People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1894 — HUNDREDS PERISH. [ARTICLE]

HUNDREDS PERISH.

■ Havoc Wrought by Flames in the Minnesota Forests. Over Four Hundred Persons Non Reported Dead—Suffering at Hinckley—Other Towns Destroyed—Forest Fires in Wisconsin and Michigan. WIDESPREAD DISASTER. Chicago. Sept. 4.—Reports irom the •portions of Minnesota. Michigan and Wisconsin in which the forest fires are now raging show that the condition of affairs there is more than terrible. The loss of property, at a low estimate, has already reached 812,OOO.ODO. not including the standing timber that has been. destroyed. But even worse is the loss of life which, it is feared, will redch as high as 1.000. Nearly 400 cases of persons having perished have already been received, while the reports as they continue to come in are increasing the list. The best information is that about twenty towns have already been destroyed, driving thousands of families from their homes in the face of the flames. Worst Suffering Is at Hinckley. The ,worst suffering is reported from Hinckley, Minn., and vicinity. The estimate of the loss of life there and in the surrounding towns is being increased by every report. It is said that strewn along on one street of Hinckley the bodies of twentynine victims were found, while In another spot the charred and unrecognizable remains of 103 persons ■were counted. A low estimate of the fatalities in that town alone are now placed at 300 persons. Scores of others were discovered severely injured, while the list of missing was in the hundreds. It is believed that at least 100 victims are on the farms and clearings throughout the burnt district. ■ The loss of life in and about Hinckley. Sandstone. Pokegama. Skunk Lake and Mission Creek will not be Lnown for weeks, if ever. 'Die survivors iiave been taken to Pine City, •where physicians cared for the injured, while relief trains from Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul carried in tents, clothing, food and everything necessary to cover the wants of the suffer Ing survivors. Very few persons are left in Hinckley.

Supplies for Sufferers. The extent of the suffering can hardly be described, but already the hand of charity is at work, and the cities of the three states are sending aid to the eufferers. But railroads have been injured by the fires, and in many cases traffic has been entirely suspended, thus preventing the starting out -of relief expeditions. There seems no hope for a cessation of the progress of the flames save an end of the great drought. No such hope is beld out. for while much-needed rain is promised for other points “dry and is the prediction for the burning •districts by the weather bureau. The 1,088 of Life. 1 p to list reports the estimates of ■the lives lost in the fires at different points in the two states are as given in the following list, and it is feared the list is far below the actual destruction of human life: Hinckley. Minn 300 Sandstone. ?>linn 46 Sandstone Junction 2> Hokegama. Minn 25 Skunk Lake. Minn •$) Shell Lake Minn 1 Miscellaneous points 40 Total List of Towns Destroyed. I’hc following towns are reported 'either wholly or partially destroyed: Bashaw. Burnett county. Wis.: Barronett, Barron county. Wis.: Benoit. Wis.; Ewen. Mich Fitield. Pine county. Wis.; Granite Lal e. Barron county. Wis.; Grantsburg. Burtt county, Wis.; Glidden. Ashland county, Wis.; Hinckley. Pine county. Minn.; Mission Ci el; Pine county. Minn. ; Marengo. Ashland c< unty. Wis.; Milaca, Pine county, Minn.; Hrscado. Grant county, Wis.; Shell Lake. Wt- -ht-urn county. Wis.: South Range. Douglas ■county. Wis.; Sidnaw, Houghton county, Mich; Sandstone. Minn.: Trout Creek, Mich. The Losses. 1 iie losses at Hinckley and BarTi nett were each over 81.000,000, while "the losses at the other towns reported -destroyed range from 8100,000 to 8500,OO'.i. according to latest advices. The Jo -s in Washburn was estimated at 3D .0.000.

