The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1907-10-18
About Thirty=five Persons
Killed In Indiana.
HUNDREDS ARE INJURED
Dupont Powder Mills at Fon=
tenat Blow Up.
EVERY HOUSE IN TOWN WRECKED

AIANK AUUSL AN XVWN VNLSALD
What Once Was a Prosperous City
Now Is a Scene of Desoation and
Ruin-Martial Law Is Declared and
State Troops Patrol the Stricken
City, Guarding Life and Property.
Fontanet. Ind. Oct 16.-The total
number Of dead as the result of the
explosion OF the Dupont powder mills
here Tuesday Is believed to be thirty
five. OF these five died in hospitals
at Terre Haute Tuesday night At
least 800 we're injured and an i'm
mense amount Of property was de-
stroyed. The exact number Of dead
and injured along with the property
loss, will not be known for several
days, 49,.
The town is practically wiped out;
Not a building stands intact alu
throughout the day fires k'no'eo III
.bo rims cost the lives OF the maine"
,,nned in the wreckage and a.oed IN
the terrifying scenes of destruction.
Where stood a thriving and busy
town Of 1000 people Tuesday morning.
there now is ruin and scattered wreck
age. The dead and more seriously In"
1ured have been taken away. Five
runderd inhabitants, all more or less
injured, remain to- gather their scat
tered household goods and sleep under
tents and on cots, guarded by soldiers
Of the state.
Without warning the powder mills,
seven in number, blew up at 9:15
a. m. They employed 200 men and
of these rs were at. work when the
. first explosion occurred in the press
mill. In quick succession the glazing
mill, the two coming mills and the
sowder magazine blew up, followed by
the cap mill. In the magazine sit
uated several hundred yards from the
mills we're stored 10000 kegs of pow
der. The concussion when it blew uI
was felt nearly twenty miles.
Every House Destroyed.
Every house in this town was de
strOyed. Farmhouses two miles away
and schoolhohses equally distant were
torn to pieces and their occupants in
jured. passenger train on the Bis
Four railroad four miles away hat
every coach window broken and sew
eral passengers were injured by fly
ing glass.
Following Is a list Of the identified
dead:
A. B. Monahan, general superinten
dent; Mrs. A. B. Monahan, Mrs. Mona
hans sister, George Justice, JOIN
Bobo, George Bobo, William Sheriff.
Henry Harrington, Sylvester Dial, 4
Webster Sam Nevins. - Yates
Will Dalton. r. T. Kellip, Wilmine
ton, Del, George Hodge, Earl Wood
John Grey, Don Dial, Frank Dia
James Riggs, Fred Cress, John Ne'
ems, Edward Nevens, Samuel ingalls,
Frank ingalls, and Willie Hodge, age
seven years.
The mills went up with three di!
utes later by a fourth even more Sc
rious than the others when the mag;
zine went up. Immediately followln
the explosions the Wreckage took fl
and the inhabitants Of the town VIII
rushed to the rescue Of the mill Ell
ployes found themselves powerle:
to aid those burning in the ruins. The
worked frantcally in constant da
ger from possible succeeding eXrl
sions, unmindfnl Of their RUNE
~ homes. Dead and dying were p1ckt
up and collected. Eighteen bod
horribly burned and mangled We
carried to a protected spot 70 ava
Identification, while the badly
-. jnred, numbering upwards of fit
were put on a srecial train and TAX
to Terre Haute for hospital, accomn
dations. Scarcely ore OF the tho
sand inhabitants of the town but G.
ried blood on hands and f29" f"om
own wounds or those of 7@sOple W
had required aid.
Employees Ran for Safety.
The mills were located one N
south of town. With the first exp
sion the employees ran for safety,
most Of them were killed or injur
by the quick following explosions
the other mills. When the heat fl
the burning mills exploded the gi;
powder magazine ninety minu
later, destroying the town by the C
- cussion, many of those engaged in 7
Gus work were badly injured and s
eral were killed. Superintend
Monahan of the plant was killed wi
sitting in his office and his wife
his sister-in-law were killed In tt
homes some distance away. That
death list is not far greater is due
the fact that the people OF the tc
had left their homes at the first
plosion and were not in them W
the explosion of the 10000 kegs
81