The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-21
Passenger Train Hurled Into
Space By Explosion.
Car Of Powder Ignited on a Side
Track.
WENTY-SEVEN DEAD.
Thirty 1--we Injured and the
Coaches Burned Up.
Town Where Catastrophe Oc-
CURED Was Badly Shattered.

number of persons killed in the des-
truction of the Big Four passeAsei
train at Sanford probably VIII never
be known. The court of inquiry mas
record of ten dead but this is far from
cornnlete. The estimated number STANDS
at 81 dead.
It is believed that several DouleS Wei
burned to ashes in the fire that Follow
ed the explosion and some assert lnae
40 people persisted. A knife, buncn OF
keys, buttons and other bits OF metal
are found scattered through the ashes
and debris but no signs OIL hesh or
bones have been found
~ Story of the Explosion.
Terre {Iaute Ind, J. 21--Twenty-
two charred and mutilated bodies nave
Eeen taken from the smoldering ruins
of passenger train No. on the CleVe-
land, Cincinnati, Chicago ana 81;
Louis Big Four. which was destroyed
: the EXPLOSION of a carload of powder
as it passed a freight train at Sanu-
ford, nine miles west of here, SATURDAY
night. The number of injured VIII
r--ch at least thirty-five-
The entire train was blown from the
track. the coaches demolished, the en-
CINE hurled fifty feet The passengers
either were blown to pieces, crematea
or rescued in a more or less injured
condition. The injured, some OF whom
are fatally hurt, are at the hospitals IN
Terre Haute, and Paris. Ill, and at
Sanford.
The full extent of the disaster was re-
vealed at daylight but the death list
will not be completed until workmen
have finished clearing the debris
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
ton at Sanford. Another theory is that
gas escaping from an oil pipe line near
by entered the powder car and spark
from the passing engine ignited the
gas. Others express the belief that the
disaster was due to a tramp or intoxi-
Gated man firing a shot in the car.
Cars were smashed to pieces by the
force of the explosion. Huge masses of
iron were found hundreds of feet from
the track The tank of the passenger
engine was hurled nearly 100 feet, land
ing in a gravel road Two passenger
coaches and one baggage coach were
consumed by fire.
Part of the Town Wrecked.
The freight train in which was the
car of powder was demolished. Sand
ford was badly shocked Windows
were shattered, dishes and furniture
broken and doors torn from their
hinges. The night was dark and heavy
Sanford almost impossible. AS the
passenger engine went by the powder
car standing on an adjoining track,
the explosion came without warning.
The entire train was blown from the
tracks and crashed into the mud, a
mere mass of debris, pinning under IT
forty human beings. Fire broke out
and before the eyes of citizens and res
cuers who rushed to their aid many
burned to death before help could be
randaFad them darkness
the light of the burning coaches. the
people of Sanford did their best for
the stricken. Cries of the injured and
the cracking of the flames, together
with the odor of burning human flesh,
greeted the rescuers who worked
franticaIly, but soon were forced back
by the terrible heat.
Among the first rescued was L. F.
Rose of Mattoon, Ill, engineer or
maintenance of way of the Big Four
railroad. His leg was broken, and he
was severely bruised. He was carried
to the home of c. E. Mars. 200 feet
away Soon Mrs. Rose was brought in
painfully bruised, but assisted in the
care of her husband until she col
lapsed Others were rescued as the
flames advanced. AS men threw their
strength to the work of disentanglins
the human forms from the wreckage
the women of Sanford cared for the
injured.
Charred Bodies Dragged Out.
When the fire drove the rescuers
away they waited till the fire died
down, and then started to drag out
the charred bodies. Men searched
nearby fields and found pieces of hui
man flesh and wearing apparel. There
was no efficient water supply to fight
the flames and the bitter cold added
to the suffering Four badly mutilat-
ed bodies were found in the woods
several hundred feet from the tracks.
One thousand feet of the track was
torn up and great hole shows where
the powder car stood The car con-
tanned 500 kegs of powder. Engineer
WEIGH and Fireman Jared of Mat
toon, ILL.,. who were in charge of the
passenger engine, were hurled nearly
100 feet through the air and fell in a
muddy field.
The explosion and fire destroyed
Geographic communication, and Sand
ford. with its victims. was alone for
hours. The first news to reach here
from the wreck came by those who
walked the distance to secure help.
c. F. Marrs, who lived near the
scene of the wreck, said:
"I was standing in my yard when
suddenly heard a terrible sound. 1t
seemed to rend the air. All at once
what looked like balls of fire went
whirling into the air high above the
trees I went over to where I heard
screaming. The scene was terrible. L
never saw anything like it People
were running around the place wiring
ing their hands like crazy persons. The
wreck was already in a blaze. 1 could
hear screams coming from the
wreck"
Charles Piker. a Big Four section
hand. cried as he told of his work as
sisting in the rescue.
At. is the worst experience of my
life" he said, II shall never forget
THAI night. 1t was the worst night
possible for the accident-so cold and
windy and dark
Iig Four officials who today were
1iracting the care of the injured
xtatrd that the dead rnieht mum her