The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-09-03

bly, blistered and burned condition that
decomposition rapidly set in.
Undertaken J. d. Donnelly. of St Paul,
was on the ground, and he advised that
the bodies be put under mother earth as
rapidly as possible. Every attempt at
Identification had been exhausted. From
these bodies by the track the officials of
the Duluth road had removed and care
fully preserved every trinket and arti-
Gle of jeWelrv and even shoes and
scraps of clothing, placing these from
each body in a receptacle numbered
identically with the caskets so that when
relatives como they can recognize them
and know whether their friends have
been inferred.
Out in the little cemetery a mile east
Of town was a scene which words are
absolutely pOwerless to describe. At
bsst the little spot would be as dreary
as could be well imagined. 1t is
on top of rough sandy knoll, where ma
no attempt toward artificial embeiIish-
ment has ever been made. There were
only few little sandy unsodded mounds
before it, Now with the blackened fire.
SCARED stumps and fallen trunks of trees
all about it, presented an appearance of
desolation hard to describe.
A Heap of Ninety COrPses.
But in the center of the opening was
the crowning horror. In an indescrim-
iElAte heap lay more than ninety corDses,
men, women and little children Some
burned to crisp. others only Drowned by
the heat and nOne with a fragment of
clothing larger than a mans hand 20 con-
ceal their awful nakedness. Some were
mere trunks, their extremities having
been burned off.
Some we're bloated until the abdomen
had cracked. SknIls were burned open
and all were twisted and cramped in the
excruciating agony of the death which
had Overtaken them. A. force of men
was quickly at work digging a shall
low trench along the south end of
the cemetery, The sandy soil was as
hard as flint. 1t had been baked to a
crust BY weeks of drouth and almost
sOlidified by the fire.
The work progressed slowly. Off in
the corner of the clearing where smaller
graves were being dug for Mrs. VIM.
Grissinger and her TWO baby girls,
carolina. aged and Mabel aged B.
ognized the ghastly heap and
hard at work preparing for them a
final resting place apart from the trench
designed for the unidentified, his labors
dulling for time the acuteness of his
anguish.
Generations Dead,
The other grave was for the Best fami-
ly whose. mum bers make their destruc-
ton marked even in this time of death.
John Best, jr., was digging the pit
bOrs. Laid in row decently covered
were the bodies of John Best, sr., Mrs
Best, Fred Best aged %, Bertha aged IL,
Mrs. Annie Wiegel, married daughter
and her 3-year- old daughter Minnie
Mrs. Annie Troutman of Diamond
Bluff, Wisconsin, a visitor aged rs
and Victor Best aged g. Two other
sons, George, aged 20, and Willie, aged
q, are missing aud are certainly dead.
And of this whole family Of three gen
erations only the sOrrowing grave digger
and his wife and child who took
refuge in dug out are left
They all lived together about two
miles southeast of Hinckley. The only
others of the ninety odd who we're recOg-
nized we're Charles Anderson, cashier Of
the bank. Mrs. William Ginder and her
daughter, Winnifred, aged 6. One or
two others were imperfectIy identified,
but it was largely guess work.
Enough rough boxes were knocked
together TO contain most Of these bodies
and they were rapidly laid away under
the sand, but not before other bodies
began 10 come in. In the swamp across
the Grindstone where eight orpses
were found yesterday, were about
thirty five others which were brought in
this morning, making total of upwards
Of 130 dead in this little space of four or
five acres.
Operator Burned at His Key.
Down near the river was found the
body Of Thomas Dunn, the Duluth opera
tor at Hinckley. d unu was reared here and
was a universal favorite. He stuck to
his key until the depot was burning
over his head. The delay in To-
eating his body led his friends
to hope that he might
have escaped, but this morning the
finding of his blackened corpse put an
end to all uncertainty. Up the St Paul
g. Duluth right of way were found three
or four more bodies
Among those who perished north
of town was Z. RickettsOn,
OF 231S Polk street, n. e
Minneapolis. who was here visiting his
son. He went out in wagon with Dave
Kane of Rock Creek, also a visitor here
and both perished though their horses
anna os,e rru=1a4boI