The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1894-09-07

piace. N.th about twenty .fvo ,>s',N
gers its path lay directly acraSS 'ti t,s
PAIN OF the fire and their s;t,,o az .
Speeuiiy became desperate The tin,
were burning the rails were warn;nr
ana the trestles were sacging u,,aa ns
the train. The smoke bad incroosad u4e. n
'h", the erglLe"r was helpless. RI,
co'uu hot see the train behind him
Burning trees lay acress the track and
were belnr tossed aside br the engine
sud-, My The track gave vav and ,h,
train toppled eff to one side No ono
was injured and thov rrcssoa on to
pokegana station, n few rods ahead
Rut few feet in front OF the engine
was discovered Il gorge sixty feet wide
and forty feet deep, whore the trcstlc
had been burned away. They sue
cceded i'll reaching the clearing about
the station and escaped with a few
burns and bruises. There were burned
along the track. however, four or five
people. including DR.. Kelley, Of New
Brighton who had come up to look
after his brother. The people who
were left IL the city were in what
seemed to be an almost hopeless CON
diion. Esress by one only lona", #
transpC rtatjon that could hope To dis,
tance the swiftly y" .nci.g uarons was
out OF the III Ill. I'll" men had been
fiyhtir.5 TIE lie for hours and the
."4Aen and children were in a panic
strickeE condition. Many of them were
OF the more GRANT of the population,
TOR avery Large percentage of the pco.
pie who got out on the Great Northern
railroad Were of the mere intelligent
class. Horses We're harnessed to bug
sies and wagons. Women and children
were hurrieGls loaded up. Ia some
eases attempts were made to carry
off some household goods, but in most
Instances the people had no thonght
for aught but their lives
Iroball y fWo hundred Of them left
town o. foot or in vehicles, plunginy
into the woods to the north across the
GrindstCut river which skirts the town
on the north. They were literally flee
ing before the pursuing demon of tie
fire, Over tie hill that rises beyond
the Grlndst9nc is Il swamp and to this
most of the people with teams headed.
but it proved no protection The fire
gave them no opportunity TO 90 fur
tiler. Some abal uoned their teams ana
ran irto the lower portions of the
morasS, but the are sought them out,
Not one was left 10 tell the tale and
there this morning in a space of IA lit
tie mere tGan four or five acres were
C, tinted over ore hundred and thirty
corpscs There were many families of
fy-, ..,~ a ~, -,
| the man geIcrally q little in advance,
the mother sure unGeI by her little
ones cut off by the most horrible Of
| deaths.
Nearly al the bodies were nude.
the tire having burned every vesti.c
Of their clothing their blaciencd and
| charrel many of the corpses beyond
recognition and where whole families
Were wiped ont rs they were and some
of the bodies completely ineinerated,
Identification Is absolutely out of the
question
Those who fled to the north on foot
followed the Duluth track. and 81
rapid was the progress Of the flames
that many Of tfem were actually
burned as they fed, falling on the
right of way for a distance of three
| miles or II nerc Nearly thirty bodies
We're recovered along here Some Of
the foremost Of the escaping citizens
met the Duluth train coming in from,
the north. It was dac 4 uinckley at
4 %. ETsireer lim Root was at the
throttle. He stepped the train and
took ol board about enc hundred and
tWeI v-fiyc Of the refugees who crowd
Cd into the train, completely filling it
for it had a passenger list almost as
large BY this time the woods We're
blazing Cn each OF tie track and as
Root reversed lis engine and started
back the cars ScoIched and crackled
in the heat Root ran the train back
abou, tire niies to Skunk Lake and
the people eEcared from the burning
cirS to The Water, and no lives were
lost. either of passengers or refugees.
The people who remained in Hinck
ley, Jared the best Of all. The Eastern
Nil sofa tracks mark the eastern
tract Of land probably embracing at
least ton acres II was purchased for
. gravel Pit 10 furnish material for
tn. fill Nhicl. approach the company's
bridge across the Grindstone and at
other points On its line. To the fact
that it had been used for this purpose
almost to its exhaustion, about hun
dred HinckleyiIcs owe their lives.
The Whole area indicated had been ex-
cayated to depth in the center OF
thirty or forty feet. There was
stagnant pool Of rainwater in the ecu
ter three feet in Its greatest depth.
The pit wa, vide and deep and to it
fed those OF the citizens who were
willing to trust to it's friendly depths.
There vele probably a hundred OF
til, m. and in addition tc the human
beings quite q lumber OF domestic
a,.r;.ls. horses, cows, oxen, pigs,