The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-09-04
SLIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN.
Which Did Not Altogether
Quench the Flames.
STILL THE WORST IS OVER.
1t Remains to Feed the Famishing,
Shelter the Homeless and
Bury the Dead.

ST. PAUL, Mimi, Sept. Slater de-
tails simply confirm the reports received
yesterday as to the magnitude of the
Hinckley disaster. The most conserva-
tive estimates OF deaths in the six towns
of Pine County is 362. and from that figure
go up to 1000. Although the exact num-
Der of dead will never be known, enough
is known to make this one of the most ap-
palliDg disasters in American history.
More have perished, but never so many in
such terrible manner. As to the prop
eTty loss, all thoughts have been of death,
and few could be made to talk about their
business losses. 1t is probable that the
loss in and around Hinckley will exceed
$4,000, 600, although no careful estimates
have yet been made. nor can they be made
where all papers and records have gone up
in the same flames that so quickly de-
vOured the houses, the vegetation and
almost the land in large section of Pine
County. Rains to-day cleared the air
somewhat from smoke. but were not
heavy enough to entirely quench the fires,
which would break out on the slightest
provocation if they had aught to feed on.
OF the fires across 10 Wisconsin less is
known here up to midnight, but there has
been no loss of life reported and it is hoped
that it is over. Notwithstanding to-day's
shower. however. the ground is dry and
parched, aud all vegetation is so dry that
il would ignite easily and burn with hor-
rible rapidity.
A Pine City special to the PIo-
neer Press says: Words cannot tell
the story of death and destruction
that is revealed to the traveller on the
ST. Paul aud Duluth relief train from Mis-
sion Creek to two miles above the little
town of Miller or Sandstone Junction
The awfulness of the desolation which
strikes upon the eye of the observer as he
reaches the camp which was once the town
of Hinckley is still more strongly i'm
pressed upon the mind as he JOURNEYS
northward. This morning the smoke had
lifted, revealing landscape bare and
black. the few standing trees being charred
to a height of forty feet. while the ground
was of the peculiar tint of brown sand
mixed with gunpowder, for the grass had
been burned even to the roots. Here and
there in the bleak and dreary stretches OF
country, in what is now great lone land,
was seen the body of a deer whose feet
feet had not been able to outrun the
flames, or human being who had been
absolutely powerless against the grim de-
stroyer.
A Pioneer Press man accompanied
Judge Nethaway of Saltwater and the
members of a relief party which started
on a handcar loaded with provisions to
relieve the people of Sandstone, who were
rfaA in
above Hinckley they found lying by the
trunk of tree the body Of a man which
was evidently that of a lumbermaD. The
party proceeded as far as Skunk Lake,
where the Duluth limited train was burned.
Here they found Engineer Williams in
charge of a gang of men rebuilding the
burned bridges. From them it was
learned that the people living at Sandstone
had been taken to Duluth by special trains
on Sunday night and their pressing ueces-
slt;es relieved. so the help from Pine City
was not needed. The party therefore re-
solved itself into one of search for bodies
of victims of the disaster.
The house of John Robinson was near
Skunk Lake in the edge of the woods and
the family sought refuge in the cellar.
There was no escape from the fire and the
party found the bodies of John Robinson
and his wife and Mary. their eldest
daughter and two small children. All
the clothing was burned from the bodies,
but the victims had evidently been suffo-
Gated before the flames reached them,
The hands Of the eldest daughter were up
lifted, With palms together. In an attitude
of prayer.
Within 600 yards of the spot where En-.
gineer Root stopped his train was long
trench running from the little body of
water. which proved place of safety for
the passengers on the limited, to a swamp
on the lake. Following along this trench
the party came upon the partially clothed
body of a man, who in personal appear
ance corresponded to the description of
General Passenger and Freight Agent
Rowley Of the Duluth and Winnipeg Rail-
way. An examination of the dead mans
shirt showed the name Of Rowley, and 1t
is supposed he was a passenger on the
limited, and in taking to the ditch ex-
pected to reach the lake.
Other bodies found by the party were
those of a man aud woman who had evil
IDENTIFY fed from from a farmhouse near
by, and the bodies of two men, who are
supposed to have been passengers on the
burned train.
The latest verified reports of the num-
Der of dead do not materially alter
former estimate. In fact, that estimate is
proving remarkably exact, considering the
confusion of the first day. One element
that renders close figuring very difficult is
the fact that bodies seen in the woods and
along the track are not infrequently re-
ported to two points and sent out from
each as among its dead. Then, too. the
tendency of the OCCASION. bad as it is, is
toward exaggeration. However. eliminat-
ing those doubtful elements as far as pos
sible from its approximation, the Pioneer
Press is convinced that the total is as