The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-09-05

personal safety. The Eastern Minnesota
train from the south had just come in and
the people of the panic-stricken city focked
" IL LOT saIety. A number of box cars
were coupled on and filled with men, Wo-
men and children. Some were bareheaded.
some were coatless some few clutched a
pitlapie bundle of the more precious If
tnelr portable possessions. Families were
separated. Children joined the throng and
let their parents. In all, there was mot
ley crowd of about 400 or more people The
train pulled out
JUST AHEAD OF THE FIRE,
anu succeeded in ultimately reaching Du-
iutn. ms circumstance, while fortunate
~ ueeree that cannot be estimated, has
maze the confusion greater for it is not
hho"h VINO escaped in this way, and
many people are reported dead who may be
III saiety. Had not this number of people,
largely women and children, Left the
uoomed city when they did the loss of
me would nave increased in a geometrical
ratio, for their presence would have added
UNNECESSARILY to the subsequent confusion.
About the same hour the accommodation
IRAN on the Hinckley and ST Cloud branch
ielt LOT the latter place. There were about %
passengers It's path lay directly across the
. .raek OF the fire. and their situa ton speed
NY became desperate. The ties were burn
ing, the rails were waroing and the trestles
were sagglng under the train The smoke
h'u increased so that the engineer was
nelpiess. He could not see the train be-
nlnd him. Burning trees lay across the
track and We're being tossed aside by the
engine.
ouuuenly the track gave way and the train
topped on to one side. No one was in
Jured' and the passengers pressed on to
Fokegama station, a few rods ahead But
a Few feet in front of the engine was dis
covered a gorge 60 feet wide and 40 feet
deep, where the trestle had been burned
away. Ihey succeeded in reaching the
clearing about the station and escaped with
few burns and bruises. There were
BURNED ALONG THE TRACK,
however tour or five people, including DR..
Kelley, of New Brighton, who had come up
to look after his brother
Inc people who were left in the city were
IN what seemed to be an almost hopeless
condition Egress by the only means of
transportation that could hope to distance
the swiftly advancing flames was out of
the question. The men had been fighting
the fire Tor hours and the women and chill
uren We're IN panic stricken condition
But horses We're harnessed to buggies and
wagons and women and children were hur-
rledly loaded. In some cases attempts
were made to carry off some household
goods but in most instances people had no
thought for aught but their lives.
Probably 200 of them left town on foot or
IN vehicles, plunging into the woods to the
north across the Grindstone river which
literally fleeing before the pursuing demon
OF the fire. Over the hill that rises be-
yond the Grindstone is swamp, and to
this most of the people with teams headed
but it proved no protection. The fire gave
them no opportunity to go further Some
abandoned their teams and ran into the
lower portions Of the morass but the fire
sought them out. Not one was left to
tell the tale. and there this morning in a
space of little more than four or five acres
We're counted
OVER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY
CORPSES
There were many families of five six
and seven, and there they lay, the man
generally a little in advance the mother
surrounded by her little ones, cut off by the
most horrible of deaths.
Nearly all of the bodies were nude the
fire having burned every yestiee of their
clothing, and blackened and charred n1any
of the corpses beyond recognition and
where whole families were wiped ont as
they were, and some of the bodies COM
pletely incinerated Identification is abso-
lutely out of the question.
Those who fled to the north on foot fol-
lowed the Duluth track and so rapid was
the progress Of the flames that many of
them We're actually burned as they fled
falling on the right of way for a distance
of three miles more. Nearly 80 bodies
We're recovered along here. Some of The
foremost of the escaping citizens met the
Duluth train coming in from the north as
elsewhere related.
The people who remained in Hincklev
Jared the best of all. The Eastern Mime
sofa tracks mark the eastern edge of the
city proper. Just beyond the road owned
d tract of land probably embracing at least
10 acres. 1t was purchased for a gravel
pit to furnish material for the fill which
approaches the cOmpany'S bridge across
the Grndstone, and at other points on its
line. The fact that it had been used for
this purpose almost to its exhaustion
about a
HUNDRED HINCKLEYITES OWE
THEIR LIVES
The whole area indicated had been exca-
waited to a depth in the center of 80 or 40
feet. There was a stagnant pool of rain
water in the center three feet in creates
depth. The pit was deep and wide, and
to it fed those of the citizens who We're
willing to trust to its friendly depths
There We're probably a hundred of them,
and in addition to the human beings quite
a number of domestic animals, horses,
cows. oxen, pigs, chickens, etc, sought
safety here
1t was really the safest place about
Hinckley. Three or four hundred trunks
which were rolled only half way down the
sloping bank. passed through the fire I'M
sCathed The people went in here as the
Eastern train pulled out few minutes
after o'clock, and here they remained I'M
til after s, while the smoke and flames
from the burning city rolled over their
heads. They dashed water over each 9TH
and covered their heads with wet cloths
to prevent sutfocation. One unknown man
SUCcumbed to the smoke the terrible
strain and fell in the water and was
drowned. So far as known this was the
only tragedy of the gravel pit.
Others Of the citizens sought refuge in
the Grindstone river under the abutments
of the two railroad bridges and the foot
bridge. The exact number cannot be
known, as they were scattered along a con-
siderable stretch of the little stream. That
many escaped and some We're drowned is
well known.
Mrs. Martin Martinson and her
FOUR FLANEN-HAIRED LITTLE
BABES
were taken from the waters edge Sunday
morning. as pitiful a sight as mans eye
ever witnessed They were not touched by
flames, but suffered the more mercifuI
death by water
In the meantime Hnckley was burning.
The flames leaped from building to build
ing with almost the rapidity of an electric
spark. Everything was finder dry. There
was not even one brick wall to stay for a
moment the work of destruction, and all
went up in smoke About $50 dwellings,
with all their household treasures, 20
stores and all their stocks of goods, in
Guiding the immense general establish
ment of the Brennan Lumber Company,
two hotels, the Central and the Morrison,
the railroad depots and eating houses the
new brick school, the town hall, the Du-
luth roundhouse, the three bridges and at
last the plant of the Brennan Lumber
Company, saw mill planning MILL stables,
lumber yard and all. This institution was
the pride of Hinckley, and the backbone
of its prosperity. 1t regularly en-