it, It is thought that
the conclusion caused by the passen-
ger train set off the powder in the
freight car.
Terre Haute, Ind, Jan. 21.-Twenty-
seven charred. broken and mutilated
bodies have been taken from the
sm~ouldering ruins of the passenger
train No. 8 on the Big Four railroad.
The injured will total at least thirty
five.