The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-01-25
BIC -FOUR TRAIN
BLOWN TO Pieces
CAR OF POWDER ExPLODES AND
TWENTY-EIGHT PERSONS
ARE KILLED.
Horrible Accident at Sanford, Ind
Victims Torn to Bits or Cremated
in the Undergraduates Perish
in Collision at Fowler.

eight charred, broken and mutllated
bodies have been taken from the smold-
ering ruins of the passenger train No
8 on the Big Four railroad which was
destroyed by the explosion of car
load of powder as it passed freight
train at Sanford, Ind, nine miles
west of here, Saturday night. The
number of injured will total at least
35.
The cause of the disaster has not
been fully explained. The result was
terrible. The shock was felt for 80
miles, many believing it an earth
quake.
Entire Train Destroyed.
The three coaches of the passenger
train were filled. The entire train, in
Guiding the engine, was blown from
the track, the coaches demolished, the
engine hurled SO feet and the pas
sengers either blown to pieces, con-
sumed by fire or rescued in more or
less injured condition.
At least 80 injured, some fatally, are
at the hospitals in Terre Haute and
Paris, ILL., Several are also being
cared for at Sanford.
The full extent of the disaster was
revealed at daylight Sunday morning,
but the death list will not be COM
plete until the workmen now clearing
the debris, have finished their task.
The dead, so far as known, are:
William Thompson, Sanford, Ind;
J. w. Switzerland, Paris, ILL.,; John
Franklin, Nation, Ill. brakeman on
No. 81; A. D. Hector, farmer, address
Charles Gosnell, Paris, H.;
Noah Wolfe, Sanford, Ind; A. A.
Picks, Sanford, Ind; Frank Fielder,
Bellefontaine, o.; John A. Bowen,
Ashmore, ILL.,; Mrs. Josiah Wolfe,
Sanford, Ind, and her two children;
]. w. Southcott, express clerk; A.
fireman, Peoria division,
Vandalia, Ind; Clark Steele, Sand
ford, Ind; Paul Kiever, Indianapolis,
Ind; James Fenton, Sanford, Ind. :;
J. w. S. Miller, Sandford, Ind; ten
unidentified bodies.
Missing and believed to have been
burned to death: Mrs Bud Wolfe,
Sanford, Ind. two daughters of Mrs
Wolfe, aged eight and six years, re-
Bpectively.
Theories of the Cause.
According to trainmen of the freight,
the explosion of the powder was
caused by the conclusion made by the
passing passenger train, which was
slowing down for the station at Sand
ford Another theory is that gas es-
Gaping from an oil pipe line nearby
entered the car containing the powder
and spark from the passing engine
ignited the gas.
The belief was expressed by one or
two persons that the disaster was due
to the act of a tramp or an intoxicated
man who may have fired a shot into
the car.
Not a home in Sanford escaped
Windows were shattered, dishes and
furniture broken, and in some in
stances doors were torn from their
hinges.
The train was an accommodation
passenger, running from Indianapolis
to Nation, ILL.,, and was destroyed at
$3.50 p. m. 1t was a dark night and
heavy rains had converted the streets
and tracks at Sanford into a sea of
mud and water AS the passenger
engine went by the powder car of the
freight train standing on an adjoining
track the explosion came.
Noble Work of Citizens.
By the light of the burning coaches
the people of Sanford did their best
for the injured. The residents of the
village threw open their homes to the
injured and worked heroically all
night.
Under the wreckage of the baggage
car was found the trunk of man
which had lost all human form The
only means of Identification were a
lineman's belt and tools about the
waist. Four frightfully mutilated
bodies were found in the woods sew
eral hundred feet from the tracks.
Engineer WEIGH and Fireman Jar
red of Nation, ILL.,, who were in
charge of the engine on the passen-
ger train, were thrown into the air,
hurled a distance of nearly 100 feet
and fell in muddy field.
The wreckage was cleared up Sun
day evening and traffic was resumed
over the road.
Thirteen Killed at Fowler.
Fowler, Ind, Jan. 21.-A most hor-
rible railroad wreck occurred on
the Big Four railway a quarter of
a mile east of this station at 2:15 Sat-
urday morning. Queen City special
No. 3S, which left Chicago at 1870
Friday night, going at the speed of so
miles an hour, crashed head-on into
west-bound freight and at least 13
lives were sacrificed The tender of
No. 38 in front of the day combina-
ton coach crashed into it and reduced
it to splinters. The coach caught fire
and a high wind from the southwest
famed the flames. Inside Of half an
hour many bodies were cremated.
Three Trainmen Killed.
Desoto, Kan, Jan. 21.-The locomo-
tive drouinO oncfhOund AtohicOp To-