The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-03
The Track Gave Way.

creased, for their presence would have
added UNNECESSARILY to the subsequent
confusion.
The Track Gave Way.
About the same hour, the accommo-
idation train on the Hinckley & st.
Cloud branch left for the latter place
with about twenty-five passengers. Its
path lay directly across the path Of the
fire, and the situation speedily became
desperate. The ties were burning, the
rails were warping and the trestles
were sagging under the train. The
Ismoke had increased so the engineer
was helpless. He could not see the
train behind him. Burning trees lay
lacross the track and were being tossed
aside by the engine. Suddenly the
track gave way and the train toppled
and they pressed on to Pokegama sta
ton, few rods ahead. But few feet
in front Of the engine was discovered
a gorge sixty feet wide and forty feet
deep, where the trestle had been burn
ed away. They succeeded in reaching
the clearing about the station and es-
lcaped 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 almost
helpless condition. Egress by the only
means OF transportation that could
hope to distance the swiftly adj
vancing flames was out of the ques-
! ton The men had been fighting the
flre for hours, and the women and chill
dren were in a panic-stricken condi-
uon- Horses were harnessed to bug
gies and wagons. Women and children
were hurriedly loaded. Probably 200 of
them left town on foot or in vehicles,
plunging into the woods north across
the Grindstone river, which skirts the
town on the north. They were literally
fleeing before the pursuing demon.
Fled to the Swamps.
Over the hill that rises beyond the
Grindstone is a swamp and to this
most of the people with teams headed,
but 1t proved no protection. Some aban-
doned their teams and ran into the
lower portions of the swamp, but the
fire sought them out. Not one was left
to tell the tale, and this morning, in a
space of a little more than five acres.
were counted over 100 corpses. There
\ were many families of five, six and
seven, and there they lay, the men gen.
orally little in advance. the mother
surrounded by her little ones, cut off
by the most horrible of deaths.
Nearly all the bodies were nude. the
ire having burned every vestige of
their clothing and blackened and
charred the corpses, rendering many of
them unrecognizable. Those who fled
to the north on foot followed the Du-
luth track, and so rapid was the prog
ress Of the flames that MANY of them
were actually burned as they fed, fall
ing on the right Of way for a distance
OF three miles or more. Nearly thirty
bodies We're recovered along here
Some OF the foremost of the escaping
cltlzens met the Duluth train coming
IN from the north. 1t was due al
Hlnckley at 4:05. Engineer Jim Root
was at the throttle. He stopped the
train and took on board about 125 of
the refugees.
BY this time the woods were blazing
on each SIDE of the track, and as Root
reversed his engine and started back,
the cars scorched 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, and no lives were lost.
The people who remained in Hinckley
Jared the best of all. The Eastern
Minnesota tracks mark the eastern
edge Of the city proper.
Hours in the Water.
Just beyond the edge was a tract OF
land probably embracing at least ter
acres The whole area had been ex.
cavated TO a depth of so or 40 feet, and
in its centre was a stagnant pool OF
rainwater three feet deep. To it filed 2
hundred citizens who were willing tt
trust to its friendly depths. They re.
NAMED four hours while the smoke anG
flames rolled over their heads. They
dashed water over each other an6
covered their heads with wet cloths tc
prevent suffocation and all were saved
Others of the citizens sought refuge
l. in the Grindstone river under the
| hIltr110nfC of tho I,,-;J
and at the foot bridge. The exact mum
her cannot be known, but many escaped
and some were drowned. Mrs MARTYR
Martinson and her four little babes
were taken, drowned, from the water
this morning.
In the meantime, Hinckley was burn
: ing with the utmost rapidity and in &
few hours nothing was left but ruins
The total loss to the city will exceed
S1,OO0,OOO, with a comparative light in
surance.
+ One-FOurth Are Dead.
The situation at Sandstone is ever
more appalling than at Hinckley, ex
cept in point of numbers. OF the 2Ot
residents one-fourth are dead.
Otto Stafferfeldt, of Sandstone, talk.
} ing of the disaster, said that last night
: about $50 flames neared the town and
! the people prepared to leave. The wind
blew like a hurricane, and as the PEG.
pie were getting ready to leave, the fire
closed on all three sides. Not a single
person saved a thing except his clothes
! About $50 went to the river and fifty OF
sixty were burned to death. At 1
o'clock this morning he saw over forty
five bodies, charred and burned, lying
, on every side. The people are destitute
! of everything.
: In addition to forty-five bodies al
Sandstone, there are twenty at Kettle
River Junction. All the settlers in the
vicinity are probably burned to death
There are about eleven homeless fami.
lies still at Mission Creek, but they
have provisions for about twenty-foul
hours.
Brook Park, two miles west of Hinck
/ ley, is burned and there are about u;
people there, many of whom are il
need of immediate relief
Heroes Every One.
From the stories of passengers on tht
! limited train, which was burned neal
{ Hinckley, the entire train crew de
serves to be placed on the roll of honor
: for personal heroism. Engineer Jane!
: Root, of White Bear, heads the list HI
: was badly burned and almost blinded
and fell from his seat unconscious i'm.
mediately on getting out of the fires.
. When about two miles north Of
: Hinckley, Root first discovered the
fires, which had been raging On botf
: sides of the track, were racing him fol
his life and the lives of his passengers
: Cinders were flying in every direction
, and the smoke was so dense it wa.
; well-nigh impossible to see beyond The
, cab windows even with the aid of the
. powerful headlight. He thought to out