The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-16
TWELVE HUNDRED PEOPLE
 ARE RENDERED HOMELESS
Not a House Left Standing in
 Fontanet, Indiana.
Dupont Powder Mills Blow Up With Most Horrible Resuits--Governor and MiIitia Rush to scene
 --Heroic work by
 Citisens.

\ ?
 Fontainet, Ind. Oct. 15.--Fontainet was practically destroyed today by the explosion of the plant of the Dupont Powder Company. The dead number from twenty-five to forty-five. More than 500 persons were injured and ev- cry building in the town was wholly or partially leveIed to the ground.
 where stood a thriving and busy town of 1000 people this morning, to- night there Is ruin and scattered wreck age. The dead and more seriously inc tured have been taken away. Five hundred inhabitants. all more or less wounded, remain to gather their scat tered household goods and sleep ur- der tents and on cots, guarded by sol. diers of the State.
 Without warning the powder mills seven in number blew up at s:iS o'clock this morning. They employ 200 men and of these, seventy five were at work when the first explosion aoc- cured in the press mill. In quick succession, the glazing mill, the two coining mills and the powder maga- zine blew up. followed by the cap mill. in the magazine. situated several hun dred yards from the mills. were stored 10000 kegs of powder The concus- sion when it blew up was felt nearly 200 miles away.
 Every house in the town was destroy ! ed. Farm houses two miles away and school houses equally distant. were torn to pieces and their occupants in- Ijured. A passenger train on the Big Four Railroad four miles away had every coach window broken and sev- { eral passengers were injured by fiy- ing glass.
 Following is list of the identified dead and a partial list of the more 2 ssreiasly injured:
 The Dead
 E. NoflAhan; General Snpafintends eh 8ArA xk. 9. Ai0nahAn. Mrs. Mona- har1ss sister. George Justice. John Bobo, George Bobo, William Sherifl. Henry Harrington, Sylvester Dial, Adam Web ster, sammy Nevine, ---. Yates, Will Dalton. two unidentified dead.
 The Injured.
 Albert Webster. leg brokens Miss Grace Brannon, eye put out and scalp injured; Elmer Bright limbs crushed; George Hodges, General Walker, burn ed and internally injured; I. M. Car roll flesh cooked; Mrs. Thomas Parr, scalp wounds; Mrs. Martha Webster, cut on head; Wm. Hodges, badly burned; Andy Pittman, internal inju- ries; H. M. Edwards, cut about head and body; Mrs. Rachel Montgomery, cannot TecOV6Ts w. IT. 11cCOy, scalp wounds; w M. Shearrow, body crush ed 1: Charles Nash. cannot recover; Wm. Car roll cut about head; Elmer Bright. cut about face and body: Prof. J. B. Shop taugh. of the Fontainet school, seri- ously; George Stewart, serious; Miss Susan Bishop, teacher at Coal Biuff; Mrs. Wasteller. fatally; John Gray, einploye powder mill; Alex Biddeli. Harvey Chandler, Alvie Edwards, Fred Cross. Edward Cross, Harvey KeIso. L. J. .Harrs. Carl Hamericlx. Mir. vul- ker, Wm. Walker, James Thompson, H. D. Edwards, Mrs. Biras Brannon, Mary Brannon.
 Four Explosions.
 The mills went up with three dis tinct explosions. followed nine minutes later by a fourth, even more serious than the others, wnen the magazine went up. Immediately following the explosions the wreckage took fire and the inhabitants of the town who rush. ed to the rescue of the mill employees found themselves powerless to aid those burning in the ruins. They worked frantically in constant danger from possible succeeding explosions. unmindful of their ruined homes.
 Dead and dying were picked up and collected. Eighteen bodies horribly burned and mangled were carted to a protection spot to await Identification. while the badly injured. numbering upwards of fifty, were put on special train ana taken to Terre Haute for hospital accommodations. Scarcely one of the 1000 inhabitants of the town but carried blood on hands and face from his own wounds or those of people who had required aid.
 The mills were located one mile south of the town With the first explosion the employees ran for safety, but most of xyn the quick-following explosions in the other mills. When the heat from the burning mills exploded, the giant powder magazine ninety minutes later destroying the town by the concussion many of those engaged in relief work, were badly injured and several killed.
 Killed in Their Home. 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 distance away. That the death list is not far greater is due to the fact that the people 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 maga- zine hurled their homes to pieces and scattered their household goods into heaps of debris.
 Among the buildings totally destroyed
 
 Christian churches, two school build ings, the depot, all business blocks in- cluding large block just completed, a large warehouse and 500 homes. Tn many of them, the fronts were blown away, while in others the roofs were hurled into space, the sides blown out or they were left a confused mass of wreckage. 4
 A Big Four Railroad freight train on the switch leading to the mills was partially destroyed by the explosion and the wreckage caught fire. En- gfneer Charles Wells was badly burned and received a fracture of the right les.
 School Children Injured. Three school buildings were destroy ed at Fontanet and Coal Bluff, two miles away. All were filled with school children and every one of these