St. Clair County
Remnants Of The Past

Appleton Citiy Tribune
15 September 1908

Disastrous Explosion.
Dynamite Wrecks Windsor, Mo.
Depot and Injuries a Score or More Persons.
Seven Persons Killed.

A terrific explosion which caused the immediate death of seven persons, the injury of a score or more others and considerable property loss occurred at the M.K.&T. depot at Windsor, MO., about 10:00 Tuesday morning.
At the time of the explosion the depot platform was filled with people awaiting the arrival of the southbound local passenger train which was an hour late and this accounts for the large number of wounded persons. Katy train No. 511, a local freight, stopped at the station to unload freight consigned to Windsor merchants. The car containing consignments for Windsor and in which were the boxes of dynamite, was stopped at the south end of the Windsor depot. Conductor Heishberger opened the door of the car when Frank Yates, the Katy station agent, and James McCabe, a train brakeman, entered the car to unload the Windsor freight.
The two men had barely commenced assorting packages when the explosion occurred. The two men were blown into fragments, and the car torn into pieces and set on fire.
Three cars standing near were overturned and wrecked, harness torn from horses, the windows of the station shattered and the building badly damaged. Many of the waiting passengers on the platform were injured by flying timbers from the demolished car.