Boston Corbett

[Craig Hipkins]

Maharba, It is a possibility that the "Thomas Corbett" that burned to death in the Hinckley MN fire in 1894 is Boston Corbett, but I find this to be highly unlikely. The Rev. William Wilkinson published a memorial of the fire shortly after the event and listed a Thomas Corbett as one of the victims. There are a couple of reasons that I believe it is not Boston Corbett that perished in the flames at Hinckley. First, Wilkinson lists Thomas Corbett as being 57 years of age which would have put his birth year at around 1837. Boston Corbett, according to many sources was born in England around 1832. This is a discrepancy of 5 years. A second reason that I believe it was not him was that "Thomas Corbett" was a fairly popular name. According to the 1880 census there were over 100 Thomas Corbett's living in the United States. Finally, Corbett knew that he was a fugitive of sorts. If he was looking for anonymity in the woods around Hinckley why would he have used the name Corbett at all? Why not change it to "Smith" or "Jones?" I know that these reasons do not prove anything, but they lead me to believe that Boston Corbett and the Hinckley Corbett are two different people. That is my gut feeling at the present time, unless any new evidence comes to light.

I wrote an article a few years back (Unpublished) that lists the possible fate of Boston Corbett. I for one would like to know!