St. Joseph County Independent, Volume 20, Number 10, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 22 September 1894 — Page 2

RUINS OF HINCKLEY. iVHAT A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT SAW THERE. Scene of Unutterable Horror, Desolation and Death — Frij-ht ful Experiences of the People—How the Prosperous Minnesota Town Was Wiped Out. Birth and Air Aflame! Duluth (Minn.) correspondence: Despite the hundreds of oolumns which have been printed descriptive of the great forest fires in Northern Minnesota, the most careful reader cannot but have failed to reach anything like a full realizat ion of the horrors of that terrible holocaust which had the thriving vil’age of Hinckley for its center. No one who has not gone over the burred territ iry, seen for himself the devastation wrought and talked with the survivors of the awful tragedy, can begin to appr ?ciat' what that ever-to-^be-remembared afterno n and evening ■were to the jenple of the stricken territory. “It was as though the lid of hell had boon lifte 1 off for awhile, aflowing the flames and smoke of the infernal regions to feast in poor help-

WO' , k loading the bodies of fire victims ior removal to burial ground

less humanity, ” was the way one man in Hinckley briefly describ 'd the scene t > me. I spent ten days in Johnstown, Pa., immediately after the awful flood in the Conemaugh valley: I saw Louisville, Ky.. only a day 'or two after it was visited b.- one of the most destructive and fatal cyclones in our history; 1 was in Si< ux City, lowa, by the fir t train which could take me there after the memorable flood in that city; I saw the ruin wrought in Titusville and Oil Q i el *. wOHi "Mik HOW A PAIR OF HORSES WERE FOUNIX City by that remarkable eon flagration when even the river, covered as it was ■with oil, became a blazing serpent, miles in length, sh oting its fiery tongues 100 feet in air. But always excepting Johnstown -I have never witnessed a scene of such complete do-va-tation. such utter de traction, a- is presented f r miles and miles north of St Paul along the St. Paul A Duluth and Fas ern Minnesota Railroads.

There i- a territory, varying in width fr m ten to thi ty’mi.e-'and n length from thirty to one hundred miles, in which the'i ames left no live thing. The wh le territory is blackened rum —tens of thousands of acres of charred stumps, smoking ground, gnawing lames, even yet reluctant to leave while there yet remains fuel on which to feed. Where were once great for-1 ests, partially cleared farms, prosper- . ous saw-mill villages, the homes of in- i dustrious settlers, now all is ruin. I Even at St. Paul I found the air dark i with smoke, and as 1 trave’ed north ■ the smoke b - ame m >re dens?, until, ; once in the heart of the burned dis- i trict, it could bo seen rising in columns and dense masses in all directions, obscuring the nun. *, Fr TO IT n 1 How came the r, at tire of Septonv b r 1 which sw pt o > r so many miles < f territory, burning teveral villages and wippi got ov r (0 h man lives.' Not through any un-ual prevalence of sn aller fires or through any lack of vigilance ov care on the part of the peo le but through a combination of condition very did cult to explain c early, and against which no man o • number f men could have struggled successfully. let vs glance at the renditions existing before the terrible THE OXLY HOUSE UEFT BETWEEN PINE CITY ANO MISSION CHEEK. conflagration swept over the country. The extended drouth, the quietude o the atmophere, the tires burning am ng the pine stumps and roots in th ■ forest thesehad resulted in filling the air with dense ma sis of smoke, laden with turpentine and resinous gases, inflammable in themselves. Then came a veritable cyclone - the wind qlowing sixty miles an hour—suTcient in its If to have wrought untold damage. The wind instead o di - et ating the gas-laden clouds of smoko only served to condense them. Added to this, the air seemed charged with

