The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, September 6, 1894, Page 1

jaw ( ' Crimes. VOL. XVI. BUTLER, MISSOURI, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER. 6 1894. NO 42 - Missouri State Bank Ld OF BUTLER, MO. CAPITAL, ° . $110,000. Transacts a general banking business. We solicit the accounts of far- mers, merchants and the public generally, promising a safe depository for all funds committed to our charge. We are prepared to extend liberal ac- commodation in the way of loans to our customers. Funds always on hand to loan on real estate at lowest rates, allowing borrowers to pay part or all at eny time and stop interest. sDIRECTORs. Boulware Rooker Powell Frauk M Voris r HH Piggott HC Wyatt John Deerwester CR Rad ford RG Weet JB Jenkins TJ Wright Wm E Walton Geo L Smith OTHER S‘TOCKHOLDER:S, E Bartlett Frank Deerwester Robert McCracken Dr'W_ E Tucker Margaret Bryner; D 4 DeArmond A McCrackent Laju Brown John Evans M V Owen Hurley Lumber Co Dr eringham John Pharis G A Caruthers © & E Fre 2 Charles Pharis Wm Walis MB Chelf GB Hick: J K Rosier G P Wyatt JM Courtney" D B Heath J W Reiener Dr NL Whipple Robert Clark Semuel Levy L_B Starke Max Weiner CP 4&8 LColeman C H Morrison’ Clem Blayback J R Davis Dr W D Hannsh John H Sullens. the east side of Duluth track, and the brave fire fighters for the first time gave up the unequal battle,and already too late in many istances, turned their attention to their per- sonal safety. The Eastern Minne- sota train from the south had just come in und people of the panic WIPED OUT BY FOREST! FIRES. | An Awful Cyclone of Flame; Sweeps Over a Part ot Minnesota. headed, but it proved no protection. The fire gave them no opportunity to go further. Some abandoned their | teams and ran into the low portions | of the morass, but the fire sought | them out. Not one wae left to tell| the tale and there this morning in a space of a little more than five acres were counted over 130 corpses. There were many families of five, six | and seven, and there they lay, the jman generally a little in advance.the | | mother surrounded by her little ones | cut off by the most horrible deaths. Nearly all the bodies were! nude, the fire having burned every vestige of their clothing and black- ened and charred mauy of the) corpse beyond recognition and where | whole families were wiped out, as | they were, and some of the bodies completely incinerated, identification is absolutely out of the question. Those who fled to the north on foot followed the Duluth track and so rapid was the progress of the flames that many of them were actually burned as they fled, falling on the right of-way for a distance of three miles of more. Nearly thirty bodies were recovered along here. Some of the foremost escaping citizens met the Duluth train coming in from thenorth. It was due at Hinckley at 4:05. Engineer Jim Root was at the throttle. He stop ped the train and took on board about 125 of the refugees who crowd ed into the train, completely filling it, for it had a passenger list almost aslarge. By this time the woods oe | largest we have ever shown, and prices lower than has ever been seen in Butler Cloaks and Dress Goods, Boots & Shoes We wish to call special attention to our large stock of Woolen Dress Goods this fal! By ‘ar the We can suit you in Dress Goods—anything from &% 1-33c half wOOlto the finest SILK WARP HENRIETTA and the newest and nobbiest trimmings to match every price of goods In our CLOAK DEPARTMENT We are showing some of the nobbiest styles that has ever been seen in Butler. All the newest novelties in Steel Mixed, Brown Mixed, Navy Blue, Havana Brown: just the things that are creating such a craze in the cities this fall. BOOTS & SHOES SIX TOWNS TOTALLY DES TROYED. Five Hundred Persons Known to Have Lost Their Lives. The Destruction of the Towns Was Complete—The Loss to Property Will be in the Millions and The Loss of Life Will Not Be [Known For Sev- eral Days. St. Paul, Minn., Sept. dead is the record made by the for- | est fires in this State m the past twenty four hours. In Hinckley, Sandstone, Pokegama, Sandstone Junction, Skunk Lake and Mission Creek there are 355 known dead. In) «ddition several hundred are missing while from 150 to 200 were scatter- ed on farms throughout the district | burned over. The destruction was complete in most of the towns nam- ed, but some of the forest land es- caped. The loss however, will be in tbe millions and the loss of hfe will not be definitely known for sev eral days, if ever. Hinckley, Minu, about half way between this city and Duluth, has been wiped out by forest fires and the list of dead may reach 1,000. The walls of the school house, the iron fence about the Town hall