The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-09-05
HEARTRENDING SCENES.
Streets Thronged with People search
ing for Their Loved Ones.

tended with such loss Of life as that
brought on by the fire which wiped out
! Hinckley, Mission Creek, Sandstone,
! Sandstone Junction. Pokegama and the
| other settlements in that vicinity. \
| conservative estimate places the loss OF
| life at not less than 35O while many
| others have sustained serious injuries
and unknown others are among the miss
ing. To this horror OF death in its most
/ horrible form must be added the utter
desolation and destitution that has come
upon thousands of others whose all has
been swept away in the face of impend-
ing winter.
There is peculiar horror about the
fatality in the admitted impossibility of
identification in a very large proportion
of the deaths.
The generous instincts Of generous
| people have been aroused and adequate
measures Of relief are now under way.
! St. Paul responded nobly TO the call for
assistance published In yesterday morn
! ings Pioneer Press, and when, at 6:5O
! o'clock this afternoon, the train from st:
| Paul bearing the members or the rellet
! committee and their generous donations
arrived at Pine City the people were
more than grateful for the quick re-
| spOnse. st. Paul sent tents, food and
money on the first train. without walt
/ ing for the Intervention of committees TO
see what was needed. The people or Pine
| City were very active and all day long
| trains run from this place TO near Hinck-
| ley, bringing the living to Pine CITY,
| where the people did everything in their
| power TO relieve distress. The horrible
visitation of death was not without
| features of notable heroism, which tighten
| up the gloomiest page of Minnesota }
! history that has ever been written. No
| one seemed to have first thought Tor
himself. and many Of the lives saved
| were those Of people who were utterly
unable 10 take care Of themselves.
Pine City has turned the skating rink
! and court house, as well as many pri-
| Vate houses, into hospitals, where fifty
sufferers are receiving medical attend
/ ance and careful nursing The town hall
! is used as an eating house, where all
| the homeless men, women and children
/ are substantially fed. The school house,
! church and hotel besides some stores,
| are used 10 shelter them by night.
whichever way the eye turns heart
| rending scenes are witnessed. The nos
pitals and streets are thronged with
| people seeking their missing loved ones
Pathetic Scenes at the Depot.
As soon as each train comes in from
the north there is a frenzied rush of
pallid inquirers, some OF whom are
| Fathers seek wives and children; Sis
! ters their brothers; youths their moth
/ ers, and occasionally are made TO re-
! joice by finding tenn. Few families are
| complete and the torture of anxiety and
| despair is driving some people out of
! their senses. A man going insane; a
1 patient groaning life away; a woman
| giving premature birth a heap of Gin
! ders representing a human fOrm-these
are few of the incidents Of the great
| forest fire Of 1894
No trains are running west of Hinck-
| ley, and it is impossible TO get accurate
| information. Carlton. Rutledge and
! other towns in the north are reported
| burned TO the ground. The Eastern Min
| nesota is gutted out and the Omaha has
! Jared little better. The Eastern Mime
| sofa train from Hinckley for St. Paul
| at O'Clock. the limited on Sunday took
| about five hundred people to Duluth. all
| OF whom are reported all right. This
! train got over the bridges a few min
| utes before they were burned.
At Pine Town. three miles east of Pine
! City, sOuthof the Snake river and west
| of the ST. CrOiX. a fearful fire is blazing
and sweeping everything before 1t. In
| the afternoon this fire was at least twelve
| miles square. but as the wind has gone
| down considerably, it is hoped its course
| will be checked. There are fires north
| of Snake river. also in a heavy timber
! section. which is sparsely settled.
As for loss of property, it is impossible
| TO make even an approximation but It
! certainly runs up into the millions, two
| or three million of dollars worth Of
! property between Hinckley and Duluth
| having been reduced TO ashes and Gin
| ders. The clean-out has been 50 COM
| plete that many people have no ambition
| left to rebuild new homes on top Of their
! ruins. Most Of them will scatter to all
! parts OF the country to find their friends
as soon as they can
Noise Like n Cyclone.
A party Of Hinckley people, consisting
| of Nj L. E,smore. of the Brennan Lum-
Der company; Professor Collins. of the
| Hinckley schools, and others was fish
| ing at Grindstone lake. They were out
in a skiff. but were warned of the ap-
proach of the fire by the noise, which
was like that of a cyclone. They ran
| into the shore at the southwest end Of
| the lake and warned a lot of settlers
! who we're back in the woods, getting
| together a party of about eighteen down
| by the lake. The fire struck the lake at
! their end, ran along the shore about
| half a mile. and then jumped the lake
| in a diagonal direction at a point where
| Ii was not less than mile across.
Mr. Elsmore says the fire went across
| that district in two bursts of flames with
| lightning rapidity. This illustrates as
Wen as any lnlIS the Way IN Wnlcn Ine
| fire progressed. At the other end Of the
| lake was lumber camp where the men
| had a batteau. Between twenty and
| thirty settlers were rescued in this boat
On the bodies found along the Duluth
| track were four watches, all of which
| stopped at 4:3O, indicating the time when
! death overlook their pOssessors.
| The searching party went up the
Duluth track, scared off a large black
| bear which was shifting about the bodies
having apparently come through the fire
uninjured
One of the identified bodies, that Of a
woman, wore ring on which was en-
| graved "W. b. G.. TO c. l.. NJ" Ezra
| Ricketson of Minneapolis, who lives in
| Polk-st., was visiting his son William
| at Hinckley. He was about seventy
years old and when the fire came his son
put him in a wal agon and told the driver
| TO take him to the sand pit. For some
| reason he failed to do so and the old
| man perished. The son. with his aged
mother his wife and two children found
safe refuge in the sand pit.
The body Of Jim Bean, the Brennan
| lumber company foreman, was found in
| the swamp under a wagon. The wagon
] had struck a stump and the team broke
| away There were only few fragments
| of Beams body unburned, but he was
| identified by some keys. Bean was one
| of the best known lumbermen of west
| ern Wisconsin, where he was employed
| for many years before coming to Hinck-
| ley four years ago.
Manager H. A Tuttle of the North
American telegraph company put in two
| instruments in the Pine City Office and
-,