electricity. Beginning several miles • south of Hinckley and sweeping northward camo the cyclone, bearing with it the dense masses o gas an I smoke, . which speedily took fire either from the ground fires over which they passed or from electricity. Tne result was that the whole heavers seemed in a blaze. Immense masses < f roaring flame were hurled along, many feet above the surface of the ground igniting everything over which they swept. Great black clouds were seen rushing forward, whirling and roaring in the wind, only to burst into flames with an ex) 1 eion like the discharge of ordnance. Many of ti e buildings, as I was told by men who ha i witnessed the remarkable and terrorizing sight, did not take tiro f om the outside, but from within, suddenly bur-t ng into fames all through the intori r and then oxplo iing. Before the win ! camo up the people of Hin kley Were generally about their us al vocations —working in the sawmill,’ about the streets, in the stores, along the railroads, etc. They were impres ed with the unusual condition of the atmosphere, but wee not frightened. The increa ed density of ! the smoke, so great that lamps were lighted in the houses shortly after noon, they attributed to the uncommon stillness of the air. The tire department had men on constant watch ! for weeks gua ding against the near approach of the so est fires, and at this time were lighting a lire on

trie we tern verge of the village, i ut hud it completely un er cont ol The company was a volunteer one a: d there wa no water system in the village. But the boys ha a great quantity of ho.-e and u-ually were able to get water either from the mill pond on one side of the village < r fro । the “guivo pit" on the other. In thi-; in tar.ee, I owever, several teams were b ing ।mployed drawing water for the fir" c mpany. To the fact that these teams i and wagons were acre sib e when the ! crisis came many people owe their sue- ! eessful tlignt fr m the flames. Su donly came the wind—“the cyclone of fire " as the aurvivois call it. । The insignificant tiro which the men I were fighting paled before the imumn-1 sily of the volume of flame and smoke j which came rushing over the hea-H of 1 7”!!. r■■ ” -■ -• y.., ' iy Kim aLq juui UB i Lee lux Ue o ■ lives, to’W>*on foot and some in the | water wagons. At the same moment i began all over the village, with its p initiation of L-VX) souls, the flight for life. Inf ho <. r.t vrl V t Noone attempt <1 to -eck arof mo in ; the small mill ixmd to t e west of the j vlllag •. It was diflicu t > : a co-s «>r i the villager.- at best, b in b youd t.o i railroad embankment, an 1 oreover ' was filled completely full "f log-, so that it would ha e been aim s' imp >ssil le to get int > the water. From tno mill pimd along th ■ nort nb>u< ■ o tht vi.lage, at the foot of a czm -irb :- aie bluff, is t.o Grindstone Rixur. never inuc of a stream, and it -10 l now nearly dry. \t the < a-b" n verge of the village was a ho Low. known us the gravel pit. in which was a e up » of fee: of water. Th- was the enlx natural place of r fuge for the pe >p o, and it w'emoii a po r rofu^'' indeed. About •• pee io di; reach the gra el pit, however, and by lying down or crouching in the w. t r, ami j curing water over each other, succeeded in fighting iff death A few perished there from suffocation and

V L < THE GRAVEL ITT EAST OF HINT KLFY. WBERF M'NY iOGK KE! I GE

heat, a few from fright an I ex hau tion, and one man was WUnff trample I on by :i cow xcvo at norsos. ’ < ows nd pigs anil ev. n a number of ; rabbit-and a few wildcats and lynx. j crowded themsel es into the pit with i the people and camo out ali e. As the I : flames rolled through the air above i themthepeople in the nit su eredun- । told agonies,an 1 many were so severely I burned that they will bo under the ! : care of doctors for si me time to c >me. ; iTo this gra el pit. however, and to > the two trains guided i y the j brave e. gine r . Ues: mil lb ot, near.} I all who escaped owe t .eir lives. .A few j if<u: d r fuge in water hi 1 s in the i । Grindstone Hive un i a few su coed d in escaping 1 y running f >' miles along the railroad tracks. having been una- ' ble to reach the trains. Os the 1,590 people of Hinckley nearly 500 perished. At Sandstone a little village a few miles north on me Eas ern Minnesota Railroad, sixty-nine 1 eri hed. At I ocegama several 1 st their lives, ana of the se'tiers seatI tered hero and th re through the f- rest j on small cleat ings very few escaped. ■ । Altogether, in and about Hinckley, [ j fully 600 people persshed. ■ ■ E -e-ntrif tv <>" t tie Fl inv . , j As I walked about-the smoking ruins i ' of Hinckley I could not but remark the , j complete destruction wrought by the s i flames. Every house was destroyed. - I The sidewalks, ant even the culverts - j running under the streets were burned. - । Two landmark ', however, remain to ■ i show that tires as well as floods can be 1 eccentric. The little wooden outhouse l ; belonging to the Eastern Minnesota