prop erty, the bank vault and one abso lutely uninjured out house is all that is left to mark the site where yester- day stood a score of buildings, and a dozen times as many which wiped out the material pos sessions that made Hinckley a busy, prosperous little town,is a short one It was built of wood. The school house, erected last year at a cost of | $10,000 and one half of the Duluth round house were the only structures in the city. By one of those peculiar freaks for which there is no account ing. the Eastern Minnesota round house and water tank on the south western edge of town, almost in the woods, escaped the flames. A cir- cumstauce the more remarkable from the fact that it stood directly in the path of the flames, which seem to have jumped it as cleanly as if play ing leap frog. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon the fire literally jumped into the town. Its approach was not gradu- stricken city flocked to it for safety | were blazing on each side of the A number of box cars were coupled | track and as Root reversed his en on and filled and covered with men | gine and started back tke car scorch- women and children. Some were|ed at.d crackled in the heat. Root coatless, some few clutched a pitiful | ran the train back about three miles bundle of the more precious of their | to Skunk lake and the people escap- portable possessions Families were|ed from the burning cars to the seperated. Children joined the| water and no lives were lost, either throng and left parents. In all there|of passegers or refugees was a motley crowd of about 450 or| The people who remained iu mere people. The train pulled out| Hinckley fared the best of all. The Ot the Best Custom Work. We have made some valuable changes in this line this fall both in quility and price; can now show you the largest and best assorted stock of Mens, Ladies and Childrens Goo 1s to be found in South- west Missouri, and will guarantee prices to be as low or lower thau any housa and quality as good or better; if you will only give us a chance tu figure with you on your fall bill, we will save you 2—Six towns wiped out and more than 500 | dwelling houses. The story of the catastrophe just ahead of the fire and succeeded in ultimately reaching Duluth. This circumstance, while fortunate in a degree that can not be estimated, has made the confusion greater, for it is not known who escaped in this way, and many people are reported dead who may be in safety. Had not this number of people, largely | women and children, left the doom ed city when they did, the loss of life would have increased in a geom | etrical ratio, for the presence would have added immeasurably to the subsequent confusion. About the same hour the accomo | dation train on the Hinckley and St. Cloud branch left for the latter place with about twenty-five passen- gers. Its path lay directly a:ross the path of the fire and their situa | tion speedily became desperate. The ties were burning, the rails were warping and the trestles were sag ging under the train. The smoked had increased so that the engineer was helpless. He could not see the train behind him. Burning trees lay across the track and were being tossed aside by the engine. train toppled off to one side. No oue Was injured, and they pressed on to Pokegama station, a few rods ahead. Buta few feet in front of the engine was discovered a gorge | sixty feet wide and forty feet deep | where the trestle had been burned away. They succeeded in reaching the clearing about the station and escaped with a few burns and bruis- es. There were burned along the track, however, four or five people, including Dr. Kelcey of New Brigh- tou, who had come up to look after his brother. The people who were left in the city were in what seemed to be al-) Egress by | | most hopeless condition. 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 for hours, and the women and children were in a panic- | stricken condition. | were of the more ignorant of the | population,for a very large per cent- jage of the people who got out op Eastern Minnesota tracks mark the Many of them} al. It did not eat its way along, de-| the Great Northern railway were of vouring everything m its path, but) th. more intelligent class. Horses came in huge leaps, as if to overtake | were harnessed to buegies and everything fleeing before it,and then | .a5ong. Women and children were burn back at its leisure It is de-| hurriedly loaded. In some cases ** scribed by the firemen who witnessed | attempts were made to carry off its onward progress at Hinckley and | .oin8 household goods, but in most ® elsewhere as if it were forced along | i stances the people had no thought by cyclones of its own generation. | for aught