The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-11-18 00:00:00

THE FOREST FIRE IN WISCONSIN.

The New York World publishes a letter from Mrs.
Lucile Mechand, giving an account of her Hight before
the fire. She writes :

"lii. by no means an Infrequent occurrence to have fires
In the woods in Wisconsin which, in the dry season, linen for
weeks and weeks. I have often looked tip towards the north-
west and seen from an resilience clouds of smoke lying
above the woods steadily for a longtime and never appearing
to Moire in any way. It was but seldom that the tire itself
could be twee, Nobody feared an extensive conflagration
even in the shyest ,of times, lunch has naa there any appre-
hension that the tints would comae when the names would
sweep down Upon WI and ahuost in an histaut burn up our
lenses like fo in stubble, and make us flee for ann. ii lea.
Still, when ghe drought of the present season had lasted tench
linger than previous mire had done, slate of 4mr neighlmers
began to fear that if at any tnne a high what should
blow long enough we should find ourselves in the greatest
danger.

In the morning of the Ilth of October, just as we were
sitting down to take breakfast, Mr. Richardson, a neigh-
bour of ours, came running into the house and told Mr.
Mishima that he must come out immediately and MI: what
could be done. During the night the wind hail risen, but
not 110 greatly as to amount to anything like a gale Mr.
Meehan,' did not nom at all uneasy, Mid 11188111 y swallowed
his breakfast beton. following Mr. Richardson, who had 1113-
appeared 118 80011 as he had stuck his bead into the room and
called nip husband. Mr. Medi:nal went into the woods and
stayed till ;111111It noon, when he came running back and said
that he had climbed up to the top of Brown's 1011, where the
wind was blowing a gale, and from there had seen the tire,
which was coming towards 118 MI a tremendous pace. I
asked if he thought there was any danger to be feared he
shook his bead and answered'Na,' yet I knew by his face
that he was far from being devoid of fear. Ile ate his
dinner hastily, and then ran out again, and was met at the
door by a neighbour, who said that the tire was advancing
with frightful speed. Indeed, the air had now become
sultry as it never had been before, except on some hot
days In summer lmnniedialely before the coming ,d a thunder-
storm. The air was stifling, and the smoke got bite one's
lungs and nostrils in luta a way as to render It exceedingly
unpleasant.

" Mother sat In scorner holding little Louis In her lap, and
I noticed that she seemed restless. I went and took the boy
away from mother, and then, as I had afterwards terrible
reason to remember, although I hardly noticed it at the
time, she went to the cupboard and secreted something in
the bosom of her dress. Mr Meelli stood at the iloor
speaking hurriedly with a man whom he had met, when a
burning branch of pine fell at his feet. Instantly the air
darkeeed ; • violent puff of wind rushed uf..on Us, and
smoke poured in volumes almut the house. Then, following
the gust, a bright sheet, or rather wall id fire, seemed to be
pushed down almost upon us, and instantly everything was
in Mulles. Mr. Welland cried out to me to briug Louis with
me, and seized mother by the hand, and we all four ran In
terror out Into the woods ahead of us. I rau on, blinded
and choked by the smoke, and carrying LOWS in my arms,
stumbling and tripping almost at every step. I kept calling
to my husband to keep in sight, but, poor fellow, there was
no, need of doing M.. for I could see that mother was surest
worry to him, and that be had almost to drag her along.
She kept looking from side to side, and trying to break away
from him: even then I thought how terrible it would be if
she should become furious again. What on earth could we
do with her/ We most have gone on in tide way for at least
three miles and I cue almost exhausted, for Luis was a boy
six years old and large fir his age, and Iliad been carrying
him all the way. The trees were compact, and in sonic
places the fundergrowth was as close and slid as wire.
Mother kept getting worse, and Mr. Welland, who was a
short distance ahead of Louis and me, had the greatest diffi-
culty to make her obey him. Presently he stopped, and evi-
dently was waiting for me to curve up. So I put Louis down
mid told him to keep alongside of me, at the same thne
taking him firmly by the hand. The Ore had come much
blower than we, and I believe we must have been at least
two miles ahead of it, although there was no telling, for 1
could see nothing lichind Apr far befure me but smoke curling
like a mist in and out of the trees. Behind us, ludecol, it WRS
heavier, and looked a sullen, dirty white.

