The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-03-18
A Locomotive Standing in
Roundhouse, Blown into
Thousand Atoms, Spread
ing Death Over Yards.
NUMBER OF VICTIMS
IS NOT KNOWNfEIh
Parts of Bodies Picked tJp 4
Long Distance from Scene
of Explosion A Number
Are Injured.
(National News Associa taenN

(National News AssociatieaY
SAN ANTONIO, Tex.. March aa.--ln
an explosion which shook the wAsh
city and the surrounding country 4
number OF men. variously estimated
by the police at from six to tventyllvs
were killed to day In the local South
ern Pacific yards. A locomotive bof1er
blew up. spreading death and dsotruc-
tion in the vicinity. Many of the dad
are strike breakers. The. locomotive
was standing In . round house at the
time and the building was demolished
by the terrific detonation. Twenty 9th.
er men were injured. some OF them
probably fatally. by the explosion.
At noon the police declared that tho
disaster was rival Of the Los Anosles
Times dynamite explosion. which was
laid to the Structural Iron workers IN
ion. and said that II might even exceed
1t In horrors. At tho same time dofec-
| tives began an Investigation among
labor circles and It was evident that
the authorities hoped to llnd the nor
petrators Of the wholesale slaughter
among the leaders Of tho shopmen's
strike.
| No Warning Given.
The explosion came without warning
and at = time whsu there were = M
ber OF machinists. round house Rro6sns
and track tenders worlinG nearby. An
ARTILLERY discharge Of grape and can.
mister could not have scattered deadly
missiles moro effectively among the
nearby toilers than the explosion OF
the engine. The huge steel locomotive
was torn asunder like firecracier
and its fragments scattered Hike bul-
let's. The roar OF the explosion could
be heard for . mile. and hundreds OF
citizens ran to the railroad yards won
dering what had happened. Before
the echoes Of the detonation had died
away there was a rain Of debris, min
gled with flesh and bones, from the
sky.
Parts Of bodies were picked up from
three hundred to Ave hundred feet
away and windows half 4 mile away
were shattered. Deputies. from the cor
| oner's once collected the human flesh
in baskets and carrid It to the m0r4ue.
Every ambulance in the city and All
the doctors that could be found, to-
gether with the hospital corps from
Ft Sam Houston, and number Of r.
NJ. c. A. instructors were called To the
scene to care for the injured. rs
May % Oynamtts Plot.
The police an well ~ the Southern
Pacific ofici2ls were unable 70 make
any correct estimate % to the number
Of victims, owing to the destruction Of
the bodies
Immediately after the explosion po-
lice began investigating report that
the explosion had been caused BY dy-
Mantle placed in the boiler Of the en-
gine. The Southern Pacific machinists
are on strike and have been making
considerable trouble for the road ct
this point. Most Of the dead and injur.
ed are strike breakers who took the
places Of the striking shopunen several
months ago.
SO badly mangled are some of The
dead that Identification has to b nisd4
by clothing. The bodies were literally
torn to atoms.
The shop mems strike on the South
ern Pacific. the Union Pacific and the
! Illinois Central was inauxurated Sep.
tember 80 last, effecttng nearly 10000
men. The shopmen employed hers
were among the nrst TO answer calI
for general waikout. Five hundred ~
! cal men struck. Since then fheTo havA
been numerous clashes between str1k
ers and strike breaker1 and nunber
! of men have been killed 5s
% At n,clfArk ff1a affnFufsnn n lNf,19faa