Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-09-05

this state during the last t~hirty-six hours.
In htinckley, Sandstone, Pokegama,
Sandstone Junction, Skunk Lake and
Mission Greek there are 800 known dead.
In addition several hundred are missing,
while from $50 to 200 people were scat
tered on farms throughout the district
burned over. Estimates of the number
Of lives lost are made rs follows:
HinckIey ........ zoo Skunk Lake.. 90
Sandstone Jet. % Miscellaneous .. 30
Sandstone ...... 46 49,
The story Of the catastrophe which
wiped out the material possessions that
had made Hinckley a busy, prosperous
little city is a short one. The town was
built of wood.
All yesterday forenoon the townspeOple
were ap~prehensive. The smoke rolling
up from the south told a story unmistak-
ably plain to those accustomed to q
wooded country. The fire kept advancing,
famed by the wind which was blowing a
gale. About II o'clock the fire company
got out its engine and laid out an 1900
foot line Of hose to the southern outskirts
of the town. The hose was all too short
for the measure of protection desired and
a telegram was sent to Rush City for
more. Five hundred feet was sent, but 1t
never reached Hinckley.
The main part of the village lies in
the north fork made by the crossing OF
the Duluth and Eastern tracks, the lat
ter to the east and the former on the
west. On the west side of the Duluth
tracks were a few small houses belonging
to the railway employees. About ) O'Clock
in the afternoon the fire literally jumped
into the town. 1t is described by those
who witnessed its onward progress at
Hinckley and elsewhere as if it were
forced along by cyclones of its own gen
Grafton. The intense heat would develop
a veritable whirlwind of fame that act
uaIly twisted off poplar trees several
inches in thickness and carried huge blaz-
ing frebrands high in the air, and carry
ing them forward for from forty to
eighty rods. there to fail and begin the
work Of devastation anew.
The fire first struck Hinckley on the
east side Of the Duluth track. and the
brave f~re-fghters for the first time gave
up the unequal battle and already too late
in many instances, turning their attention
to their personal safety. The Eastern
Minnesota train from the south had just
come in and the people of the panic
stricken city focked to it for safety. 4
number of box cars were coupled on and
filed and covered with men. women and
children. In all there was a motley crowd
of about 4J0 or more people. The train
pulled out Just ahead of the fire and sue
ceeGed in ultimately reaching Duluth.
About the same hour the accommodation
train on the Hinckley q St. Cloud branch
left for the latter place with about
twenty-five passengers, Its path lay di-
rectly 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.
Burning trees lay across the track and
were being tossed aside 10y the engine.
Suddenly the track gave way and the
train toppled over to one side. No one
was injured and they pressed on to Poke
CANA station, a few rods ahead. But a
few feet IN front of the engine was dis
covered a gorge sixty feet wide and forty
feet deep, where the trestle had been
burned away. They succeeded in reach
ing the clearing about the station and es-
capped with a few burns and bruises.
There were burned along the track, how
ever, four or five persons, including DR..
Kelley of New Brighton, who had come
up to look after his brother.
The people who were left in the city
were IN what seemed to be an almost
hopeless condition. Egress by the only
means of transportation that could hope
to distance the swiftly advancing flames
was out of the question. The men had
been fighting the fire for hours and the
women and children We're In q panic
stricken condition. Many of them were
of the more ignorant Of the population,
but a very large percentage of the people
who got out on the Great Northern rail
road were Of the more intelligent class.
Horses were harnessed to buggies and
wagons. Women and children were hur-
riedly loaded.
Probably 200 of them left town on foot
Or il vehicles, %plunging into the woods
to the north across the GTlndStone river,
which skirts the town on the north. They
were literally fleeing before the pursuing
demon Of fire. Over the hill that rises
beyond the Grindstone is a swamp, and
to this most of the people with teams
headed, but ii proved no protection. The
fire gave them no opportunity to go fur
Their. Some abandoned their teams and
ran into the lower portions Of the mOrass,
but the fire sought them out. Not one
was left to tell the tale, and there, in a
space of little more than four or five
acres. were counted over $50 corpses.
There were man. families of five, six and
seven, and there they lay, the men gen
orally q little in advance, the mother sur
rounded by her 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
corpses beyond recognition, and where
whole families were wiped out as they
were and some of the bodies completely
i~ncinerated, Identification is absolutely out
of the question.