The record-union., 1894-09-03

them were drowned. Mrs. Martinson
and her four little babes were drowned.
In the meantime Hinckley was burn
Ing with the utmost rapidity, and in a
/ few hours nothing was left but ruins
The total loss TO the city will exceed
! s., 100000, with comparatively small in
/ surance.
| The situation at Sandstone is even
more appalling than at Hinckiey. OF
/ the 400 residents OF that place one-fourth
! of them are dead.
! Otto Stafferfeldt of Sandstone talking
of the disaster, said that last night about
| $50 flames neared the town and the peo-
! pie prepared to leave. The wind blew
ike hurricane, and as the people were
| getting ready TO leave the fire closed in
on three sides. Not a single person
saved thing except his clothes. About
LOO went to the river and fifty or sixty
| were burned to death. At 4 O'Clock this
morning he saw over forty-fve bodies,
charred and burned, lying on every side.
The people are destitute of everything.
IN addition to the forty-five bodies at
Sandstone there are twenty at Kettle
River junction. All the settlers in the
vicinity are probably burned to death.
There are about eleven homeless families
IN MISSION Creek, but they have provis-
ions for twenty-four hours.
Brook Park, two miles west of Hinck-
ley, is burned, and there are about I25
OF immediate relief.
From the stories of passengers on the
limited train which was burned near
Hlnckley, the entire train crew deserve
to be placed on the roll of honor for per-
sonal heroism. Engineer James Root of
w hlte Bear heads the list. He was badly
burned and almost blinded and fell from
bis seat unconscious Immediately on get
ting out of the fires. When about two
miles north OF Hinckley Root first dis
covered that the fires, which had been
raging on both sides of the track, were
racing him for his life. and the
lives OF his passengers. Cinders were
lying In every direction, and the smoke
was so dense that 1t was we'll nigh inn
possible TO see beyond the cab window,
even with the aid of a powerful head
light. lie sought to outrun the flames,
which were bearing down on him at a
sixty-mile gait. When about mile and
d half from Hinckley he discovered that
the fire was too quick for him, and there
1t caught the train, which was literally
surrounded by flames. The air was
sitting, and the clothes of both engineer
aud hremen caught fire. Fireman Nc
Gowan leaped into the water tank and
then selZlng bucket, dashed the water
several times over the burning engineer.
Root steadily kept at his post, although
hardly able to sit up. In the meantime
nothing could be seen, but a roaring, like
that OF tornado, came from all sides.
The shrleks OF women and children, as
well as the terrified shouts of the men,
| increased this terrible feeling, aroused
| by the appearance of the flames on every
| hand. Several of the male passengers,
| too terrified for further self-control.
leaped headlong through broken win
dows, and were swallowed up in the
| flames of the side. Others, seeing this
act, quickly followed. and for the next
ten minutes dozen men disappeared in
| the flames in like manner. The
women, whose terror had been pitifui
few minutes before now came heroically
| to the help of the trainmen in endeavor-
ing to sooth the frightened children.
Engineer Root saw there was no outlet
| apparently for his train ahead, and con-
cluded to turn back through the distance
already burned over rather than en-
counter possibly greater perils before to-
morrow. This morning a relief train on
the north brought them to this city. The
relief train carried supply of hand-cars
which were used in picking up the bodies
along the track. Engineer Root was at
his nome tonight, too badly injured to
| be interviewed. lie was severely cut by
the glass, but his worst injuries were
| from inhaling the hot air and smoke.
AS night closed the people began to
come out from their places and made
! their way over the hot embers of their
burned city. They were absolutely
daZed by the catastrophe and the night
was spent in an endeavor to find rela-
tives. The fire had spent itself and the
air was filled with smoke. Two huge
heaps of coal, which marked the location
/ of the Duluth coal sheds, were blazing.
and by the fitful light people wandered
about picking out the places where but
SIX hours before their happy homes had
stood. The fact that SO many had es-
/ capped by train added to the anxiety OF
| friends and relatives who were not to be
found, while it furnished at the same
| time basis for the hope of their safety.
! One of the saddest features of the calam-
] ity is the impossibility of Identification
| in such large proportion OF cases. The
ninety-six bodies brought into this point
were examined by many OF the surviv-
ing residents of Hinckley and but four
could be identified-Charles Anderson,
| Alexander Benson, Dennis Riley and
| Mrs. William Ginder. The remainder
will have to be buried together. In the
| it seemed impossible otherwise under
| the circumstances, due regard was not
| paid to proper preservation of articles
| found on The bodies and the last chance
| of identification was lost. Those who
brought in the bodies from the swamp
report that there are still thirty-three
| bodies out there which cannot be brought
until morning.
| In the woods north of town was found
| a team of gray horses, harnessed to the
remains of burned wagon. Under the
| wagon were the bodies of woman and
three children, but the horses were not
! harmed in the least and were brought
back to town. The body of Jim Bean
was found in the swamp under the
! wagon. There were only a few frag-
ments of Beams body unburned, but he
was identified. Bean was one of the best
lumbermen of Western Wisconsin.
Pokegama Lake, six miles east of
| Hinckley, on the st. Cloud branch, was
| wiped out as clean as the other towns. 1t
is said about twenty lives were lost at
! that point.
The name Of Engineer Root, the hero
of the Duluth limited, is blessed on ali
sides, and Hinckley people say that he
shall wear diamonds as long as they live.
| Poor Sullivan, the conductor of the train,
has temporarily lost his reason, and was
taken back TO Duluth. He rendered
noble service in disembarking the pas
| sengers. throwing one little girl through
the car window. He rouses at intervals
| TO say: II threw the little girl through
the window. Did / do right? Does any
one blame meY' And then he relapses
! into merciful unconSciouSnesS.
There is little probability OF Hinckley
| ever being rebuilt to its former prosper
Gus proportions. The Bremen Lumber
| Company is not expected to rebuild its
| plant and without an enterprise of this
kind there is no future for Hlnckley ex-
cept as a junction point.
The total loss of life will never be def
niIeIy known. There were scattered
| through the woods settlers clearings aud
| lumber camps with their watchmen and
many people were undoubtedly burned
whose bodies were completely DESTROYED
and never will be found.
/ Do,