Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1894-09-08

! ing demon of tre. over the hill that
rises beyond the Grindstone is a swamp,
and to this most of the people with
teams headed, but it proved no protec-
ton. The fire gave them no oppor-
tunity to go farther. Some aban-
doned 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 q space of
little more than four or five acres, were
counted over 1870 corpses. There were
many families of FIVE, six and seven,
and there they lay, the men generally
a 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
cbarred many of the corpses be-
yond recognition, and whole fam
lilies were wiped out as they
were and some of the bodies com
pletely incinerated. Identification is
absolutely out of the question. Those
who fled to the north on foot followed
the Duluth track, and so rapid was the
progress of the flames that many of
them were actually burned as they
fed, falling on the right of way for a
distance of 3 miles or more. Nearly
thirty bodies were recovered along
here.
Some Were Drowned.
Just east of the city limits of Hinck-
ley is an immense gravel pit, covering
at least ten acres In its center was a
pool of stagnant water 3 ieet in depth.
Into this rushed many citizens. There
were probably a hundred of them,
and in addition to the human
beings quite number of domes-
tic animals, horses, cows, oxen, pigs,
chickens, etc, sought safety here. 1t
: was really the safest place about
Hinckley. The people went in here
as the eastern train pulled out few
minutes after o'clock and here they
: remained uutil after 4, while the
smoke and flames from the burning
city rolled over their heads. They
dashed water over each other and COW
cred their heads with cloths to pre-
vent suffocation. One unknown man
> succumbed to the smoke or the terri
BILE strain and fell in the water and
was drowned
Others of the citizens sought refuge
: il the Grindstone river under the
abuttments of the two railway bridges
and the foot bridge. The exact num-
Der cannot be known, as they were
I scattered along considerable
t stretch of the little stream.
4 That many escaped and some
2 were drowned is well known. Mrs.
4 Martin Martinson and her four flaxen-
1.
o the waters edge Saturday morning,
5 as pitiful a sight as mans eye ever
5 witnessed. They were not touched by
: flames, but suffered the more merciful
% death by water
a HInckley Destroyed.
4 In the meantime Hinckley was burn
: ing. The flames leaped from building
4 to building with almost the rapidity OF
y an electric spark. Everything was
i tinder dry. There was not even one
brick wall to stay for n moment the
work of destruction, and all went W
4 in smoke. About two hundred and
fifty dwellings with all their house
!. hold treasures, twenty stores and al
/. their stocks of goods, including the
e immense general establishment of the
: Brennan Lumber company, two hotels
- the Central and Morrison; the railway
d depots, and the new brick school, the
=; town hall, the Duluth roundhouse, the
e. three bridges and at last the plant o,
- the Brennan Lumber company, saw
mill, planning mill stables, lumber yart
and all. This institution was the
= pride of Hinckley, and the backbone
e of its prosperity,
Collecting the Dead.
: As night closed in the people begar
e to come out from their hiding place!
It and made their way over the hot EN-
bers of their city. They were abso
lutely dazed by the catastrophe anc
the night was spent in an endeavor t.
lie find relatives or ascertain their where
abouts, When the morning broke ;
n few energetic spirits began t.
e organize the work for the re
d covery of the bodies. The searcher
l. were divided into parties. Between
n the river and Skunk lake forty-one wer,
d found. Citizen volunteers harnesseC
/ up the available vehicles saved in the
It gravel pit and went out to the swamp
r across the GrinLstone. They brough
rs in ninety six bodies, whicl
= were carried out to the desc
is late burying ground mil
IF east of town. There was neithe
st time nor opportunity to observe tn
If sacred formalities usually surrounding
y death. The excitement of the occasion
the horrible experience through whlcl
lie the living had passed, and the more hol
lie rible form in which death had come t
lie the lost had temporarily blunted til
l. finer sensibilities and the dead wer
$, heaped high on the wagons and laid i
n piles in the cemetery. The ninety-si
ia bodies brought into this point were eA
st amined by many OF the surviving res
c. dents of Hinckley, and but four coul
or be identified. Those who brought i
RS the bodies from the swamp reporte
v that there were at learst thirty-fv
n. other bodies out there.
re Whole Families Perished.