St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-09-25
THRILLING TALE
Told by a Survivor fthe Hinckley
Fire,

FIRE.
Albert Frazer, n of the Hinckley
survivors, relates the following thrilling
tale of the great fire:
AT l o'clock Saturday afternoon l
started to haul water to the outskirts of
the town. We did not think there was
any danger till nearly 4 o'clock. At
that hour the wind suddenly became a
perfect hurricane, and the smoke was
81 thick that we could hardly breathe.
All at once it grew as dark as night, and
many people had to light their
lamps. At this moment [ looked
up the street and saw a piece of
burning wood light on the roof of John
AnderSon's house. In an instant the
whole town seemed to be ablaze, and
the air was filled with burning missiles
of all descriptions. The heat was sim
ply unbearabie. so 1 started to get my
family. People were running in all
directions, and everybody seemed to
have lost their heads. Some were going
to the river. others headed for the track.
l met one of the Brennan Lumber Com
pany's teams, and took possession of it.
We crossed the wagon bridge. hoping
to get to Kettle river before the fire got
to us. We had gone about a mile when
we met a team loaded with five barrels
of water. This proved a Godsend, aud
we got into that wagon. l stopped the
WACO in the middle of the road, with
the woods on both sides of US, and pre-
pared to fight the fire. 1t came on with
an awful roar, and the smoke was so
thick that WI were blinded. There
were thirty people in my wagon, but
people began pouring in from all
directions. AS soon as the fire reached
us the very air seemed ablaze,
and the noise was deafening. Trees
were blown down all around us and
the heat was terrible. There were
about 100 in our party. and they crowded
around the wagon and begged me throw
water on them for their clothes were
Burning. Soon the water gave out in
the barrels and it was clear l could not
save them all. The flames came up 10
the wagon and then there was a scene
that beggars description. The poor
people who were dying slowly would
come up the wagon with their clothes
on fire Il beg %piteously for some water.
"They seemed to be suffering the most
awful agony. The fire was at its worst,
and they began to fall down and die by
scores. Some would run wildly around
with their clothes all burned off and
their bodies %blackened by the fire. The
sight OF so many charred human beings
running about was one that l shall
never forget. 1t only lasted a few min
utes, and then all was quiet except the
roaring of the fire. l had put my two
children into an empty barrel and they
were not suffering ct all. but my wife
was badly burned, and l had to
give up all hopes, and had stopped
throwing water on her several times,
when she would beg me to throw only a
little more on her. l kept this up all
night until Q o'clock in the morning,
when the fire had gone down enough so
that we could start back to Hinckley.
There were only five of us left, the
others having preferred to take chances
ON the ground. The horses, though
badly burned, were able to haul us back.
We returned, the only survivors of the
party of 1885,"
Nels Frisk. one of the survivors of
this party, has just left the Asbury hos
pital, after two weeks treatment for
his injuries. He was yesterday fur
nished with an order for clothing. and a
request sent into the st. Paul & Duluth
for a ticket to Hinckley.