AN AWFUL JOURNEY. Tr p of a Passenger Train Through a Sea of Flame. Fine City. Minn., Sept. 4.—The St Paul & Duluth train No. 4, south bound with eighty passengers, ran into Hinckley at 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon and proceeded thence to Mission Creek, 2 miles further south, only to fir. I that village in ashes. Conductor Sullivan issued immediate orders to his crew to back into Hinckley, but before the train, running at 20 miles an hour, could reach Hinckley the place was in Hames. The train stopped at the depot one fatal minute, during which the woodwork of the engine and the baggage car caught fire. The train quickly resumed its backward journey ■toward Duluth, and the very motion of the cars fanned the flames to a fury and they soon enveloped the sleepers, passenger coaches and the smoker. A Horrible Picture. \\ bile the train was stopping at Hinckley nearly 200 panic-stricken people of the place rushed upon the platforms and into the cars. When they discovered the train on fire they began to moan, shout and pray, which, with tlie awful roar of the flames, made a horrible picture. A mile out of Hinckley people on the platforms, rendered frantic lunatics by the heat and their terror, began to jump from the cars and plunge into streams, into sand heaps or into the smoke-encompassed forest. A little farther on those in the cars, stifled with •moke,began to smash the windows of fl coaches in a frantic attempt to get a trrcalh of fresh air Driven back by fl • flames eating their way up the •; -- of the freshly varnished coaches, stood in baffled amazement for a. jr it whet* dozens of them in t. ‘ p.-ratlon tumbled themselves

out through the open spaces to the ground below, some being instantly killed by the fall and others lingering in the horrible heat and smoke until suffocated. Took Refuge In the Lake. In spite of the fact that the train was on fire from engine to rear end the crew bravely stood at their posts and ran the train back 6 miles to Skunk lake, where the passengers rushed out and into the water. Some of them were in such a state of exhaustion that they were unable to walk, and half a dozen were entirely unconscious. All of these latter were rolled in the mud and laid on their backs just far enough out into the lake to keep the water from running into their mouths. All around the lake the forests were roaring like the furnace of an imaginary 1,000.000 horse-power engine. Many of the people in the water stood and offered prayers in a loud voice for deliverence. The scene was one of the most remarkable ever witnessed.

Hero of the Throttle. Engineer James Root, who had so bravely piloted the train through that awful 6 miles of fire, was found to be fatally burned. He stood faithfully at his post with his clothes afire, and manful!}' battled to save the lives of those on his train. Conductor Sullivan, cool and collected all through the awful journey, after it was all over, became a raving maniac. A little later he was put aboard a special and taken to a Duluth hospital. CONFIRMED. Earlier Reports Not Exaggerated—Forest Fires in the East. St. Pavl, Minn.. Sept. s.—Later reports from the fire-swept district of northeastern Minnesota and north western Wisconsin indicate that the loss of life and destruction of property have not been exaggerated. While it is not possible even yet to ascertain the exact number of lives lost, it is certain that between 400 and 500 persons perished. The property loss will not fall short of 810,000.000. To the list of towns heretofore named as having been totally or partially destroyed tfyere are to be added the following in the stateof Minnesota: Partridge, Cromwell, Pokegama, Broad Park, Curtis, Cushing, and Rib. Lake, Wis., making a total of twenty-five. Many Hunters May Have Perished. St. Pali., Minn.. Sept. s.—lt is greatly feared that many well-known residents of St. Paul have perished in the forest fires that have swept over Hinckley and vicinity since Saturday night. Large numbers of sportsmen have left St. Patil within the last ten days to hunt prairie chickens near ‘Hinckley, Mora, Sandstone and other points in that vicinity, and few of these places have escaped the fiery flames. The fire covers a wide stretch of territory, and if these sportsmen were in the forests no power on earth could save them unless they were close to some large body of water.

Indeed, this apprehension extends to all the cities of the country a.-, far east as New York. Many sportsmen from Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York make trips every autumn to the woods of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Twin Cities Send Relief. St. Paul, Sept. 5.—A relief tiain was sent to Hinckley on Monday with a force of men and supply of tents, those being most needed just now. Additional supplies were picked up at every station along the road. Philip Martin, of the land department of the Great Northern road, went in search of Thomas Fitzgerald, land examiner at Dellgrove, who, with a dozen workmen, was in the midst of the fire, and has not been heard from. The chamber of commerce raised §3,000 for relief at its meeting and adopted resolutions favoring the securing of information from United States consular agents as to forestry management in foreign countries. with the object of preventing future forest fires. Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. s.—The first relief train for the desolate region from Minneapolis left Monday morning laden with a plenteous store of provisions. It was followed by another on which went a staff of local surgeons and nurses. Rev. William Wilkinson, of St. Andrew’s Episcopal church, is in charge of" the first train. A large local committee has been formed to take the work in charge and the appeal for money, clothing and-food is being liberally responded to. Mayor Eustis is at the head of the movement, and his private secretary wires that Pine City is to be made the base of operations.