The morning call., 1894-09-03
DESTRUCTION OF HINCKLEY.
After the Flames Appeared Many
Residents Escaped on Trains.

Residents Escaped on Trains.
ST. PAUL, Mimi, Sept. 2.-The walls
Of the schoOlhOuse, the iron fence about
the town hall property. the bank vault
and one absolutely uninjured outhouse is
all that is left to mark the site of Hinck-
lev, where yesterday stood a score Of
buildings and dozen times as many
dwelling houses.
The story Of the catastrophe is a short
one. The town was built of wood. The
schoOlhouse, erected last year al a cost of
S10,000 and half of the Eastern Mime
sofa Railway rOundhOuse were the only
brick structures in the city. BY one of
those peculiar freaks for which there is no
accounting. the roundhouse and water
tank, on the southwestern edge of the
town. almost in the woods, escaped the
flames. a Circumstance the clore remark
bic from the fact that it stood directly in
the path of the flames. which seem to have
jumped it as cleanly as If playing leap
frog. All yesterday forenoon the towns
people were apprehensive The fire kept
advancing, famed by the wind. which was
blowing gale About IL o'clock the fire
company got out its engine and laid an
1S00-foot line of Sc to the southern OUT
skirts of the town.
The hose was too short for the measure
of protection desired, and a telegram was
sent to Rush City for more. One hundred
feet was sent, but it never reached
Hinckley.
About o'clock In the afternoon the fire
literally jumped into the town. 1t did not
eat its way along, devouring everything in
its path, but came in huge leaps, as if to
take everything before it, 1t appeared as
IL 1t was forced along By cyclones of its
own generation. The intense heat would
develop a vertable whirlwind of fame that
carried huge blazing frebrands high in the
air and. carrying them forward for from
forty to eighty rods, let them fall and begin
the work of devastation anew.
The fire first struck HinckIey on the
east side of the Duluth track, aud the
brave fre-fghters for the first time gave
I'D the unequal battle, and already toe late.
in many instances, turned their attention
TO their personal safety. The Eastern
Minnesota train from the south had just
come in. and the pauic-stricken residents
looked to it for safety. A number of box
cars were couple on, and filled and covered
with men, women and children. Some
were bareheaded and some were coatless.
cious Of their portable possessions; fami-
lies were separated, and in all there was a
motley crowd of about 400 or more people.
The train pulled out just ahead of the fire
and succeeded in ultimately reaching Du-
luth. This circumstance. while fortunate
in negree that cannot be estimated, has
made the confusion greater for 1t Is not
known who escaped in this way. and many
safety. Had not this number of people.
largely women and children, left the
doomed city when they did, the loss Of life
would have been increased, for their pres
ence would have added inmeasurably to
the subsequent confusion.
About the same hour the accommods-
ton train on the Hinckley and st. Cloud
branch left for the latter place with about
twenty five passengers. Its path lay
directly across the path of the fire, and
their situation speedily became desperate.
The ties were burning. the rails were
warping and the trestles were sagging
under the train. The smoke had increased
so that the engineer was helpless. He
could not see the train behind him Burn
ing trees lay across the track, and were
being tossed aside by the engine. Sud-
denly the track gave way and the train
toppled eff to one side. No one was in
jured and they pressed Oh to Pokegama
station, few rods ahead. But few fest
In front Of the engine was discovered a
gorge sixty feet wide and forty feet deep,
where the trestle had been burned away.
They succeeded In reaching the clearing
about the station and escaped with a few
burns and bruises. There were burned
along the track, however, four or five
people.
The people who were left in the city
were IN what seemed TO be an aImo st help
less condition. Egress by the only means
OF transportation that could hope To dis
tanee the swiftly advancing flames was
out OF the question. The men had been
hghilng the fire for hours, and the women
ard children were in a panic-stricken con-
dltlon. Horses were harnessed to bugeies
and wagons. Women and children wera
hurriedly loaded. Probably 200 of them
left town on foot or in vehicles. plnnpinp
into the woods across the Grindstone
River, which skirts the town on the north
They were literally fleeing before the
pursuing demon.
over the hill that rises beyond the Grind
stone River IS a swamp, and to this most
Oh the people with teams headed. but il
proved no protection. Some abandoned
their teams and ran into the lower por-
tions Of the swamp. but the fire sought
them out Not one was left to tell the
tale, and this morning in space of little
more than five acres were counted over 100
corpses. There were many families of
five, six and seven, and there they Law. the
men generally a little in advance. the
mothers surrounded by their little ones.
cut off by the most horrible of deaths.
Nearly all the bodies were nude, the fire
having burned every vestige of their
clothing and blackened and charred many
OF the eorpses, rendering many OF them
unrecognizable. Those who fled to the
north ON foot followed the Duluth track,
and SO rapid was the progress OF the
flames that many of them were actually
burned as they fled. falling on the right of
way for distance of three miles or more. |
Nearly thirty bodies were recovered along |
here.
Some of the foremost Of the escaping |
citizens met the Duluth train coming in ]