i depot is intact, without a siga of fir# on it, though of the depot and hotel ; acr. ss the wav not a vestige remains. Again, down beyond the ruins of the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad roundhouse there stands a garden fence of [ thin pickets, dry as tinder, on which the fire has left no murk. Every home -X. Ant hit is birr or hinckley. and tree and every hot of sidewalk has been converted into a^hes, but the ! picket tence stands as clean and unmarked as though no fire had ever 1 come within a mile of it To explcdk sn.’h things is impossible. They are fads, nev. rihvh»>.. Here and there are bits of clothing, remnants of shoes, buttons, etc., and the ; ecnl’ar dark, gre sy-lookingspots which the initiated recognizes immediately as the places where victims of ti e tire perished. Near the site of the roundhous * on the street is a quantity of scorched feathers and bu nod remnants of clothing. The careless passerby would not notice the place but it ( marks a scene of : uch heroic seif sacrifice as m seldom met with. On this spot perish.-d a sick man and his two would-be saviors. He was unable to rise from his b d, and two heroic mon < armed him from the house lying on his blankets and pillow and tried to convex him to a place of safety. After the fire, when the searchers went about the street; gathering up the dead, they found the three corpse!. Ti e < । rpso of the sick man was oa-ilj identified, but t.o two nob e fellows who died in their heroic efort to save him w re burned bevond recognition. N<> one will ever know who they wer#, this side of heaven. Aw'u In C »n rnip'itr. The mind can hardly grasp the eitont < f the disaster that has wither d with the tor di of fire and of death a large area of Minneota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, leaving only blackened waste where b auty once rep -ed and human ashes wlure < ne was the sweet vigor o’ life A blackened region, burned homo-, and charred Iswiiei once animated with immortal souls—those are the roll sos the flcry tornado that : wept whole towns and village I) OUI> m V THE 1. AIS INTO Tilt ViH* out of <> isb n'e ami Ic.el ■ , the I e iutie; of the forest too bhu kened, smoking ruin. Hut yosten a .1 scene 61 pr -porl’y, of h .mm hhi-e and c urage and tnr» t. of human lives and 1 vo , and now — Tm re is woe | iio 1 < n ww, horror upon horn r. a charred and blackened cmi s iKmeath, a heaven of smoke above, a city a doz< n cities- of the

dead, wth hope extinguished by despair and love ’timed from its ob*<■l. earth to objects beyond the dividi’-g Tine of lite And oh. t‘r^ su lime oatho- of the < h .nue Hie | heroism dispiryeu iu uu. burning regions, the sacr.tiees that can never b. written nor ever be known; the i divine love that pr muted sell-ob-I lite at ion that some one, dearer than ■ very self, mi Hit live. Mother- cov" ing with their bodies ' the prostrate forms of their little ones that the cruel flame- might not touch them, wetting the frail b.dios while th ir own were on tire -who could i view such scenes, who think of them, them, without feeling the subli • ity cd’ our common nature? And then the tragedy tie profound horror lof it ali mothers, fathers, chilI dren. brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends, all st in ling in a raging 1 ocean of ti e: hopeful until their very breaths became as furnace draughts, । and then turned with anguished "gaze from earth t > heaven, falling at length into the sleep of forgetfulness and painlessness. How ruel it al! was, how swift, and how t rrible! A few hours and ths fiery holocaust was over; nearly one thou; and lives were wiped out and over A 0.000,0 0 worth • f property was dest oyed. The survivors, dazed, suffering and despairing, stood amid their ruins and their dead, while above, veiling the brightnessof the sun, hung clouds of smoke- the fringe of the fiery tempest past. Death and ruin reigned. _ A. M. Dickinson. Seven hundred Catholic Knights . । of Ohio met ba aonvention at Day ton.

