The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-10-18

practically destroyed today by the eX-
plosion of the plant of the Dupont
Powder Company The dead number
from Is to so. More than 5000 per-
sons were injured and every build
ing in the town was wholly or par
TALLY levelled to the ground.
Where stood a thriving and busy
town of 100 people this morning
tonight there is ruin and scattered
wreckage.
The dead and more seriously in
jured have been taken away. Five
hundred inhabitants, all more or less
wounded, remain to gather their
scattered household goods and sleep
under tents and on cots guarded by
soldiers of the state.
Without warning the powder mills,
seven in number, blew up a, 9:15
this morning. They employed 200
men and of these rs were at work
when the first explosion occurred in
the press mill. in quick succession
tho elazi-o mill, the two coming
,.-<1Is and the powder magazine blew
up, followed by the cap mill
In the magazine situated several
hundred yards from the mills were
stored 10000 kegs of powder When
it blew up the conclusion was felt
nearly zoe miles away. Farm houses
two miles away and school house
equally distant were torn to pieces
and their occupants injured. A pas
senger train on the Big Four railroad
four miles away had every car Win
dow broken and several passengers
were injured by flying glass.
The mills went up with three dis
tinct explosions, followed ninety min
utes later by a fourth and even more
serious than the others when the
magazine went up
Immediately following the explo-
sions the wreckage caught fire and
the inhabitants of the town who
rushed to the rescue Of the mill en-
ployees found themselves powerless
to aid those burning in the ruins.
They worked frantically in con-
stant danger from possibly succeed
ing explosions unmindful of their
ruined homes.
Dead and dying were picked up.
Eighteen bodies burned and mang-
led were carted to a protected spot
to await Identification, while the bad
ly injured, numbering upward of fif-
ty, were put on a special train and
taken to Terre Haute for hospital
accommodations.
Nearly every one of the 1000 in
habitants carried blood on hands and
face from his or her own wounds or
those people who had required aid.
The mills were located one mile
south of the town.
With the first explosion the en-
ployees ran for safety but most of
them were killed or wounded by the
quick following explosions. When
the heat from the burning mills ex-
ploded the giant powder magazine
later practically destroyed the town
by the concussion, many of those
engaged in rescue work were badly
injured and several killed
superintendent Monahan of the
plant was killed while sitting in his
office and his wife and sister-in-law
were killed in their home some dis
tance away.
That the death list is not far great
er is due to the fact that the peo-
pie of the town had left their houses
at the first explosion and were not
in them when the explosion of the
10000 kegs of powder in the mag
azine hurled their homes topieces
and scattered their household goods
in heaps of debris.
Among the buildings totally de-
stroyed in the town were the Metho-
dist and Episcopal churches the de- |
pot, all business blocks, including a !
large block just completed, large |
warehouse and 500 houses.
Three school houses were destroy |
ed, two at Fontainet and one at Coal |
Bluff, two miles away. All were |
filled with school children and ev-
cry one Of these were more or less |
injured by the collapse of the build
ngs.
A four room school building was |
torn to pieces and not one of the 200 |
children escaped unhurt None was |
fatally hurt.
The school building at Coal Bluff |
was turned over and collapsed. The |
teacher and ninety pupils were more |
or less injured.
Terre Haute and Brazil sent ply |
sicians and nurses with supplies in |
carriages and automobiles across the |
country. while special trains were /
made up and run over the Big Four |
railroad for the care of the injured. |
Indianapolis, Oct. 15.-The shock |
of the explosion at FOntainet was
heard in this city
AT Charlottesville. 50 miles from |
Fontainet, the shock cracked brick |
wall and sank tiling in a floor an |
inch
Cincinnati, O., Oct 15.-A slight |
shock similar to that of an earth
quake was noticed here at $50 this |
Professor Porter, of the
of Cincinnati, reporting it
as very slight but distinctly notice
able
In southern Indiana several points j,