Report of the Forest Commission. 51 



charred mass of ruins. Dead animals and human beings are everywhere, and 

 they are burned wherever found." 



Judge Nethaway, of Stillwater, has been one of the most active in relief work , 

 and has been all over the surrounding country. Seven miles northwest of 

 Hinckley to-day he came to a spot where a farm house had stood. In front 

 was a well, and over to the left could be seen five human bodies and the bodies 

 of several animals. Judge Nethaway went at once to the well to see if any one 

 was there, and found down in the bottom a 12-year-old boy in eight inches of 

 water, who had lived there since Saturday with nothing to eat. The littie 

 fellow w r as pulled up, and said he had been put down there w T hen the fire was 

 seen, and an "awful bad smoke had passed over him, and it was aw^ful hot.'' 



At Hinckley to-day the full realization of the awful calamity is just begin- 

 ning to be felt. The work of rescuing dead bodies continued. Many of the 

 survivors are returning, and are living in tents. To-day a large number of 

 bodies were recovered. Coroner Cowan sent out 57, while 68 were buried in 

 the graveyard, and more were being brought in all the time. 



Aid Reaches Hinckley and Pine City. 



Hinckley, Minn., September 4. — The special train sent out by the citizens 

 of Minneapolis bearing supplies and medical relief to the suffering people of 

 Hinckley and the neighborhood had on board 11 physicians and surgeons, 

 with a full supply of drugs and instruments and 50 canvas cots. Pine City 

 was the main objective point, for it was there that the relief supplies were to 

 be distributed and the temporary hospitals had been opened. The medical 

 committee were met at the station by the wife of Dr. Barnum, the local 

 physician, who, with her husband, had been working day and night from the 

 time the first victims were brought in until both were almost completely worn 

 out. "Oh, we're so glad you've come," almost sobbed the little woman to Dr. 

 McDonald as he stepped from the train. 



The platform was crowded with people with blackened and scarred faces 

 and bandaged hands and arms. Near the edge of the platform rested a coffin, 

 in which was inclosed the body of General Passenger Agent Rowley of the 

 Winnipeg and Duluth road. He was one of the passengers on Engineer Root's 

 ill-fated train, and his body was found yesterday morning a short distance 

 from the burned train, but so charred and disfigured that its identity was 

 established only by the name printed on the inside of the burned fragment of 

 a linen collar. Mr. Rowley had been in the habit of coming down from 

 Duluth every Saturday to spend Sunday with his family at Merriam Park 

 and he was on his way home when he met his death. 



It was found that there had been much misrepresentation, as far as Pine 

 City was concerned, regarding the number and condition of the injured and 

 the necessity for supplies. Instead of 200 injured to be cared for, there were 

 barely 20 and many of these had not been seriously hurt. All the injured 

 have been brought in, too, and it was learned that those at Duluth scarcely 

 outnumbered those at Pine City. Most of those who escaped received no 

 physical hurt whatever. The most severe and dangerous cases in Pine City 