OUR rural READERS. SOMETHING HERE THAT WILL INTEREST THEM. A Low-Down Wagon for Ilarvesting En-•Uage-Ownlng vs. Renting Land-Dura-ble Outside Cellar Stairs-Bran Dearer than Wheat-Pure Water for Poultry. An Knniln£e Fodder Rack. Although the growing of a good crop of grain as well as fodder and allowing it to ripen for ensilage gives us much better ensilage than the old plan of growing fodder only and cutting and canning it green, it does not, in the least, aid us in the i solution of the problem of transport- 1 Ing our ensilage material from the A habvkstino bnbicage made easy. “TTUId to the cutter. The long stalks with large, heavy ears, are very dilllvult to handle. Many devices have been gotten up to aid in handling this fodd. r and one of the best which we have seen is a low-down wagon described in the Ohio Farmer by F. P. Stump of ti.e (diio State I Diversity Farm, as follows: The plan is to lit the ordinary farm wagon with a rack, low enough to allow one man alone to load conveniently, a fair load. It requires for material two pieces of pine sxfilnxlfi ft, one piece of oak sx<ixi2 in. four pieces of pine . x xls in. Ai out >0 (>r 60 ft of inch lumber and four good, st r<mg standards, of oak preferable; then so .r bolts x2ti in; one 1 -in jointid king bolt with two iron ke.vs one iron plate IxS^ in, four iron plate, ea< h -xl x - in, eight standard lands—four large four small —with two small 51 in bolts for each. Then a long chain completes the outtit. though the chain is not essential. The 'front boi-ter, rear bounds and coupling pole or reach must l>e removed irom the wagon and tli<* rack bolted under the rear axle, and suspended from the front axle as shown in the cut. We And this rack extremely convenient for many other uses on the farm It comes in very useful where oae stooks his corn and draws it to the barn to husk, or in drawing the st Hks to the the barn alter hulking m the Held. Thr Oiituhie Crl!»r Stair*. As usually constructed, the outside cellar stairs become very much delapidated aft- r a few veirs of use, and ni.ujv serious accidents occur by fall’ffg or irurn aud on the deTvngth < an be obtained, they are the Lest p< -■Mice inalern** »•<« ntipsr* the next b -t Ix'.ng plank, though iicilher can l>e depended ujion uulc ti»i wLol' snare underneath the steps, down to the level cf the cellar Foor be laid up >a masonry. Where r . 7-1-U --1. t ^T r c J / ’ ' J '" y/ tr io 1 E c:■ i.t vu ; . All:,. only small stone, either roun 1 or flat, i> at band lav up the stairs of this material thmouzhiy imbedded in mortar, making the steps of the needed height When th sis done, cut a plank step of the needed width and length for each step, and pla e them on top of the stone step, as showu in the ac umpanyiug illustration. lj on each side tit a retaining board, and the result will le steps that are durable and generally satisfactory. if p> s-i le, make the steps from two inch pine plank covering the whole with folding doors, in the usual manner.—American Agriculturist. Bran Dearer Than Wheat. The value of bran as food has been so greatly exaggerated by some agri(ultural writers that the demand has put it beyond the reach of farmers who are not carried away by this n w fad. In truth, bran as made nowadays is mai lythe hu-k of the wheat grain, and it is not worth m arly so TnUt'h <l-* »t «« ‘ Hx 11 mu* ii 'jC Hte gluten went with it- Then bran was really valuable. Now, though worth but little, it sometimes sells at more per pound than do= s wheat. A Canada farmer look a few bushels of wheat to mill and intended to return with a load of bran. He found the bran was -1 per ton, or nearly a cent a pound, while his wheat would hardly bring as much. He has ci Deluded hereatter to use ground whole wheat and leave bran to the tancy farmers who may prefer it. Corn Suckers. Nothing of late vea:s is said about the once common p acnce of suckeringcorn. that, is removing the suckers so as to give Hie main stalk a better chan c. It was always a pra tice of doubtful advantage, and cost a g eat deal of labor that could be 1 etter employed. The corn that produces the most suckers is that whose early growth was stunted. When midsummer heats come on, deve oping more plant food in the soil than the single stalk could dispose of. one or mo e suckers were put forth to utilize the surplus. Sometimes ears are grown on these suckers. i nimproved Lands. In South Carolina,of a total area of i t i 000 000 acres, n,000,000 are imI proved and 8,000,000 unimproved.