but their lives. Probably The intense heat would develop a} 200 of them left town on foot or in veritable whirlwind of flame that | vehicles, plunging into the woods eastern edge of the city pepper. Just beyond the road owned a tract of laud probably embracing at least ten acres. It was purchased for a gravel pit to furnish material filling up the approach to the company’s bridge across the Grindstone and at other points on itsline. To the fact that it had been used for this pur- pose almost to its exhaustion, about 100 Hinckleyites owe their lives. The whole area indicated had been excavated toa depth in the center of thirty or forty feet. ‘there was a stagnant pool of rain water in the center, three feet in the greatest depth. The pit was wide and deep and to it fed those of the citizens who were willing to trust to its friendly depths. There were prob- ably 100 of them. It was really the jsafest place about Hiuckley. Here eity rolled over their heads. dashed water over each other They and jto prevent suffocation. One un- Sud | known man, succumbed to smoke, | denly the track gave way and the| fell in the water aud was drowned. | Others of the citizens sought refuge} in the Grindstone river under the abutment of the railway bridges and jat the footbridge. The exact number can not be known as they were scat tered along a considerable stretch of the little stream That many es caped and some were drowued is is well known. Mrs. Martin Martin- son and her four little babes were | taken, drowned, from the water this morning, as pitiful a sight as man’s eyes ever witnessed. In the meantime Hinckley was burning with the utmost rapidity, and in a few hours nothing was left but ruins. The total loss to the city will exceed $1,000,000, with a comparatively light insurance. The situation at Sandstone is even more appalling than Hickley, except in point of numbers. Of the 200 residents one fourth are dead. Otto Stafferfeldt of Sandstone walked in to Hinckley and rode down to Pine City to-night, and tells a graphic story of the disaster. Hesays that ‘last night about 5:30 flames neared the town and the people prepared to covered their heads witk wet cloths} help which will insure promptness in waiting upon you Yours some money; our business has increased so rapidly that we have been compelled to get additional Call and look at gools and prices for | yourself; they will speak louder than all the advertisements. truly, Lane & Adair, Kettle River Junction- father is missing. All the settlers in the vicinity are probably burned to death, O'Neill brothes had twelve camps in,the woods near Sandstone and all of these are burned. Most There are eleven homeless fami- lies still at Mission Creek, but they have provisions for about twenty- four-hours. Brook Park two miles west of Hinckley. is burned and they are in need of immediate re- lief. The executive committee last night decided to send immediate re lief and a party of volunteers took a jload of provisions to Sandstone, leaving on the train for Sandstone | Junction, where they will take teams |and get through to Sandstone before | midnight. | Hinckley, Minn., Sept. 3—The | blackened ruins of two or three brick | buildings is all that remains of the once prosperous town of Hinckley. A DAY OF MOURNING. This is today a place of mourn ing, and the burial of the charred jand unrecognizable bodies of the hundreds of victims has saddened |the survivors even more than the disaster itself. The fire was so over whelming in its immensity that none could, in the first terror of the mom (ent, realize how great was their loss. ‘Each was so intent on saving his life that little thought was given to the disaster in general by most, al |though many cases of heroism have | been reported. The bodies thus far recovered have been placed in rough at Sandstone, there are twenty at| presented an appearance of One family | tion hard to describe. is living in a root house and the| center of the open was the crowning of the inmates, however, are believ- | jed to have escaped with their lives. | they remained four hours, while the} smoke and flames from the burning | desola- But in the horror. In an indiscriminate heap lay more than ninety corpses, men, women and little children, some burned to a crisp, other only brown- ed by the heat,and none witha frag ment of clothing larger than a man’s band to conceal their nakedness. Some were mere truuks, the extrem ities having been: burned off. Some were bloated until the abdomen had | cracked open and intestines were protruding. Skulls were burned open and brains escaped, and all were twisted and cramped in the agony of their death. A force of men were quickly at work digginy a shallow trench along the south