Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-10-11

the women and children stood it l am
at a loss to state, but there were
enough men to care for them, and as
some poor creature became overcome
ana sWooned she was supported and
c<ifel for until the awful period of
neat mad passed. Still it was too hot
Tor us to leave the water, and for four
hours we waited in the swamp. with
water TO our waists, for the shore of
the lake TO cool sufficiently to give us
a footing.
When that time arrived the male
portion of the party compared notes
We found that Mr.. Holt of Duluth.
Mr.. Anderson of Minneapolis and my
self were the strongest of the party.
and we arranged to set out for relief
In my gr-p were couple Of dress
shirts and Il night robe. besides some
other articles of wearing apparel We
tore the shirts into strips and wound
cloth after cloth about our feet until
they were pretty well protected from
the heat under foot and the burning
clnuers, etc. Then we wrapped our
coats about our heads, after ySaturating
the garments thoroughly in the water,
ana with a godSpeed from the ones
lett oehlnd we plunged into the smoke
on the way TO Hinckley 1t was an
awful journey through the still burn
ing woods. We stumbled and strur-
Gled on against fearful odds. now RIM
ming through wall of flame and bare
ly escaping being crushed beneath y
falling telegraph pole or giant tamarac.
We stumbled over dead bodies. and
on the way to Hinckles we counted %
disfgured corpses lying alongside the
railroad track Some of these poor un-
fortunateS had been riding on the plat
form, where, overcome by the heat,
they had lost their footing and fallen
70 the track. 1t is to be hoped that
they We're dead before the fire burned
away their lives. Others of the dead
were passengers of the train, who be-
came crazed from fright and jumped
through the windows while we were
backing up to the lake. Other bodies,
| suppose, We're those of settlers in the
vicinity, who fled from their homes
with the hope of reaching Hinckley in
time to be taken on board the train.
Several times we stumbled and fell
III the darkness on the way, but by
superhuman effort we MANAGED to re-
gain our feet and continue on over
burning ties and red hot rails, until
more dead than alive, We reached our
destination. 1t had taken us one hour
and 40 minutes to make the six miles
from Skunk Lake to Hinckley.
After resting a half hour we felt
somewhat refreshed, and greatly added
to our condition by finding some cool
water in a WELL with which we hathed
our faces and quenched our thirst,
which had been awful during the en-
tire journey. The Hinckley bridge
was unsafe to cross. We cast aside the
burned cloth Wrappings on our feet
and such articles of wearing apparel
as would seriously impede our progress,
and began wading across the stream,
which is shallow at the present time.
ON the way across we found five bodies
IN the water, two of them being chill
dren, one woman, and two men.
ON reaching the other side we GOT
to the railroad track again and started
for Mission Greek, four miles south of
Hinckley. We had gone but a short
distance when we came to an ab3n-
dOned handcar, which we placed on the
track, and on which we rode into Mis-
sion Creek. We found that city a com
,l,.tn =,
standing. A few miles farther on we
came to work train. We told the
crew Of the train of the terrible plight
Of the passengers on the Duluth limit
ed, and the work train took us ON
through to Pine City, which place we
reached at II o'clock at night. A re-
Lief party was at once organized at
Pine City, which went out to rescue
the passengers at Skunk lake.