The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-04
SOlJL-SICKENInG SCENES.

and a meagre store of collins, was sent
north. At Hinckley, the visible situa-
ton had not materially improved over
night. Thirty o. forty baskets and
lay along the track where they were
placed last night No attempt had been
made to dress or embalm the bodies,
and they were already growing offen-
sive. Fortunately the day was cool and
cloudy, and grateful showers fell at in
tervals during the forenoon.
Words Are PowerIess.
Undertaken j. D. Donnelly, of ST.
Paul, advised that the bodies be put
Iunder the earth as rapidly as possible.
Every attempt at Identification had
been exhausted. Out in the little Gem
etery, mile east of town, was scene
which words are absolutely powerless
Ito describe At best, the little spot
would be dreary, as could be we'll I'M
tagined. There were only few little
sandy, unsodded mounds before. Now,
with blackened fire, SCARED stumps and
fallen trunks of trees all about it, it
presented an appearance of desolation
lhard to describe.
! In the center, in an i1discriminate
heap, lay more than ninety corpses-
men, women and little children; some
Ibruned to a crisp, others only Drowned
lby heat, and none with fragments of
lclothing larger than a mans hand con-
cealing their awful nakedness. Some
were mere trunks, eNtremities having
jbeen burned off. From cracked abdo-
mems, intestines were protruding, skulls
were burned and brains escaping, and
lall corpses were twisted and cramped.
A force of men was quickly at work
digging a shallow trench. The sandy
soil was as hard as flint. 1t had been
baked to crust by weeks of drouth
and almost solidified by the fire. Work
progressed slowly. Off in a corner of
the clearing, smaller graves were being
ldug for Mrs. William Grisinger and her
two baby girls-Caroline aged 6, and
: Mabel, aged 5. The husband and faith
er had recognized them in the CHASTITY
heap.
A Solitary Survivor.
$ Another grave was for the Best
= family, whose numbers make their de-
struction notable even at this time of
death. John Best, jr., was digging the
pit, with the friendly assistance of two
Ineighbors. Laid in a row, decently
lowered, were the bodies of John Best,
$ ST., Mrs. Best, Fred Best aged %, Ber-
tina aged II, Mrs. Annie Wieget, mar
Iried daughter, and her 3-year-old
, daughter Minnie; Mrs Annie Truman.
, of Diamond Bluff, Wis, a visitor, aged
26, and Victor Best, aged s. Two other
sons George, aged %, and Willie, aged
r ,21.) are certainly dead. And of this
whole family Of three generations only
, the sorrowing gravedigger and his wife
and child, who took refuge in dug
out, are left. The only other corpses
l recognized were Charles Anderson,
e cashier of the bank, and Mrs. William
lGinder and her daughter, Winifred.
aged 6. Enough rough boxes were
knocked together to contain most of
the bodies, and they We're rapidly laid
away under the sand, but not before
iother bodies began to come in. In a
swamp across the Grindstone, where
these corpSeS were found yesterday
were about thirty-f1ve others, which
were brought in this morning making
the total upwards of 100 dead in space
of four or five acres.
Down near the river was found the
body of Thomas Dunn, operator at
Hinckley. Dunn stuck to the key until
the depot was burning over his head.
Up the st. Paul and Duluth right-of-
way were found three or four more
bodies. Among those who persisted
north of the town was E. Rickettson.
. of Minneapolis, who was here visiting
his son. He was out in a wagon with
Dave Kane, of Rock Creek, also a Wis
. itor here, and both persisted, though
their horses escaped.
DesoIatfon Rarely Seen.
The busiest point at Hinckley al noon
, was the Associated Press telegraph of
| it .sufficed to serve the public with the
only presS reports out of Hinckley today.
The wires were brought down to burned
stump of a pole. A large dry goods box
, nv furnished the with q
desk; cracker box made him a, comfort
able seat. A burned railroad spike held
down The copy from the brisk breeze. A
rough board, one end resting on the
operators table and the other on a. milk
can, furnished the Associated Press cor
respondent his desk. and his seat was a
beer keg. Here, under these circum-
stances, was prepared and sent the story
of the day in this stricken town. An oc-
casional shower blurred the copy, put il
; was rapidly fed to the eager wire despite
the discomforts of the occasion.
: The Associated Press correspondent
took. a five mile tramp out through the
woods to the north of town this morning,
through a scene of desoation which rare
ly falls before the eye of man. The
is but enc settlers house standing within
a known radius of miles. 1t is that OF
Mile Bean on the edge of the river, three
miles east of town. 1t was a new house
and very substantial. Bean and another
neighbor fought the fire until they had tc
aba1don it They put the women +b ag9
D heads with cloths, kept wet by dashine
water over them, and when the fire had
passed they came out unhurt and were
. much surprised to find the building stand
ing. This morning, when the Associated
Press correspondent entered the clearing,
} house dog barked savagely and the
ROSTERS crowed as loudly as If they had
! not come within an ace of death.
Many Are "UnIxnown.v
The hand car party which went north
this morning has just returned. 1t met
, the Duluth construction train eight miles
up the track with word that the city OF
Duluth had furnished the necessary relief
ingly turned back and on the way in To-
Gated eleven bodies, swelling the total OF
those found along the Duluth tracks be-
: tween Hinckley and Skunk lake to about
Otto Rowley. of Duluth, freight agent OF
the Duluth & Winnipeg. He was a pas
senger On the limited south on Saturday
, and had left the main body of refugees
and passengers, running backward to the
lake. His BODY was identified by his
name on his collar.
On another body, evidently that of an
, other passenger, was found a letter adj
dressed to Israel Schrullstein, Chicago
and a charred business card bearing the
: same name. Three others of the bodies
were probably those of passengers on the
, Inflated train. Another was a young
man, a splendid specimen of physical
manhood, and from his clothing and high
laced boots apparently a prospector or
cruiser. The other five were the family
of settler named John Robinson. Above
Skunk lake the work train reported
, twelve bodies on the right of way, pre-
; sumably settlers.
The Most SorrowfuI Feature.
e In retrospection, the most sorrowful
faq fl1rQ of the terrible fof a1;