The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1894-09-15

and Sent to the Sufferers-GOv.
Nelson's Appeal for Aid.
Pine City, Mimi, Sept. 1. Relief
parties sent out in various directions
return and report finding more bodies
and 1t is safe to say that the loss of
life in this part of Minnesota and
across the line in Wisconsin will not
be less than 500 and many think that
It, will reach a thousand.
Among the good citizens of Pine City
who had opened their hearts, their
homes and their public buildings to
their stricken neighbors, all was hustle
and activity. The town hall was kept
open all night, and coffee and plain
fare served to all comers. The court
house, the school house and many a
private home was thrown open. Every
blanket in the town was called into
service. The women and children were
given the better quarters, and the men
stretched out in rows on the floors Of
the two public buildings named. Be-
arrangements for the relief Of the des-
titute further up the line, where hun
dreds of men women and children are
not only homeless. but absolutely with
out a scrap Of food or bedding IL extra
clothing, were taken up where they
were dropped at midnight. The ap-
pointed committees me- and got their
work we'll in hand. Before Z o'clock
in the morning the construction train,
loaded with bridge material for the
repair of the bridge acrOs the Grind
stone river at Hinckley, came up
from Rush City.
A couple of hundred loaves OF bread
and other light provision were placed
OH board in charge of Judge j. g.
Nethaway of Saltwater, representing
the relief committee. A party of labor
ers to dig graves and inter the bodies
was collected, and the train proceeded
into the burned country. At Hinck-
ley the provisions were loaded on to
a hand car manned by Judge Netha-
way and a volunteer crew, and a start
was made across the shaky bridge to
Miller, nine miles further north, where
are reported a dozen or more dead
and three or four times as many
hungry and homeless. From Miller
they expect to work cast to Sandstone,
about five miles across the country on
the Eastern Minnesota railroad, where
there are between forty and fifty dead
and a couple Of hundred living who
| were saved in Kettle river and in the
| great Sandstone quarries. About IL
o'clock the bridge was sufficiently re-
| paired to admit the passage of a train
and an engine, freight car and caboose,
with a plentiful supply of food and a
meager store of cotfins in charge of
| Undertaken O'Halloran Of st. Paul,
was sent north.
Above Skunk Lake the work train
reported twelve bodies on the right of
way, presumably settlers. In retro
spection, the most sorrowful feature
of the terrible fatality at Hinckley is
the thought that had the situation been
realized in time not a single life among
the residents need have been lost. The
Great Northern gravel pit, where only
a hundred sought safety, is about ten
acres in extent, broad enough and
long enough to have sheltered every
soul in Hinckley with all their do
nestle animals. There is a pool of
water of considerable depth. The
banks are bare of grass or shrubbery,
and there was no inf1ammable material
near the brink on the side from which
the fire came. Those who did seek this
haven passed the hours of their en-
forced Imprisonment in comparative
comfort.
This morning a detail of twenty reg
ulars from Fort Smelling, under com
mand Of Capt. Hale and Lieut.. Mccoy,
and an army surgeon came in from st.
Paul. They broughte some tents, but
finding that Adit. Gen. Nuremberg had
sent up $50 state tents, the regulars
turned in and put up fifty of them for
the refugees with regular army expedi.
ton. The local physician was about
| played out, and there was IN abund-
ance of work for the army surgeon.
A portion of the tents will be put up
at Hinckley.
During the day at Pine City the ar
engagements for systematic aid was
taken in hand by Ell. III. Hart, of the
board Of corrections and charities, act
ing rs registrar. Mr.. Hart was
equipped with blanks for the registra-
ton of the name Of the applicant for
aid and his wife. their birthplaces,
their children, residence and length Of
time in Minnesota: occupation, Wheth-
er he WI his home, If mOrtgaged,
ard for how much; amount of insur.
ance, what property left and it's value;
| addresses OF friends, financial ability,
needs and where the applicant desires
10 60. The matter was attended to in
great detail. During the Day Mr.
| Hart registered seventy heads of fami-
lies, representing upward OF 200 per-
sons. The work will continue to-
morrow and until all are registered.
| The matter of specific relief in each
case will then he taken up by the ex-
| ecutive committee, and the funds and
supplies at their command will be ap-
portioned III accordance with the needs
Of each and the ability to supply them.
The committee appointed by the citt-
zens Of Minneapolis has arrived. It
consists of DR.. Wayland Hoyt, Hon.
G. NJ. Loring, George N. Marchant,
| IIon. F. G. Mcmillan, Aid. Gray, w.
IT. Rendell aud o. p. Clark. This
| committee was met at the hotel by
| Messrs. Hurley, Hodge and j. r.
Stone, of the local committee, Bishop
Gilbert, III. III. Hart and j. 7. Man
nix. The Mir neapOlis gentlemen were
In searcl Of information upon which
Minneapolis people could base their
relief operations. DR.. Hoyt speedily
drafted a report which he submitted
to the assembled gentlemen for their
approval. The report contains an es-
innate Of the population Of the burned
towns as follows: Hinckley, 1000;
Sandstone, 800; Mission Greek, 100;
Brook Park, or Pokegama, liz; Part
ridge, 100.