The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-09-06
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.
G. ID. O,Brien's Story

G. D. O'Brien's Story.
Hon. 9. ID. O'Brien, Of ST. Paul, who
was a passenger on the Duluth train
{ describes his experience as follows:
when we left Duluth at LOO it was
| very smoky so that we could not see across
the bay to Superior. The wind was south
west and still rising. We saw some fire
| between Duluth and Thompson but moth
ing to- cause alarm. It grew smoker and
smoker, however, until when we reached
Barnum the sun went entirely out Of sight,
although the sky was cloudless. The train
moved cautiously beyond here. At 3 :46, E
fourteen minutes before we reached Hinck-
| ley, 1t became perfectly dark-as black as
| the blacklist midnight The lamps were
/ lighted in the cars and there was absolutely
no reflection of the light outside. I was
then in the smoking room Of the chair
| car. After fourteen minutes, as we APP
/ preached Hinckley, we could see the. tops
! Of the trees dimly We stopped, and as I
| looked down towards the front Of the
train could see the sun was shining and
supposed that we were then through the
worst Of it.. Just then a crowd Of people
/ burst out of the woods on our left. They
came towards the train, and as they
reached the wire fence could see that
the men were dragging the women and
children through it, tearing their clothes
as they did so. They were all making
i
scrambled up the banks to the track and
were taken into the cars. BY this time it
/ had grown suffocatingly hot all about and
we heard heavy roar, and looking out on
the right Of the train, we saw that the
flames were upon us, a mass of fire, moving
and
Twisting Like Cyclone. IS
stepped back g into the car and shut the
{ to move backward, and just as we moved
every window I, in the car fell in. With 4
f SInds e Inc men men dreW down the rubber
ute, and the women tore off the linen COW
erings from the seats, wet them and held
them up. Meantime the train was getting
it was off the track, but it recovered and
went on. BY the time we had got up full
speed we We're out of the fire, but the train
was in flames. We struck gust of smoke
that was cooler, and as both the front and
rear OF our car was on fire the only thing
o. sGe of t. get ent pa 8sy Was as p
"some .one shouted stay in the car, and
some of the women went back and had to
be taken out again. I saw that where we
had gotten off the grass was short and
seemed wet, so that it seemed unlikely that
WITH our faces c to the ground The Inc Of
fire was then 800 or 400 feet away, +
thought l crawled along. on the ground to
what seemed to be a sandy nath or the he1
Of a stream where we lay for while. All
lnls Time me al was 49, q s4-e--c
this time the air was full OF SPARKS anu
fire, and the women's dresses We're catching
fire all the time. The colored porter OF our
car stood with his back to the flames, using
fire estngusher to put out ~ tn the James
and children. He was a brave man. Some
one said that they had seen the CLEAN Of
the train had passed polpd 9oe
my hands and knees till I saw that there
; was water there, and we got the women women
. and children into 1t.
Capt. Gorman's Escape.
r. L. German, president Of the st. Paul
board Of public works, was q Pass engef on u
the, train with his wife. and M. scr, Gorina an
eve had" he said, ''about eighty passcn-
gers on the train, as near as can 2udge,
took od the Of
refugees. making the total number on board
when the train stopped at Skunk LAKE by -.
there Were me not ever Fifty Or sixty at the
swamp You can readily see that there
could not have been very many when they
81 know there We're number who started
north along the track after getting on t a
rection, and we could see 4 lot ahead OF US.
The wind blew such shower Of clnde er
that d pd to eaf me
,, that there was any water there. but thought
; we would be better off on the little opening:
Inc COlOreQ porter, JOuu DldlI,- wa Lie IL 81
: to tell us about the water and he urged us
to go to it. Mrs. German was so overcome
she could hardly reach it, and when she
rible night as we spent there is beyond the
power. Of man to describe $,
sShort as was the time 1t took to run the
8 strain back it is mystery how it got
through for the sea of flames and flying
cinders through which we ran was simply
appalling. It was just like being hurled
through a roaring furnace. I am at a loss
to understand how it was that the train was
not RI n back sooner, for it lad become Sc
dark almost an hour before that the lamps
had to be lighted in the coaches. 1t was as
dark as 1t co.l]d be at midnight. / am sat
| istied the train would have continued on
> to Hinckley had it not been for the refu.
gees, and probably every one aboard would
have been burned to death or the whole
train hurled thu ough the bridge.
ssl'Jo much can not be said in praise Cd
those who disrega rded their own sufferings
Z and applied tt enNelves to the work OF car.
i ing for others. E
ciaily active, as was also DR.. Harry O'Brien,
though the latter was very Ill himself. 1t Is
J to them. principally that Mrs. b.. n. Saun-
| ders and her five children owe their lives.
e great credit. as do the whole train crew, for
the heroic interest taken in all the passen.
T gers"
SAVED A LITTLE GIRL.
Albert w. speyer Badly Buried While
Rescuing a Child.
George e. Schll:lbel the st. Paul insur-