Tragic Details About The Great Hinckley Fire Of 1894
By Sebastian Wright
It's no secret that fire spreads quickly, and the special conditions of the Hinckley fire meant that it escalated faster than a fire typically would. This amounted to little time for townspeople to escape. MNopedia reports that it only took about an hour and a half for the fire to engulf the town.
Luckily for some residents, trains were headed toward Hinckley as the fire raged, giving them a means to escape. That said, not all made it. Some witness accounts claimed that some people were on fire as they chased after a train as it departed the town (via MNopedia). Dr. W.H. Crary, a passenger on one of those trains, told The New York Times at the time, " ... [T]he engineer was compelled to reverse his lever and run back, leaving behind scores of unfortunate ones who had not been able to reach the train, their only means of escape." He added, "On rushed the train through the fiery, hot breath of the pursuing flames, for a stop would have been fatal to all on board," per Macalester College.
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