_
We could not have been six feet from my husband when
my mother broke away from him, and with a loud cry
darted oft into the woods, and then I knew that what I had
dreaded had indeed come to pass. and that excitement and
danger had brought hack an old sickness upon her. she was
a maniac. Mr. Meehan,' darted after her, and in the terror
if the moment I forgot all else and followed him, leaving
poor little Lonle behind. I must have been crazy to do so, but
on I rushed, and SOint SnW that neither WU emitting enough
to attempt to evape by doubling on her tracks, for I saw her
dress dart past the bushes at my side as she ran diagonally
away from me. I sprang after her, itlatafttrnuming forabout
five ntinutee, found to my horror that I had not only lost her,
but Louis and his father. I rushed about helplessly, crying
and screaming, Louis ! !mule I Father !" But that last tv.,rd
mole me cairn for an instant, and I felt that I was not alone
—not utterly lost in the burning woods—for the spirit of
nty dead father was near and there were guardian angels.
I knelt on the ground, took my crudity from my neck and
prayed. In kneeling down I found to my great joy that my
IWYWS Was wet. I had knelt near a spring. I bathed my
face and hands, and soaked my hair and the upper part of
my dress. lot then my boy—my little Louis I sprang to
my feet, and dashed on in the direction of the tire.
o I had not gone more than a onarter of a mile when I
found my darling etanding with heal erect and flashing eyes
flint with angry tears trying to beat away some wolves,
which, hungry though they were, seemed bent only in flight.
I cried Louis, Louis ! e'ref inoi, ta more and elapsed hint
to my heart. He had not area his father, though once he
had heard a man's TOISO calling, but the voice semned
have come front an immense distance. Oh, Louis,' said
we are lost unless we find him. We must run for our lives,'
The boy began to cry, and then I wan ashamed of what I had
alibi, and tried SO cheer him up. The tire must have been
very near us then, fur I could not only feel its heated breath,
but ahoy.) my head, among the tree-tops, sparks and fire-
brands were whirling lathe air.

. -
n I took Loma in my arms, determined that never again
should he be separated from me, awl pressed onward with
some vague idea that I should 00011 reach Wolf River.
Night was coming in, and since nwth we had had nothing to
eat. I did not fed hungry, but was tormented with thonchts
of what might happen if we should not soon reach a place of
safety, for I feared that Louis would give out, and that was
one of the reasons which made me carry him. Ily arms
ached, and ray 'nubs wore scratched, bruised, and bleeding.
Still I nuide good headway, and soon came to a natural clear-
ing, ou the thither side if which we sat down to rest,

°By tide time eight had come on, and what a night ! No
moon, no Stan, but the cloudy heavens lighted up afar with
the horrible fires of the burning woods. The clearing in
which we sat was the dried up bed of a stream, which, for
some nnacc,mitahle reason, had not thickly-wooded shores,
and we were at least 200 feet from the edge of the forest in
names. All this time LAMA, manly little fellow that he was,
toil not Cecil a.skell for food, nor had he cried MI.; I my-
self foolishly frightened him. We sat there a long time while
I was trying to think where we were, but I could come to
no conclusion. I had heard my husband speak of a stream
which hail run dry, but that was in a north-easterly direc-
tion from our house, and notwithstanding the fact that I
was lost. yet I hails general notion that I was approaching
the Wit River. Theaters could give me no information, for
I could not see them. What to do I scarcely knew, but when
the beat of the lire became such that I could not &mid that
it was near I determined to press on away from it, and taking
Louis' hand I set out.

