Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-16
HUNDREDS
ARE KILLED
OR INJURED
SHOCK FELT TWO HUNDRED
MILES AWAY
POWDER WORKS BLOW UP, vIL-l
LACE is IN RUINS
Thousand PERSON. Homeless in Fon-
tanet, Ind, as Result of Awful
Disaster--Many Children
Among Wounded

Among Wounded
BY Associated Press
FONTANET. Ind, Oct. 15.-By the ex-
plosion OF the Dupont powder works to-
day between twenty-five and forty per-
cons were killed, hundred others in
jured and the village Of Fontanet of 1000
people wiped out
Where stood a thriving and busy town
this morning, tonight Is ruin and scat
tered wreckage. Tne dead and seriously
injured have been taken away. Five hua-
dred inhabitants, all more or less
household goods, to sleep under tents
guarded by soldiers of the state.
| Without warning, the powder mills.
seven In number, blew up at 9:15 this
morning. They employed 200 men, and Of
these seventy-five were at work when
the first explosion occurred in the powder
mill In quick succession the glazing mill
two coming mills and the powder maga-
zine blew up. followed by the cap mill.
| In the magazine, situated several hun@
| dred yards from the works. were stored t
1000 kegs of powder The concussion when
it blew up was felt 2OC miles away
Every House Destroyed
Every house in this town was destroyed.
Farmhouses two mile5 away and school
houses equaily diStant We're torn TO pieces
and their occupants .-jured.
! Indianapolis, and even cincinnati, felt
the shock. In a passenger train on the
| Big -Four railroad four miles away everv
coach window was broken and several
passengers were injured by flying glass
Following is list Of the identified dead
A. B. MONAHAN, general superinteil
| dent.
MRS. "A. B. MONAHAN.
| MRS. MONAHAN'S SISTER. &
|. GEORGE JUSTICE,
! JOHN BOBO.
| A. M. SHERIDAN.
! HENRY HARRINGTON.
| SILVESTA DIAL.
| A. d. WEBSTER
SAMMY NEVINS.
! j. e. YATES
| WILL DALTON.
The mills went UP with three distinct
explosions, followed ninety minutes later
! by fourth, more serious than the others,
| when the magazines went up.
Immediately following the explosion and
the wreckage the inhabitants of the town
who rushed to the rescue found them
| selves powerless to aid those burning in
| the ruins. They worked in constant
danger of possible succeeding explosions,
| unmindful of their ruined homes. Dead
and dying were picked up and collected
| in groups.
Eighteen bodies. horribly burned and
mangled, were carried to protected spot
| to await identification. while the badly
| injured. numbering upward of fifty. were
put on a special train and taken to Terre
HauteAfor hospital accommodation.
Nearly Thousand Hurt
Scarcely one of the 1909 inhabitants os
the town was left that did not carry blood
on his hands or face from his own wounds
or from 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
them were killed or wounded by the fol-
lowing explosions in the other mills.
When the heat from the burning mills
exploded the giant powder magazine, an
hour and a half later. destroying the town
by the concussion, many OF those engaged
in rescue work were badly injured and
several were killed.
Superintendent Monahan of the plant
was killed while he was 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 firste explosion and
were not in the buildings when the ex-
plosion of 1000 kegs of powder in the
magazine hurled their homes to pieces
and scattered household goods in heaps of
debris.
Churches Destroyed
Among the buildings totally destroyed
in the town were the Methodist and
Christian churches, two school buildings,
the depot, all business blocks, including @
large block just completed, the large
warehouse and 500 homes. In many of
the buildings the fronts were blown away.
while in others the roofs were hurled
into the air, the sides blown out or they
were left confused mass of collapsed
wreckage.
Big Four railroad freight train ON the
switch leading to the mills was partls
destroyed by the explosion, and the
wreckage caught fire. Engineer Charles
Wells was badly burned and Sustained
fractures
Three school buildings were DESTROYED
at Fontanet and at Coal Bluff, three
miles away All were filled with school
children and every one of them was
more or less injured by the collapse of the
buildings. A four-room school building
was torn to pieces and not one OF the
200 children escaped unhurt, although
none was fatally injured.
School Children Hurt
two-room school building at Coal Blur
was turned over and collapsed. The
teachers and ninety pupils were all more
or less injured.
The force of the explosion destroyed all
telephone communication with outside
towns and it was with great difficulty
that aid was summoned. Terre Haute
and Brazil sent physicians and nurses
with supplies, in carriages and autorno-
biles and special trains were run on the
Big Four for the care of the injured.
Governor Hanly ordered the Terre
IIaute company of Indiana militiamen to
patrol the ruined district and to protect
life and property. The governor arrived
GOontinucd On Fege TwssA