The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-01-21
Blown to Pieces by ar
Explosion Of Powder.
DEAD NUMBER 22.
Thirty-five People We're Injured
Three Passenger and Eight freight
Cars Were Demolished.

Terre Ilaute, Ind, Jan. 21.--Twenty
two charred, broken and mutilatet
bodies were taken from the shoulder
Ing ruins OF the accommodation pas
senger train on the Big -Four railroad
following It's destruction Saturday
night by the explosion of "a carload o.
powder as 1t passed a freight train vi
Sandford. Ind, nine miles west oi
Terre Haute. The number of Injured
will total at least 80.
The cause of the disaster has not
been fully explained, as several theo
res are advanced. The result was
terrible. The shock was felt for 3C
miles, many believing it to be an
earthquake. The three coaches of the
passenger train were filled. The en-.
tire train, including the locomotive
was blown from the track, the
coaches were demolished, the engine
hurled 80 feet and the passengers
we're either blown to pieces, consum
ed by fire or rescued in injured condi.
ton
Some OF the 35 injured will die.
The most severely hurt are in hos.
pitals at Terre Haute and at Paris,
III. Several others are cared for at
Sandford. The full extent OF the dis.
aster was revealed at daylight, but
the death list will not be complete
until workmen have cleared the de.
bris and the injured are out OF
danger.
According to the tTainmen of the
freight, the explosion Of the powder
was caused by the concussion of the
passenger train, which was slowing
down for Sanford. Another theory
Is that gas escaping from an oil pipe
line entered the powder car standing
over the pipe and that spark from
the passenger locomotive ignited the
gas.
The belief was expressed by one
or two persons that the disaster was
due to the act of tramp or an In.
toxicated man who may have fred
shot into the car.
Besides the passenger train eight
freight cars were torn to pieces by
the explosion. Huge masses of iron
were found hundreds Of feet from the
track. The tank of the passenger To-
comotiye was hurled hundred feet,
landing in gravel road. The wreck.
ed train of eight freight cars was con
sumed by fire which broke ont in the
wreckage. The other freight cars
were pulled out of danger Not a
building in Sandford escaped damage
The accommodation passenger
train was running from indianapolis
to Mattoon, Ill. 1t was a dark night
and heavy rains had converted the
streets and tracks at Sandford into a
pond. The residents were going to
t.ht t,, ~ hA hnt,
had been extinguished when the
freight train drew in on a sldetrack
to let the passenger go by. Shortly
afterwards the passenger train ap
preached the station, setting brakes
as 1t passed the freight train.
AS the passenger train was just
abreast of the powder car the con.
tents of the car exploded. The en-.
tire passenger train was blown from
the tracks into the air and crashed to
the earth tangled mass OF wood and
steel, beneath which lay 40 human
beings. Fire broke out in the wreck.
age and before the ewes of citizens
and rescuers who rushed from their
homes, many burned TO death.
BY the glaring light of the burning
coaches the people of Sandford did
their best for the wounded. Inc resi-
dents of the village threw open Their
y homes to the injured and worked
heroically all night.
Cries of the injured and the crack
ling of the fierce flames greeted the
rescuers, who worked frantically, but
soon were forced back by the terrible
heat.
# Under the wreckage of the baggage
car was found a charred torso bear
ing a lineman's belt and tools about
the waist. Four mutilated bodies
were found in a wood several hun
dred feet from the tracks,
A thousand feet of track was tori
y up end a great hole shows where thu
powder car stood This car was bounC
from Concord Junction, Mass, to Eas
Alton, H., and contained 500 kegs o
powder.
IA Engineer Welch and Fireman Jar
red, of Mattoon, H.. who were on th'
passenger locomotive, were hurlet
100 feet and fell in a muddy field.
The explosion and fire destroyed
telegraphic communication and Sand
ford with it's catastrophe was alon
for hours. The first news TO reacl
Terre Haute was brought by thos
who walked the distance to procur
help. Relief trains with physician
4 and supplies we're started at once an,
they took 22 of the injured to Paris
H., and brought seven to Terr
Haute.
e Gale Ruined a Weak's Work.