St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-09-03

to show that thriving town Of about
LOCO in habiIants stood there but TIVE
short days ego. BY some miraculous
piece OF good fortune the round house
OF the Eastern Minnesota railway es-
capped, and In that building the wounded
are cared for. and afterwards taken to
Pine City.
AT Mission Creek almost everything
was destroyed, but no lives were lost, as
the people took refuge in a large potato
patch.
AT Htnckley both the saw and
planning mills were burned, and the
bridges OF the Eastern Minnesota aud
Great Northern Railway companies
while the ST. Paul e Duluth bridge,
being an iron one. only the ties were
destroyed. fhe large head dam of the
Brennan Lumber company, on the
Grlhost0ne river, was completely de-
struyed, letting the water dawn Tie
river,
DrONning Many People.
A large gravel pit from which gravel
had been taken for construction work
on the Eastern Minnesota railway, and
which now contains about three or four
feet OF water, was place Of refuge
the cattle. Had it not been for
this pit and for Skunk lake. in which
the frenZied women with their children
waliowed in the mud and water, the
loss of life would have been much
greater at this point. This muddy little
lake proved to be refuge for the pas
sengers on the doomed train, Engine
No. 4, which left Duluth at l:55 on
Saturday. When within one mile Of
Hinckley the engineer reversed the
engine, as the fire was then half mile
behind them, SO that the passengers
might take refuge in the lake.
"Tle cOnIuct of jim Root, the engi-
neer, was the most heroic l ever saw
and under the most dreadful circum-
stances hope it will ever be my mis-
fortune to Witness" said Mr.. Dunk.
"He
stood at the Throttle
OF his engine SO badly injured that he
tainted away once, and So determined
was he to assist the halt-craZed people
along the line that he stopped several
times, when by going right along he
might have saved his train. Great
trouble was experienced by Conductor
Sullivan in keeping people from jump
ing out of the windows, and two China
men who succeeded in doing SO are now
the victims of their rash act. In start
ing out Oh the expedition we coupled
together the several hand cars that
were to be found. and when we came to
the burned bridges we were Obliged to
carry the cars one by enc over the
trestle work. The ladies of Pine City
sent lots of provisions along with US,
including beef. milk and some whisky
for the wounded and dying. In some
places we were Obliged to send man
ahead to move the bodies of the track.
as 1t was impossible to do anything at
all with the dead when so many
wounded claimed our attention. We
witnessed sights too frightful to be i'm
agined on that trip.
Whole Families Burned,
and some with just their clothes burned
from the bodies, where the fire had
swept by more quickly. Some were
lying face downward in the sand and
others in praying attitudes. The pas
sengers of the train who were found in
Skunk lake we placed OH the imprO-
vised train and took them back to
Hinckley. aud in some cases we were
obliged to cover the faces OF the ladies.
as by this time the new day was break
ing and the sights were too CHASTITY to
look at.
IL. S. Miller and the surgeon who
had come up with his relief party cared
for the wounded at Hlnckley, and great
credit is due him for the way he &C
complished what he undertook to do"
1t is reported that on pieca of prairie
country lying between the Eastern Min
nesota and the st. Paul & Duluth tracks
there are over 100 bodies of people who
took refuge at that place, but persisted.
This report. however, lacks cOrrObo-
ration.
The Minnesota Fuel Supply company
lost an immense amount of fuel. which
included large quantity of slabs.
R. c. Saunders, county attorney Of
Rice county; Nj. c. Collins. principal of
the Hlnckley Grammar school, and NJ.
C. Ellesmore, yard superintendent of
the Brennan Lumber company,had gone
fishing OH the Grindstone lake. and have
NOT been heard from. The Great North
ern and St. Paul s. Duluth roads lost
great many freight cars, as this is
division point for these two roads as
we'll as of the Eastern Minnesota.