end of the railroad. The sandy soil was as hard as flint. It had been baked toa crust by weeks of drouth, and! almost solidified by the fire. The work progessed slowly. A BAD TEMPER generally accompanies a torpid liver and indigestion. An in-door life o! brings on this condition ; there foll ja, or lack of blood, frequently anot orse effect— that of Dyspepsia. Dr. Pierce's Golden Med- ical Discovery is the restorative tonic and liver invigorator which will positively cure just such cases. n Medical Discov- Pieasant Pellets | y believe I would in my grave, ng did me any AT bey cured my child eats ‘and a stomach, which wed an attack of Mrs. F. A. ORR. Pp too highly.” Sold by PIERCE .:.CUR pine boxes for burial. and the ma jority of them have been buried with out any knowledge of the identity. SCENES AT THE CEMETERY. leave The wind blew like a hurri-) cane, and as the people were getting readv to leave, tbe fire closed in sides. vot a single person Qut in the little cemetery a mile bing except his clothes. cast of town was a scene which 60 went to the river and words are absolutely powerless or sixty were burned to Ceath.| describe. At best the little Atdovclock this morning be saw would ve as dreary as could well be over forty bedies, ebarred and burn- imagined. It is on top of a rough. ed, lying on every side The people sandy knoll, where nature is seen at on thre cy to actually twisted off popular trees * several inches in thickness and earri- ed huge blazing firebrands high in the air, and carrying them forward north across the Grindstone river. which skirts the town on the north. | They were litterally fleeing before who were saved are living on pota toes and carrots left on the ground Ode gentleman. Sandorn, found ber worst, and absolutely no at tempt toward artificial embellish ment bas ever been made. There the pursuing demon of the fre Over the hill that rises beyond the Grindstone isa swamp and to most of the people with teams for from forty to eighty rods there | to fall and begin the work of devas- | tation anew. a The fire first struck Hinckley on | this forty-seven bodies lying uncovered were only a few little sandy. unsod- \in the sun. The people are destitute eq mounds before. Now, with the | of everything. | blackened fire, scarred stumps and | In addition to forty-seven bodies | fallen trunks of trees all about, it | OR MONEY RETURNED. R. S. Catron insures growing cops against hail, also writes fire and tornado insurance. 433th) C. P. Catron & Co. will buy court cost and loan money in small amounts on good chattel securities. 12-tf. Some special bargains at D. W. Drummond's new store. See his card 30 tf. WORLD'S CARNIVAL CITY St. Louis offers a continuous list of Attractions--Her Unrivaled Fall Festivities Commence September 5th, and hold Full Sway until Octo- ber 20th, Is94. The successful series of carnival seasons in- augurated by the citizens of St. Louis some 15 years ago, continue as ever for the season of Inds, and from the morning of Sept. 5th to the evening of October 20th the city will be one scene of gayety and splendor. Many new, novel and unique features have been added to the long list of standieg attractions, and from every point of view this reign of high carnival will outehine all previous attempts. The St Louis Exposition, the only one of ite kind in the United State: has lived year after year with flattering results, will throw open ite doors to the public September sth, and remain in a state of activity uutil the even— ing of October 20th. Sousa’s Grand Concert Band has been re-engaged for the season anit will give the usual number of concerte during the afternoon and evenings. The entire Mie- souri Exhibit which appeared at the World’« Fair will be transplanted here, and find apace in the commodious building The exhibitors, both foreign and home, will present n deasin displaying their good and, in addition to other features, a fall com- plement of specialty artists will perform on | the stage of the Music Hail. The Great St Louis Fair. which Monday, October Is week, promises to prises. The "Mi the World's Fai Will open and continue during the ford many pleasant ee y Plaisance’ featare ir will be reproduced in fa of the west and southwest giv to see in real life the inwabit- ¥ civilized and ancivilized country of the globe ‘Streets of “Moorish Palace, Wheel,’ ete., ‘Ferris veni rade through the p ofoid. Visitors to the city New Union arrive at the tion, the largest 1, and the most per- Great indueements nival City are offered via the ouri Pacific Raitway and Iron Mountein from all pointe om the system. complete programme, pointment Hi hest of ail in Leave Power.— Latest U.S. Gov’t Report Roval Baking Powder ABSOLUTELY PURE