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THE HUSTLER OF ROME.
FIRE SWEPT.
Fully 400 Lives Lost in the Great
Forest Fires,
A MICHIGAN HOLOCAUST
Proves the Horror of the Year.
Entire Towns Swept Away
Leaving HundredsJDead
wand Thousands
Homeless.
Pine City, Mtnn., September
2—Three towns, Hinckley, Mission
Creek and Pokame, lie in ashes to
night and more than 200 corpses lie
in the region in the neighborhood of
Hinckley. The vast valley between
the Ketle river and Cross Lake is
laid waste, including several villi.ges
and settlements.
Besides the towns that were reduc
ed to ashes, farmes were swept clean
by the flames. The forest are still
burning fiercely and rain is required
to drown the fires that are sweeping
over that vast region.
Whole families have keen cremat
ed. In some instances only one or
two men escaped from a neighbor
hood, to tell of the destruction. They
saved their lives by running to small
lakes or hiding in potato fields, and
reached Pine City more dead than
alive,
St. Paul, Sept 2.—The town of
Hinckley, seventy five miles south
of St. Paul, on the St. Paul and Du
luth road, with a population of
from 1,000 to 1.200. was wiped out
of existence last night by forest
fires.
The smalier town of Mission
Creek,five miles from Hinckley,
was also wiped out. The loss of life
is variously estimated at from 100
to 400, and it is almost certain the
loss will be 200 at least.
It will be several days before
the full extent of the disaster is
JUST RECEIVED
* ■ '' '
One of the most com
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TO.'LET SOAPS
AND
TOILET ARTISLES
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fine
IMPORTED TOOTH
BRUSHES
They have no superior
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market
SOLE AGENT FOR
CANDIES
J. T. GROUCH & GO
Medical Building.
ROME GEORGIA. MONDAY EVENING SEPTEMBER. 3 1894.
is kuown. All is confusion among
dm survivors, who are searching
fortheir children and children
searching for their parents
The de«lh list mcrea-es hourly.
rhewallso f the railroad round
house and a school house are the
only parts <?f bui'dingsin H nckley
which remain,
One of the mosl thrilling events
waa the experience of the train
whtch left Duluth at 2 p. in. Sat
urday for St. Paul. It was the lim
ited pas*e ger, the best train on
the road and was crowded with
passengers,
The smoking forest fires were
so dense that lamps were lighted
m the cars. When the train came
wiihin about r mile of Hinckley
the engineer found he could pro
ceed no further, as the people were
already fleeing for their lives from
the town.
Dr. H. W. Grary of this city
who was on board, tells of the
backward run of the train for seven
miles until a small lake was reach
,ed. His story as given to a Moru-
I ng Call reporter is as follows.
The woods on either side were
lashed by a fierce wind blowing at
the rate of eighty miles an hour.
On through this weird scene the
limited sped, the situation growing
more alarming at every mile.
As the train neared Hinckley it
was discovered that the fire had
reached the railroad, but on it
sjed, the engineer hoping to pass
Hinckley in time to escape the
danger.
It was not until the train had
come within a mile of Hinckley
that the engineer discoverd that
the train was burning, and that, it
would be impossible to pass. The
bridge had already been consumed
together with the mills and homes
of Hinckley.
here the train wa* met bv a hun
dred or more fugitives from town
Mothers carried in their arms email
children, others c iaging to their
mother’s skirts. Some carried a few
household goods ar d others were cry
mg and moaning on account of loss©'*
already sustained. Mauv were so
nearly (xi.austed that they could
scarcely climb on the train.
“Nearer and nearer the the flames
were approaching, and final! y|the en
gineer was compelled to reverse nis
lever and run back, leaving behind
scores of unfortunate ones who had
not beefi able to reach the train, their
on'y available means of escape.
Those on board could see many
of them sink to the ground, ex
hausted and overcome by the ter
rible heat, never again to rise.
Many came running across the
fields from small settlements,
hoping to escape on the train, but
only disappointment and death
awaited them.
On rushed the train’througn the
fiery hot breath of the pursuing
flames,-for a stop would have been
fatal to all on board. As the weary
passengers retraced their steps
Sunday morning, some afoot and
others on handcars, they font d
along the side of the track and in
fields the charred remains of those
poor unfofrtunaie wretches.
In four miles thirty-four bodies
were found, some burned beyond
recognition and others uncharred,
having died from suffocation. It
was a four or five-mile run back to
Skunk lake, which is little more
than a mud hole, the mud and wa
ter covering not more than an acre.
The train had gone but a short
distance before it was surrounded
by the devouring flames.
Hot blasts of flames struck the
coaches, setting fire to them in
places and breaking the windows
on both sides. The baggage car was
soon a mass of flames, which
streamed back over the tender and
engine, setting fire to the engin
eer’s clothes and scorching his face
and hands.
