Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-09-03
TWO HUNDRED DEAD AT HINOKLEY
Aud ass Known Total Casualties Else
where-Probably the Half Of the
Terrible Visitation Not Vet
Reported.

Wh9Ie Families Moved Down Ia q Swamp
where They Had Fled for Refuge-other
Biissered and Biaekened corpses Line q
Railway Riehs-ofWay-The History Of
Similar Disasters Outdone in the Frig htful
Details and Re.uIts--A Million Dollars
Worth Of Property Lost at Hinekiey-The
Devastation and Death at Sandstone and
Elsewhere.
ST. PAUL, Sept. 3-The town Of Hinck-
ley, about half way between this city and
Duluth, has been wiped ont by forest fires,
and the list Ct dead may reach 900. It will
certainly reach over $50 at Hinckley and
elsewhere. and the reports now being re-
ceived would indicate that the larger figure
may not be too great. On the train which
has arrived here from there were one or
two people who came through the fires
and have graphic stories of the scene The
train could not get through to Hinckley,
but half dozen of the passengers secured
| haudcar and rode through the flames to
Hinckley, taking the northbouud train
this side of there and retuSnipg on it to
| this city. On their ride on the hantlcar
they counted twenty seven dead bodies
along the line of the railroad They say
that the people of Hinckiey ran to the
| woods when their houses caught fire, and
as the timber afterwards burned that
| great numbers persisted. The whole coun.
try around Hinck!ey is on f-e, and the
learned for n day or two.
The Holocaust Was Most Faishtful.
| An estimate Of the dead made from fig
ures at hand shows the following awful
figures: Hiuckley. 200; Sandstone. A.;
Sandstone Junction. -; Pokegama, %;
Skunk Lake, %; miscellaneous, 30; total,
aS5. Most of these people were roasted
alive. The list of names of dead at this
writing includes the following: Sandy
Henderson. 10 years; John Henderson. IL
years; - Hanson, Mrs. Henson, five
Hanson children, Thomas Jones. -
Chambers. Axel Han son and wife; Emily
! Hanson, 16 years; Charlie Hanson; Charles
Anderson, cashier OF bank; Hans Matti-
son, Mrs. William Girder; Dennis
Riley, yard Waterman: Jim Bean,
L y.
John Best and wife. four Best children,
JohE And erson and wife, two Anderson
children; William Nesbitt. sawyer; Henry
Hanson, 7. Turgeon, - Laab aud son,
Mrs. Martin and four children-drowned,
DR.. c. II. Kelley, of New Brighton: E
Blanchard, wife and two children: Louis
Nelson. employees of Eastern rail way;
Peter Robertson, Nels Robertson, Mary
Robertson, - Robertson child, -
Hoffman and wife. Emma Dolan, Belle
OBrien ard Anna Wallace.
But Two Brick Houses in Town.
The walls of the school house, the iron
fence about the town hall property, the
bank vault and one absolutely uninj ured
clubhouse is all that is left TO mark the
site of Hinckley, where stood a score Of
store buildings. and a dozen times as
many dwelling houses. The story of the
catastrophe which wiped out the material
possessions that had made Hinckley a
busy, prosperous little city is short
one. The town was built of wood. The
school house erected last year ut a cost
of &c. 900 and one-half the Duluth round
house were the only brick structures in
the city. BY one of those Upeculiar freaks
for which there is no accounting the east
ern Minnesota round house and water
tank on the soutwesta-, edge of the town,
almost in the woods. escaped tine flames:
a circumstance the more remarkable from
the fnct that stood directly in the path
of the flames, which eeein to have jumped
it as cleanly as Il saving leap frog. All
the forenoon the "o-n'. people were ap-
lprehensive. Tn. s~oke rolling up from
the south told sforp Enthusiastically plain
to those accust ornsd to q wooded country.
Preparations to Meet the Fire.
The Gre kept advancing. famed by the
wind, which was blowing gale. About
II O'Clock n. m. the fire company got ont
their engine and laid an eighteen hundred
! foot line of hose to the southern outskirts
of the town. The hose was all too shorl
for the measure of protection desired and
telegram was sent to Rush City for
more. Five hundred feet was started, but
1t never reached Hinckley. The main
part of the village lies in the north fork
made by the crossing of the Duluth and
Eastern tracks, the latter to the east and
the former to the west. On the west side
of the Duluth tracks were few small
: houses belonging to the railway employees.
, The firemen's attention was mainly di
iected to keeping the fire away from them
as the main business part of the city was
built in solidly just across the track.