The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-09-03

gineer was helpless He could not So the
train behind him. Burning trees lay across
the track and were being tossed aside by
the engine. Suddenly the track gave way
and the train toppled over to one side.
No one was injured. and the people pressed
on to Pokegama station, few rods ahead.
But few feet in front of the engine was
discovered gorge sixty feet wide and
forty feet deep. where a trestle had been
burned away. The people succeeded in
reaching the clearing about the station and
escaped with a few burns and bruises.
There were burned along the track. how
ever, four or five. including Dr. Kelcer. OF
New Brighton, who had come to look after
his brother.
FLED INTO THE ARMS OF DEATH.
The people who were left in the city were
In what seemed to be an almost hope
less condition. Egress by the only means
of transportation that could hope to dis
tance the swiftly advancing flames was
out of the question. The men had been
fighting the fire for hours, and the women
and children were in a panic-stricken con-
dition. Many of them were of the more
ignorant Of the population, for very large
percentage of the people who got out on the
train were of the more intelligent class.
Horses were harnessed to buggies and
wagons. Women and children were hur-
riedly loaded. In some cases attempts
were made to carry off household goods.
but in most instances the people had no
thought except to save their lives.
Probably two hundred left town on foot
or in vehicles, plunging into the woods to
the north across the Grindstone river
which skirts the town on tie north. They
were literally fleeing before the pursuing
fire. Over the hill that rises beyond the
Grindstcne is swamp and to this most of
the people with teams headed, but k proved
no protection. The fire gave them no op-
portunity to go further. Some abandoned
their teams and ran into the lower por-
tions Of the marsh, but the fire sought
them out. Not one was left to tell the tale.
and this morning, in a space of little more
one hundred and thirty corpses. There
were many families Of five, six and sever,
and there they lay, the men generally
little in advance the mother surrounded
by her little ones, cut off by the most hor-
rible Of deaths. Nearly all the bodies were
nude, the fire having burned every yes
tige of their clothing and blackened and
charred many of the corpses beyond rec
ognition and where whole families were
wiped out. they were and some Of the
bodies completely incnerated. Identification
| is absolutely out of the question.
Those who fled to the north on foot fol-
lowed the Duluth track and so rapid uzss
the progress of the flames that many of
them We're actually burned as they ran.
| falling on the right Of way for distance
| of three miles more. Nearly thirty
| bodies were recovered along the tracks.
| Some of the foremost of the fleeing citi-
| zens met the Duluth train coming in from
| the north 1t was due at Hinckley at 4:05.
| Engineer James Root was at the throttle.
| He stopped the train and took on board
| about 125 of the refugees, who crowded
into the train, completely filling it, for it
had a passenger list almost as large as
the number of refugees. BY this time
| the woods were blazing on each side Of the
| track and as he reversed his engine and
cracked in the heat. Root ran the train
back about three miles to Skunk lake, and
the people escaped from the burning cars
| to the water. No lives were lost, either
| Of passengers or refugees.
SAVED BY A GRAVEL PIT
The people who remained in Hinck1ey
| Jared the best of ALL The Eastern Minre-
sofa tracks mark the EASTERN edge of the
city proper. Just beyond the road owns a
| tract Of land, probably embracing ten
acres. 1t was purchased for a gravel pit
to furnish material for filling up the ap-
| proach to the companys bridge across the
Grindstone and at other points on it's line
| To the fact that it had been used for this
| purpose. almost to it's exhaustion, about
hundred people their lives. The whole
area indicated has been excavated to
| depth of from thirty to forty feet. There
was a stagnant pool Of rain water in the
| center. three feet in its greatest depth To
this pit fled those Of the citizens who were
| willing to trust to it's friendly depths
| There were probably one hundred Of them
and in addition to the human
| beings quite a number Of domes-
tic animals-horses, cows, oxen pigs,
chickens. etc.-sought safety there
1t was really the safest place about Hinck-
ley. Three four hundred trunks which
were rolled only half way down the slop-
ing bank passed through the fire unscathed
The people went in there as the Eastern
train pulled ont a few minutes after 4
O'Clock, and there they remained while
the smoke and flames from the burning
city rolled over their heads. They covered
their heads with wet cloths to prevent suf-
location One unknown man succumbed to
the smoke or to the terrible strain and
fell in the water and was drowned. So
far as known to-day this was the only
tragedy Of the gravel pit. Others of the
citizens sought refuge in Grindstone river