STOOD TO HIS POST
“Ou either side of the engine
there was a stream of flame, but
never for an instant did Engineer
Root fl nch. To remain was appar
ently certain death to him, but
could he hold out for four miles
the passengers might -possibly es
cape.
To have deserted his post would
have been death to all on board.
Back o' him stood his trusty fire
man who occasioniy poured water
on him When the heat became
unendurable for the fireman be
took a dip in the water tank, from
which he drew the supply for the
engineer’s shower hath,
At Skunk lake the engineer had
scarcely strength to shut off the
steam. As he pulled the lever he
sank to the floor exhausted, burned
and bleeding, the broken glass in the
cab having cut him in a number of
places. Quickly two men rushed to
the cab and bore the form of the
brave engineer to the water below
the embankment. Here he lay all
night, covered with mud and dirty
water, and dying, as most of the
passengers believed
“A mile or two from the lake
the coaches were burning above
and underneath. On board the
passengers became panic stricken,
and it was only by force that many
of the weaker ones were prevented
from springing through the brok
en windows or rushing out the
doors.
To prevent this men guarded
the doors. Scarcely a soul on board
had any hope of escaping, not
knowing at what moment the
burning train would jump from
its track of fire into a bed of hot
coals.
“At Skunk lake sixty more men,
women and children found refuge
in the shallow water and dirty
mud, the women walking out in
the water until it reached their
waists, and with their hands they
bathed their burning faces in mud
and water.
Many of them were seriously
burned on the train. Many lay in
th® mud, covering themselves with
it, and, as this became baked, a
fresh coat had to be added. Many
on leaving the train rushed off
towards a marsh and others ran
further along the track. It is
thought that many of those are
lost.
Some few died of suffocation
within a few rods of the pond*
Many women had their clothes
partially burned and torn from
their bodies. One mother was
found nursing her suckling chi Id
to prevent it being suffocated.”
At Hinckley the bodies are be
ing piled in the graveyard and
will be buried as soon as possible.
Every effort is made to identify
the dead bodies.
There are six hundred less peo
ple in Pine City. Reliable infor
mation received by the relief com
mittee show’s about 250 dead at
Hinckley and 500 to 550 homeless
survovors, most of them are at
Pine City with nothing to eat or
wear. Sandstone has 50 dead and
225 nomeless in the very worst pos
sible condition and needing immedi
ate aid.
ESTIMATED LOSS OF LIFE.
St. Paul, Minn., September 2
A special to the Pioneer-Press from
Pine City, gives the following es
timate of the dead : Hinckley, 200;
Sandstone, 46;Sandstone Junction,
25; Skunk Lake, 20:miscellaneous,
30—total, 335.
CARBOLIC ACID.
Today about noon the litle neice
of Mr. John Tew in East Rome, ac
cidently overturned a bottle of Car
bolic Acid on hei(face and body.
The screams of the little one at
tracted the attention of the family,
and Dr. McCall was called in at once
and administeied to the sufferer,
fortunately the child did not swal
low any of the deadly poison, but
she is severely burned.
A PARLOR RIFLE
In the hands of an Irrepressible
“Small Boy.”
MAY CAUSE THE DEATH
Os Mrs. Franks, his Aged
Grandmother. The Shoot
ing was Acciden
tal. Residents
ofKingston.
Kingston, Ga.. Sept. 3. —A very
unfortuntb, but accidental shooting
< ccurr<*d here Saturday afternoon.
The smnll grandson of Mrs.
Franks, a lady near fifty years of
age, was plajing with a parlor rifle.
It was accidentally discharged, and
the bullet stru k Mrs Franks in the
left aide 4 ust above the stomach.
The physicians probed for the
ball, but were not successful in find
ing it.
The lady ia critically wounded and
it is not expected that she will live.
The grief of the young boy who
did the shooting is inconsolable.
KILLED HIS WIFE.
And Then Shot Himself Through
the Head.
Vernon, Tex., September 3. —
Yesterday a passer-by found the
little son of O G. Klcck, a farmer,
living twelve miles north of here,
crying on a doorstep.
The little boy informed the
stranger that his father had shot
his mother and then himself. Up
on entering the house tne stranger
found Mrs Klock dead, with a
bullet through her heart, and
Klock dj ing with a bullet through
bis head
Aid waa summoned, but Klock
died without saying a word. He
war a prosperous f inner until re
cently, and it is supposed financial
troubles caused him to commit the
double tragedy
S. M. STARK.
I desire to call the attention of
my patrons and the public general
ly to the fact ’hat
ON bEP’T 10th.
My large and well assorted new
stock of FALL AND WINTER
WOOLENS
Will arrive, and further that I am now
prepaired and will turn out
FIRST CLASS WORK
AMI
FIRST CLASS GOODS,
Cheaper than ever before. Paste
this in YOUR HAT and remember
your own interests
S. I ML
MERCHANT TAW
16 ARMSTRONG HOTEL.
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