New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-01-21
TRAIN BLOWN LIN Air.
SCORES PINNED IN WRECK.
Tons of POzcder Exploding Caused
HaUOC at Sanford. III.

and mutilated bodies were taken from the smoking
| ruins of the accommodation passenger train on
the Cleveland. Cincinnati Chicago & St Louis
| (Bis Four) Railroad. following its destruction
/ last night by the explosion of a carload of pow
! der as it passed freight train at Sanford.
! Ind. five miles west of Terre Haute. The list
OF injured will number at least thirty-fve
The shock of the explosion was felt for thirty
miles, many believing it to be an earthquake.
| The entire train was blown from the track the
| coaches were demolished. the engine was hurled
| fifty feet and the passengers were either blown
! TO pieces. consumed by fire or rescued in an in
| jured condition
| Several of the injured are likely to die. The
most severely hurt are in hospitals at Terrs
| Haute and ar Paris III. Several others are cared
for at Sandford.
According 10 trannen Of the freight. the ex-
! posion OF tho powder caused by the con-
cussion Of the passenger train. which was slow
ing down for Sanford. Another theory is that
gas escaping from pipe line entered the pow
der car and that a spark from the passenger
! locomotive ignited the gas, and the belief also
has been expressed by one or two persons that
the disaster due to the act of a tramp or
an intoxicated man. who may have fred shot
into the car.
BUILDINGS DAMAGED BY SHOCK.
Eight freight cars we're blown To pieces by
the explosion. Huge masses OF iron were thrown
hundreds OF feet from the track. The tender of
| the passenger locomotive hurled one hun
dred feet. landing in gravel pit. The wreck
! age of the train and freight cars was consumed
by fire. Not a building in Sandford escaped
damages. Windows were shattered. dishes and
! furniture broken and several doors were torn
) from hinges.
The accommodation train was running from
e.
night. and heavy rains had converted the streets
and tracks at Sanford into a pond The lights
in many OF the houses had been extinguished
when the freight train drew In on a side track
10 let the passenger train go by. Shortly after
ward. the passenger train approached the sta
ton. setting brakes It passed the freight
train. AS the passenger train was just abreast
OF the powder car the explosion occurred. The
passenger train was blown from the tracks into
the air and crashed TO the earth. a tangled mass
Of wood and steel beneath which lay over two
score human beings Fire broke out IN the
wreckage. and before the eyes OF citizens and
rescuers. who rushed from their homes many
burned to death. Aid could not be rendered on
account OF fire.
BY the light OF the burning coaches the people
OF Sandford did their best for tho wounded.
They threw open their homes to the injured aad
worked heroically all night
One Of the first men taken out was L. F. Rose,
OF Mattoon engineer OF maintenance OF way OF
the big Four" His leg was broken and he was
severely bruised. He was carried to a nearby
house which. although partly destroyed by the
explosion. was converted into an emergency hos
pltal. Soon after Mrs Rose was brought in pain
fully bruised but she rallied to assist in the
of her husband until she collapsed from nervous
shock
WOMEN AID IN RESCUE WORK.
Others were pulled from the ruins as the flames
advanced. While the rescuers frantioalIy worked
TO release the sufferers from the wreck and
hunted for the injured blown far from the train,
the women Of Sandford acted as nurses AS tho
fire burned down to a smouldering pile lanterns
were brought. Men continued to search nearby
fields where pieces of bodies and wearing ap-
pare were picked up.
There was no efficient fire department TO night
the flames, and the bitter cold added TO the suf-
fering.
Under the wreckage of the baggage car was
found n charred torso, bearing a linemans belt
and tools about the waist. -Four mutilated
bodies were found In a wood several hundred
feet from the tracks.
A thousand feet OF track was torn up. and 4
great hole shows where the powder stood
This car was bound from Concord Junction
Mass to East Alton, ILL.,. and contained Ave
hundred kegs of powder.
The engineer and fireman the passenger
locomotive were hurled hundred feet, and Fell
In muddy field
SANDFORD CUT OFF FOR HOURS.
The explosion and fire destroyed teIegraphic
communication. and Sandford cut off for
hours. The first news to reach Terre Haute
brought by those who walked the distance
to get help. Relief trains. with physicians and
supplies, started at once. and they took
twenty-five of the injured TO Paris. ILL.,. and
brought the others TO Terre Haute.
Frank Fielder. of Findlay. Ohio an employee
of the Ohio Oil Company among the killed.
His body was identified at Sanford to-day
Harry Shickel, who was at first reported dead
is among the injured at Sanford. He will re-
cover.
The wreckage cleared from the main track
this evening. and traffic was resumed.
Big Four officials said that the death list
might reach between thirty and forty. Already
thirteen bodies have been identified and five
unidentified bodies have been taken from the
wreck. Four other persons are missing and
probably are dead'
According to E w. Theirs. local freight agent
(x.r{n n.saxI..