EXPLOSION KILLS 2, HURTS 40.
Mount Pulaski, Ill. (UPI) - A tank car explosion that killed two men and
injured 40 others has turned Mount Pulaski into a near "ghost town."
Every window in town was broken as shock waves reverberated from the
blast late Sunday. Winds fanned the flames which swept to 10 other
freight cars and left the Illinois Central Railroad switching yards a
scene of destruction.
Civil Defense authorities said at least 1,000 residents were forced to
spend the night elsewhere, most of them in nearby Lincoln, in the wake
of the explosion that made most homes unlivable.
Authorities said that as near as could be determined the railroad tank
car was carrying a volatile solvent which was touched off during a
switching operation.
Killed were railroad crewmen ROBERT GLOVER and JACK GRIFFIN, both of
Mattoon, Ill.
As a column of residents moved away Sunday night, one looked back at the
near-deserted village and said "this place looks like a ghost town now."
Herald and News Klamath Falls Oregon 1958-06-02
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