The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-09-04
HAS COME.
The Excitement Being Over, i Dull,
Lethargic Grief Siezes the
Survivors.
PINE CITY is A HOSPITAL.
HOspltable Citizens Lend Much Aid
Relief Committees Have the
Work Well in Hand.

deluge what? The reaction has ONE at
Hinckley. The excitement which has
buoyed mp 70 many Of the survivors
even in the face of the fact that so
many relatives and friends had perished
in the fiery food has passed away and
dull, lethargic grief has taken its place.
The uninjured refugees at Pine City
and there are several hundred Of them
stand about the street corners i'm little
knots and discuss the incidents of the
catastrophe which struck the town.
The probable death Of this one or this
family and the news of the escape of
another who was at first supposed TO
have persisted are all discussed with the
same benumbed air, expressing neither
sorrow and despair in the one case or
elation and joy in the other. The
night was a very gloomy one.
The hospital patients demanded the
attention of the physicians all night
and the only druggist in Pine City was
kept busy until daylight filing per-
scriptions and supplying lotions, for
most Of the injuries were burns, more
or less serious. By morning all were in
a state of comparative comfort, and
there were none whose hurts were
deemed fatal. Among the good citi-
gems OF Pine City who had opened their
hearts, their homes and their public
buildings to their stricken neighbors,
all was hustle and activity. The town
hall vas kept open all night and coffee
and plain fare served to all corners.
Relief Committee at work.
The court house, the school house and
many a private home was thrown D
Every blanket in town was
called into service. The women md
children were given the better quarters,
and the men stretched ont in rows ON
the floors OF the two public buildings
named. Before daylight the town was
astir. The arrangements for the relief
Of the destitute further up the line,
where hundreds Of men, women and
children r not only homeless, but ab-
solutely without 0 scrap Of food. or bed
ding or extra clothing. were taken up
where they were dropped at midnight,
The appointed committees met and
got their work well In hand. Be
fore z o'clock In the morning
the construction train, loaded with
bridge material for the repair OF the
bridge across the Grindstone river at
Hinckley, came up from Rush City. "A
couple of hundred loaves Of bread and
other light provisions were placed on
board In charge Of Judge J. G. Netha-
way, of Saltwater, representing the re-
lief committee. A party Of laborers 10
dig graves and inter the bodies was col
lected. and the train proceeded into the
burned country.
Provisions Sent by Hand Car.
At Hinckiey the provisions were
loaded onto q handcar manned by Judge
Nethaway and a volunteer rev, and 4
start was made across the shaky bridGe
to Miller, nine miles further north,
where a dozen or more are dead and
three or four times as many hungry and
homeless. From Miller they expect TO
work east TO Sandstone, about Ave miles
across the country ON the Eastern Min.
nesota railroad, where there are be-
tween forty-ive and fifty dead and q
couple of hundred living who were
saved In Kettle river and I'm the great
sandstone quarries.
About ii O'Clock the bridge was sufi-
GENTLY repaired 70 admit the passage OF
q train, and nm engine, freight car and
caboose, with q plentiful supply of food
and q meagre store Of collins, was sent
north.
At Hinckley the visible situation had
mot changed over night. The thirty OK
forty baskets and boxes with their grue-
some contents still lay alongside the
track, where they were placed Sunday
night. No attempt had been made 10
dress or embalm the bodies, and they
were already growing very offensive.
Fortunately Monday was cool and
cloudy, and grateful showers fell at in
tervals during the forenoon, The re-
mains Of the dead, however. were i'm
such q horribly blistered and burned
condition that decomposition rapidly set
in. Undertakers advised that the bodies
be put undes mother earth a. rapidly as
possible.
An Attempts ss Iaentiacatien Fasile.
From .these bodies by the track the
officials Of the Duluth road had re-
moved and carefully preserved every
trinket and article Of jewelry. and even
shoes and scraps Of clothing, placing
those from each body In o recepticle
numbered identically with the caskee,
20 that possibly when the refugees 70
turn they may recognize them and
know whether their friends have bean
inferred.
Out IN the little cemetery o mile east
or town, was q scene which
words ara PowerIess to Dsscribe.
AZ best the little spot would be IL
dreary 90 could wei be imagined. It
ID ON top Or q rough sandy knoll, where
nature Il eaen mt her worst. and ahzo-