People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1893 — HUNDREDS SLAIN. [ARTICLE]

HUNDREDS SLAIN.

JL Ship Load of Dynamite Explodes at Santander, Spain. Three Hundred Citizens Killed and Ove* 400 Wounded—Many Buildings Blown Down-Fire Follows and Completes the Ruin. HORROR ABROAD. Santander, Spain, Nov. 7.—By the explosion of a ship load of dynamite Friday night hundreds of persons were killed and half of the town destroyed. Crowds were on the quay watching the vessel burn when suddenly her dangerous cargo blew up, instantly killing the daring fire fighters and spectators. scattering parts of the burning boats all over the city and wrecking many buildings. Fire followed the explosion, which many took for an earthquake, and before it could be checked half the town was in ruins. In the excitement the number of dead was placed •at 1,000, but 300 is probably nearer the ■correct figure. Among the dead are the governor of the province, the prefect, the chief of police and two judges. The marquis of Pombo is missing and it is believed he is among the dead. London, Nov. 7. —The Madrid correspondent of the Standard in his report about the Santander disaster says that after the explosion terror-stricken crowds on the wharf rushed off in the maddest disorder, trampling each other <lown and carrying panic into the city. The burning debris set fire to the railway station at Solarcs, 13 miles distant from Santander. Fifty private houses on Mendos and Vigos streets were destroyed by the flames. In addition to these losses, several important public buildings and valuable archives were burned before any headway could be gained on the fire. Among the victims were the civil governor, several judges, the captain of the port, his daughter, the colonels commanding the troops and gendarmes, several government official, officers, magistrates, policemen, soldiers and Marquis Casatombo. Official telegrams state that many bodies have been recovered from the bay of Biscay and from the ruins The material losses chiefly consist of the great number of houses burned and which are valued at £500,000. According to official telegrams the latest accounting shows that 300 persons were killed and 450 wounded.

The scene following the blowing-up of the steamer is almost indescribable, and the effect of the explosion of these 480 cases of dynamite will hardly be believed The power of the explosive shot tons of iron into the air, where it mingled with the burning fragments of Mie steamship, tug and wooden quay, as well as with the mangled bodies of hundreds of the unfortunate people who were hurled upward at the same time. r Over the adjoining buildings tottering with wreckage fell a shower of iron followed by huge pieces of wood and the remains of human bodies, and above all dropped flaming splinters which set fire to hundreds of buildings, causing a acene of panic similar, one would imagine, to the one which would have succeeded the bursting forth of a volcano at the water’s edge. The force of the exploding dynamite caused sueh a concussion that in addition to shaking hundreds of buildings .off the’r foundations it actually sunk .'.a hundred small craft in the harbor -in -addition to setting fire to a large number of other vessels and starting • conflagrations upon several of the larger ships, including the Alfonso -XII., which vessel qjvught fire so suddenly and burned so fiercely that forty of her crew lost their lives on board of her.

; The effect of the explosion upon the inhabitants of Santander was bewildering. For some time after the disaster they were positively stunned with dismay and then followed a panic daring which 100 people are reported to have gone stark mad, while the vast majority were so paralyzed with fear and shock that they were incapable of moving to the assistance of the dying or of making any effort to extinguish the flames, which sprung up from a mass of buildings and which be<an to spread with the most threatening rapidity. The quay and promenade close to the scene of the explosion presented the most sickening sight ever witnessed. Mangled and blackened corpses were scattered here and there or were in heaps in many cases upon the wounded and dying, whose fearful shrieks of agony filled the air and struck terror into the ■hearts of those who after a time summoned sufficient courage to venture near. Over 100 are said to have been precipitated into the sea by the explosion, ■•and there beneath this hail of blood, wood and iron they met death with the crews of the unfortunate steamer and 'the tugboat which was about to tow diet into the bay. On board the tugboat were many citizens of Santander, who were taking part in the work of rescue. All of them have disappeared forever. A train from the province which was just arriving at the railroad station when the Cabo Machichaco blew up ■experienced the force of the explosion, was wrecked and set fire to and the majority of its passengers were burned to death before any assistance could be 'furnished them.