The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1907-10-24
EXPLOSION WRECKS TOWN.
Fontanet, indiana, Scene of Blood
and Wreckage.

Fontanet, Indiana, scene OF biooo
and Wreckage.
Fontanet, Ind, Oct. 16.-By the ex-
plosion of the Dupont powder works
yesterday between 25 and 80 persons
we're killed, 800 injured, and Fontanet,
city of 1000 people, was wiped cut.
Where stood a thriving and busy town
there is ruin and scattered wreckage.
The dead and more seriously injured
have been taken away. Five hundred
inhabitants, all more or less wounded,
remain to gather scattered household
goods and sleep under tents, guarded by
soldiers of the state,
Without warning the powder mills,
seven in number, blew up at 9:15 yes
teday morning. They employed 200
men, and of these 75 were at work
when the first explosion occurred in
the press mill. In quick succession the
glazing mill, two corning mills and the
powder magazine blew up, followed by
the cap mill. In the magazine, situ-
ated several hundred yards from the
mill, were stored A 1000 kegs Of powder.
The concussion when it blew up was
felt 200 miles away. Every house in
this town was destroyed. Farmhouses
two miles away and schoolhouses
equally distant were torn to pieces and
their occupants injured. Indianapolis
and even Cincinnati felt the shock. A
passenger train on the Big Four rail-
way, four miles away, had every coach
window broken and several passengers
were injured by flying glass.
The mill went up with three distinct
explosions, followed 80 minutes later
by a fourth, even more serious than
the others, when the magazine went
up. Immediately after the explosions
the wreckage took fire and the inhab
| itants of the town who rushed to the
rescue Of the mill employees, fount
, themselves poweIless to aid those il
the burning ruins. They worked frant
ically, in constant danger from possible
, succeeding explosions, unmindfui o
} their ruined homes.
Dead and dying were picked up ant
: collected. Eighteen bodies horribl.
2 burned and mangled were carried to
{ protected spot to await Identification
while the badly injured, numberin
upward of so, were put on specia
train and taken to Terre Haute for hos
!. pital accommodations.
Scarcely one of the 900 inhabitant
=. Of the town but carried blood on hand
y and face from his own wounds or thos
y of people who had required aid. Th
: mills were located one mile south {
> town. With the first explosion th
employees ran fo- safety, but most {
them were killed or wounded by tt
. quickly following explosions in tt
- other mills. When the heat from tt
!. $ burning mills exploded the giant pov
:, der magazines 80 minutes later, d
- - stroying the town by the conclusion
~ ~ many Of those engaged in rescue wol
;0 ;0 were badly injured and several kille
20 Fronts, roofs, sides and even found
'e tions of many buildings have be-
80 blown to pieces. Great holes are to-
=. in the ground, fences have vanish
~ and household goods from the ruin
w ;" homes are in confused heaps Of debl
~ in all directions.
~ !, A Big Four railroad freight train
the switch leading to the mills W
practically destroyed by the explosi
and the wreckage caught fire.
Three school buildings were destrc
- ed at Fontanet and Coal Bluff, t.
miles away. All were filled wi
j . uobolars opd averv ono Of them "
d. more or less injured by the collapse
,el the buildings. A four room schC
or building was torn to pieces and not 0
ior of the 200 children escaped unhurt,
i'll though none were fatally hurt. A t
ed room school building at Coal Bluff "
in turned over and collapsed. The teat
lat er and 80 pupils we're more or less
'ed jured.
The force of the explosion destroy
Tor all telephone communication with o
side towns, and it was with great di
rn- Guilty that aid was summoned. TIE
ing Haute and Brazil sent physicians g
oof nurses with supplies in carriages 8
his automobiles, while special trains W
lr. made up and ran on the Big Four II
bed road for the care Of the injured.
ers Governor Hanley ordered the TIE
1r. Haute company of militia to patrol
he ruined district and. 10 protect life {
ody property. The governor arrived
Mr.. evening. he brought with him
Mr.. tents and cots for the care Of the hol
less.