In Georgia, of a total of 25,000,000 I 15100 imo °° °?° a ‘ e ilu P roved and 10,500,000 unimproved A similar proportion exists in Florida. In Illinois there are .30,000,000 acres of arming lands, of which 4,000,000 acres are idle. There is a much in r Knr?h O n Ort ' , . on of HH^oißroved land 1 ^ arolina > Georgia, Alabama, ,P - , ’L and Louisiana, than people. Wh ch w ‘ ll sur P ise Ownine vs. Renting Land. th»J a Q tiß i tICS Show cven in the West ™ p , r °P° rtion of farmers lent instead of owning their land. It s PioUbly due to the retirement of those who have passed the three to ten an<l yCt ‘ hold on ' Jnrm arrnS as a Base mea ns of securing revenue for their remaining , aays. We cannot believe that the renters will not buy the farms if they have a good chance. The money is safer on a mortgage than the rent would be. When a man works rented land there is constant temptation to take from It all he can and leave it • poorer than he found it. Ownership ; gives an interest to make the farm i better, and this is the condition that jis best for both parties American : Cultivator. — Water for Poultry. The ordinary, V shaped trough B, shown below, made from ordinary fence boards, shows a simple method of supplying the poultry regularly with pure water, saye the Farm and

Home. It may be made of any desired length, but eighteen inches is sail cient. In this at one end in vert a five-gallon or jug A which has previously been tilled with pure water. To keep it erect, drive two stakes at the end of the trough and lean the THOUGH FOB POULTRY. can against them. If further support is necessary, tie it to the stakes. As soon as the water is lowered in the trough below the. opening in the can, a little air is admitted and water Tows out to take the place of that consumed. By this means water can be kept pure and wholesome and if the vessel be made of earthenware and placed in the shade it will keep cool for a long time. 1 lehl of Honey. A writer in the Orange Juda Farmer has thoroughly tested his ||i mi MWW 11 —been able to get any large number to average'Her 50 or 00 pounds to the <<?;.my but colonies in thesameyard. r n for extra ted honey, have averaged tn in I_’s to 100 pounds in a season. The bees run for extracted honey were given empty combs as rapidly as they could fill them. He keeps his ens clipped and has little or n । trouble from swarming, in this wav vv th the self spacing frames in the hive, he claims to be able to ■ care for io 1 colonies, and do it easier than he could handle half that numI ber in sections. I neten Stands of Corn. No small part of the failure ofc >rn to make a good crop comes from poor seed. It operates in two ways. The farmer who doubts his seed is temnted to plant more in a hill, thinking that some may not germinal 1 f half the -c d failed entirely the crop would be better. But poor seed does not operate that way. If its v tality is wholly destroyed the appearaa e of the seed shows it, and it is usually rejected. The <onsequence is that the hill has a number of feeble stalks crowding each other so that not one in the hill can set an ear. The poor seed ought not to have more than two stalks in a hill, and if the soil is poor. also, thinning to one stalk would be better still. Au Easily Made Wagon Jack. This wagon jack should be made of hard wood. The large end of the lever should be covered with strap ! I r ' z ' A WAGES’ JACK THAT HOLDS. > iron or an iron plate set on its upper ‘ surface where the axle rests. To hold 1 the lever, a I olt maybe put through i the upright and the diagonal piece I notched to tit thus regulating the use of the jack io high or low wagons. Home-Bred Cows. a cow bred ou the farm where it is . to be kept is more (outented and will ■ give better results than .-he will on a : strange place. This is a strong point in favor of breeding cows for the dairy, instead of relying on 1 urchas- : ing them. Besides, it is every year 1 becoming more ditlicult t » buy cows of the best milking strains in the numbers required for any dair . The value of t:.e Lest cows is more highly appreciated! and they bring , prices' that make it pay for breeding , them. By using a thoroughbred bull : a herd of natives may be improved I rapidly, and this increase in value of 1 the herd makes the farming profita- ’ ble, even though the dairyman gets little above his current expenses in sales of milk, butter, and cheese. 1

