The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1894-09-07
THE LANDS LAID WASTE
Nothing Loft But tho Charred Be-
mains Of Numberless Dead.
LAKE LANDS LAID LOW By The FIRES
Many Towns OF Mnne.ot, and v,.,o,
Lie In Ashees with but Few Occupant,
i+eit to Tell tho Tale-Story OF
- Tho Forest Wastes,

MINNEArorIs. Mimi, September s.
LaIe advlceS from the forest fire district
sho" that the damage has not been en-
aseraIeu. Duluth reports that mil
hons OF dollars of property has been
destroyed and that 800 lives were Lost
"elief trains have been sent ont from
hcr,2pd t--Raul- A-txs-;--- S-~-erc, J
arrived here during the night. In Wis
consin the towns of barnett, Granite
Lake, Cumberland, Pincvillc, Comstocls
and Forest City have been burned.
Scvcnty-five houses were destroyed at
Shell Lake, and SpooncrS is threatened
One hundred and forty-cight bodies
have been taken out of IIinclxley and
placed in the vicinity The ncighbor-
ing town of Poltama is wiped out. The
eastern Minnesota train which left st.
Paul at l:5O o'clock Saturday afternoon
and arrived ut IIinclllcy Saturday night
took 800 people on board and moved
westward toward st. Cloud The train
has not been heard of since 1t has not
reached st. Cloud and has not gone back
to 1lincklcy. There has been a general
fear that it has been burned with all on
board. There is no chance that they
are alive, unless they have found a
H''N'iii WI SiouBH iiltp "UlCn tntN cOulu
go and escape the fire. Every family
in Poltama is homeless and in danger
of starving to death.
Lives Yet In Danger.
freight train is in n ditch one and
half miles west of Poliama. Twenty
five people are in the cabooSe and the
fire is all around them. If they are not
rescued soon all must perish. Hans
Nelson, section foreman at Pohama,
started away yesterday afternoon with
his family on handcar to escape the
fire. and nothing has since been seen
or heard Of them. 1t is certain that
they have perished.
st. Louis special says Tie Great
Northern road is doing all in its power
to reach firc-Stricl<en IIincklcy. Ever
since Saturday afternoon work trains
have been enun~na q vaiiumg burn
EFT bridges. and all the men that can be
used are being rushed to the front
Three large bridges We're down. The
officials expect to get into IIinckley
about noon today. The scenes at the
front where the work trains are en-
gagged are frightful. One crew rn,aort-:
edsthatthey'saw Hames sweep down on
house close to the track. The place
was envelopcd in fire before the people
could escape. The workmen were pow
erless to render any assistance al
though they were SO close that they
could hear the people screaming as thy
We're being cremated.
By Ono OF the Rescued.
The first train over the st. 'uui ana
Duluth railroad direct from NE scene Oh
the great fire reached Mi'heapo'is yes.
tcrdny n afternoon. Jrere were about
one dozen persons N board including
Nrs Jorrepce me only one of the pas
sanrers on tbe "Limited" which started
Saturday srternoon.
Mrs. laurence says the first evidence
NJ tbc fire was noticeable about ten
mnes north of IIickley when the air be-
came almost suffocating. One mile
north of IIickley a number of persons.
Mrs Laurenee estimates the number at
fifty. rushed toward the train scream
ing frantically. The engineer seeing
the danger they were in if they re-
mained, stopped the train to let them
aboard. The heat became intense
and the whole volcano of fire seemed to
burst out in n mighty effort To win" tho
train and its occupants off the face of
the earth.
Panic With No Humanity.
Mrs. Laurence describing the scene
said: at the first rush of the flames
toward the ears the window panes bust
with loud report, and the train began
slowly to return toward Skunk Lake.
People screamed and men jumped
through the car windows. The wild
panic was horrible. There was no hui
manity in it. Every person was
for himself and did not care how he
got ont of the swirling, rushing ava
lanche of flames. My dress caught fire
but extinguished the flames.
~ saw two Cinnamon. can remember
the scene as if before me now They
were paralized by fright and made no
effort to get away but simply hid their
heads under their seats and were burn
ed to death. | stood it as long as |
could and then rushed out of the car,
jumping over one or two persons that
were lying on the ground injured.
Some OF the people jumped into Skunk
Hickicy n BIackened Waste.
Lake but simply ran along the ties.
The fire had burned away and after
running until my strength gave out
fell down between the rails. I cx-
pccted every minute that my dress
would be burned from my body. Iput
out the flames in my dress half dozen
times, and had to hold my hands over
the baby's face in order to keep it from
suffocating."
Sunday morning Mrs. Laurence was
picked 'up in the middle of the track
two miles from IIickley by relief
party from Duluth, which made the
trip on a handcar.
The site of IIicltlcy, says Mrs. Laur-
cnce. is nothing but blackcncd waste
with the bodies of dead and injured
persons lying everywhere
Retired without Making An Attack.
GuIunuAI Snnta,,hn.o u,l..