The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1907-10-24
More than Six Hundred Hurt and
Scores of Others May Die.
DESTRUCTION IS WIDESPREAD.
Mysterious Blasts Ruin village
Spread Death and Injury.

Forty or more persons dead, almost
as many fatally burned or hurt, GOO
others injured more or less seriously.
and a prosperous town leveled to the
earth-such was the harvest Of
series of terrifying explosions at the
Du Pont blasting powder mills near
Fontanet, Ind, Tuesday morning.
After the explosions, which followed
one another with frightful effect, came
done the other completed. Thus, many
people who might have been dragged
from the ruins and revived were tho
victims of the flames. How many
bodies have been incinerated is a mat
ter of guesswork, but twelve hour
after the catastrophe the f.
were believed to be below fif
worst explosion came when A.
of powder blew up.
Governor Hanly and a .1ument
of the Indiana National Guard at once
took control of the death camp. Sol
diers paced up and down the wreck
crammed streets. In and about the
smoking ruins of the great powder
plant privates in the ranks in detach-
ments endcavored to discover the re-
mains of unknown victims Scores OF
women and children whose husbands
and fathers were missing were in the
background, anxiously awaiting word
from the relief corps.
Town Is Hopeless Ruin.
Tuesday morning Fontanet was a
prosperous, cozy little town of 1000
persons. That night it was hopeless
ruin. Every building, including homes,
stores, offices and factories, was shaken
into pieces. A hand of infinite power
sweeping all before it with demoniac
wrath could not have worked greater
havoc.
The dead and more seriously hurt
most Of them to Tere Haute, eighteen
miles distant. At least 500 inhabitants
OF Fontanet remain, however. Nearly
all of them bear bloody traces Of the
visitation. They are camping out in
tents hurried there by the Governor,
and must be fed and cared for during
many months to come. The town Is
devastated. Yet its people, so far as
possible, seem determined to remain
and make the best Of their misfortune.
The explosions at the powder mills
came without warning. What caused
the first one is a mystery and may
never be explained.
Once the combustion had started
there was no stopping it and one by
one seven mills were shot into the air
in splinters. Two hundred men were
employed at the works, but luckily only
seventy-five were at their labors when
the first explosion took place.
Big Mill Is Shattered.
The big press mill was destroyed
HiS IHlS was oS WYNN Inc
shock and detonation were indescriba-
BILE. The ground shook for miles around
1T is Aported that the effect was felt
at distance of 200 miles--buildings
rocked as If riding seismic swell.
And then within two minutes the
glazing mill was ruined. The building
burst outward and upward, shooting
timber, metal and glass in all directions
and killing many.
Next, the two coming mills and final
ly, as an unspeakable climax, the mag
azine and cap mill We're torn to bits
The magazine was situated about 800
yards from the main buildings Of the
plant and did not ignite for over an
hour. Then the flames which were
licking up the debris had so heated the
atmosphere that the magazine respond
ed.
There were 10000 kegs of blasting
powder stored in the magazine and
every one blew up seemingly at the
same moment. II was this detonation
that shook to pieces the homes and
stores and factories In Fontanet and
which brought death or injury to scores
miles distant.