LAWLER THE WINNER CHOSEN COMMANDER-IN-CHIE? OF THE G. A. R. Closest Election in the History of the Organlzation—Pittsburg and Naw Orleans Capture the Vice Coinm mdersliips—Encampment Business—Finances of Order. Majority of El-ven Votes. rol - Ihomas G. Lawler, of Rockford, ill., was elected Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, by a majority of 11 votes over ( 01. I. N. Malker, of Indiat apolis. It was the c.o c.t conte. t for the office in the history of the organization. Maj. A P Bm-ehheld, of Pittsburg, aud Charles H. Shute, of New Orleans, were chosen respectively Senior and Junior Vice Commanders. Colonel Thomas G. Gaw’er Born in Liverpool about fifty years ago. He camo to this country when he was 10 years o d. and was 17 when the war began. His army service Began in April, 1 61, when ho made a three months’ contract to tigHt for the Stars and Stripes in the Nineteenth Illinois In antry. Sept. 17 of the same year he re-enlisted for three years as a private in Company E of the Nineteenth, with which brave regiment he participated in all the fire and fuss which the Army of the Cumberland was fated to ass through. He was honorably discharged Sept 17,

COLONEL THOMAS G. LAWLER. 1864, his rank at that time being Sergeant. On receiving his discharge he returned to Beckford, where he has ever since male his home. VETERANS DYING OFF. Reports Show that Death Is Decreasing the Ranks of the Grand Army. After the business session of the encampment had been called to order Wednesday the de.egates were welcomed on behalf of the citizen's execCnairman Danie Chairman of the Committee on Invitations and Reception. Gc .e noi* Pattison welcomed them on beha f of the State of Pennsylvania, wai e Mayor McKenna, of Pittsburg, and Mayor Kennedy, of Allegheny, performed the same pleasant duty on behalf of their respective cities. Maj ;r Burchfield then presented the Commander-in-chief with a gavel of great historic interest, it is m ide of wo d from Fort Sumter. Appomatt x, Gettysburg, and Libby Prison, and is bound with metal from the historic cannon. It is thus . symbolic of the opening and the closing of the war. Commander-in-chief Adams in his address spoke at length on the subject of pensions, stating that, wi.ile it was a question of a great interest and he “disliked toeonsi .er money matters in connection with our services to the government, the disabled condition of a large number of our comrades forces it upon us. ” Lie continued: Ky u vote of he last encaiupuieot, a test case was ordered to be made in the United States courts, and as t: at one already begun by Judge Long covered ali the points, it was settled that no other should be inst:tu ed. In reply to the message of the President, which stated “that thousands of neighborhoods had their well-known pension frauds,” the pension department of the order has hunted down ali reported cases. Very few frauds vere discovered, and when found were not cases where soldiers had defrau ed the government, but where some dishonest agent had worked a poor, ignorant widow, and put the money thus obtained in his pocket. The membership of the order, he 1 Eaid, is as follows: Oue year ago there were in good standing 397,223. There have been gained during the year: By muster-in. 16,752; by transfer, 6,354; by reinstatement, 14,036; by reinstatement from delinquent re; orts, 2.519. Total gain, 39,661. Aggregate, 439.854. There have been lost: By death, 7,283; by honorable discharge, 1,756; by transfer, 7,132; by suspension, 34,805; by dishonorable discharge, 154; by delinquent reports, 16.C7L Total loss. 67.50 L Number remainlng In good standing June 39, Ib^r * 369.083. . These figures show that the G. A. R. has reached the beginning of the end. and each i succeeding year will show- a gradual de- ; crease in our membership The long-con-tinued depression in business has caused many suspensions, and these we hope to regain when prosperity returns, but it will be impossible for us to recruit our ranks as fast as our members are mustered out by death. During the year the Grand Army has not forgotten the groat work of charity, and has expended $203,780 for relief. While it has lost in membership, the interest in the order has not abated, but has grown stronger. The little bronze button was never worn with more pride than it Is to-day, and tbe enthusiasm of comrades in Grand Army w<rk is everywhere apparen t. The orcranlzation has *1'3,000 invested in United States bonds, 4 per cents., du3 in iW7. The next national encampment will bo held at Louisville. In the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Phila.ielphia, the decision of the Unl ed States Circuit Court of New .’ersey in the Edison-Westing-house infringement <a -e in favor of 1 dison was reve sed and the case i'emanded, with directions to enter a decree dismissing the bill of complaint. In his annual report Grand Master Fafuent condemned the Firemen's J< urnal and asked approval of his c urse in ti e Pullman strike. ABE DULLER shot and killed Emery j Smith near Rulo, Mo.