"1111 ordinary nights It should now have been dark, but
there was a nameless glare, yct not a glare, a horrible rejlet,
which came down from the sky and mingled with the smoke.
Hardly had I risen from the ground, when, in the direction
of the woods on the inther side of the clearing, I heard a
clashing noise, a mingled gnashing and hearse barking,
which I instantly recognised as that of wolves, and I had
scarcely time to snatch up Louis and run behind a magnifi-
cent pine tree, the trunk of which was at least Oft, in
diameter, before I heard them scrambling up the side of the
bill and felt them rush by me. I looked 41Ilt 111111 coniif
are their eyes coming towards rue like the wind. They did
not stop for an instant, and when they passed there canoe in
their track a herd of deer, uttering cries that seemed
almost human in their intense agony. They ran blindly,
for eiperthiog more terrible than wolves was behind them
they strack the tree, and were hurled lock loy the shook,
Solar ri them falling back upon those ineh.w. The stampede
Bee Med to last for full ten minutes, and when it was over,
and I, trembling with fear, dared ionce more to emerge from
my refuge and look across the clearing, I saw the woods at
Its edge already burning—saw it lurid through the smoke,
and felt its terrible heat ninon my face. I turned auil tied
In the wake if the deer and wolves. My shoes were stripped
from my feet, and my ankles were tom and Woody. Fallen
trees lay in my way, but I clambered over and crawled
under them in my desperate flight. I was agonized with
terror and despair, and finally sank to the ground with my
boy in my arms. I must have fainted, for I knew nothing if
w hat passed, till I was rudely Maken by the shoulder and
heard a wild, gibbering laugh. I opened tiny eyes, and
above me stoml any mother with a drawn knife fin her hand.
The wmals seemed all ablaze, although the air was not as
intolerably hot as it hml (wen. The forest beyond the clear-
ing must have been burning at its edge and the strong wind
carrying the smoke upward and over our heads. My another
looked down upon me with eyes blazing with that hated
light of insanity. 'flu, ho !' said she, 'fine time of night
for a mother and child to be running through the annuls !
Fine night this! Night—ft is day ! book at the red light
—lie the light of dawn ! Le jou,' Le ),,t4, le jou,. de Ply,
meld eat arnica ! And the rocks are horning ! Call on them
to fall upon you The clouds of thunder and the day of
doom ! The Lord is conning, and the wheels of his chariot
burn with his mighty driving. Let Its mn up to meet him
In ! Let ia ride on the smoke and Mulder and sweep
the stars from the heavens' Con., you shall go ugh me ! '
And she seized Louis. who had thrown himself upon me and
was clinging in terror to my breast.
- • '

"I sprang to my feet and cried, 'Mother, mother ! what
would you do—would you kill me and Louis?' Kill you
yes, why wait I—The Lord calla and the devil drives. Ile has
let loose his imps against the world. The trees fall
crashing in the forest ; for all hill's demons pull them
down with hooks of fire. I have Illed• them as I followed
you. I have seen you all the way. I rode over OD •
wolf; 'twas a loop wimp, an old friend of mine, brought
me over safely and kept me from the deer. I will kill
you; would you burn to death? Von shall go sip -up
higher than the moon and beyond the tire. Come, let ea
go'' and again she 110i2Pli Louis while the knife gleamed
In the air. I sprang at her, and with all the strength of ten
mothers in my arras I struggled with her. Tons, worn, and
bleeding as I was, the thought of iny child and my husband
gave mu the strength of a giant. I overpowered the mad
woman, lend forgetting that she was sty neither—that she
was anything lint the would, he murderess of my boy—l
seized her by the throat when she was I town rolling on the
ground, and I would have strangled her. Iler insanity had
almost made me mad. I felt then what a murderous maniac
feel.. But then I thought my ntother was lying closest
dead and powerless, and the tire would soon advance and,
perhaps, overwhelm its all. My hand was stayed, and when
my neither rose to ber feet all her nibbless was gone, and
In Its place had retitrned that calmness-- almost imlsecility—
which land chanseterised her for the last few years. She sag
ready and willing to do everything that I told her, butt
kept that knife fast in my hand. .

The wind had fallen, and a slight rain wns dropping
among the leaves overhead as we went on for an hour or two
longer, and then, overpowered with exhaustion and no
longer greatly dreading the fire, we lay down in a hollow
and fell asleep. When we awoke it was morning. I was
sick and completely exhausted, and hardly knew that there
were men around us. Vet there were, and good, kind men,
too, who gave us food awl drove us to a place of shelter,
whence, as soon as we were able, we went to Green Bay,
where I soon recovered from the sickness alld terror of that
dreadful night. My mother continues in that saute state of
Imbecility us Ilia the doctor says will soon become complete
dementia. Louis was not long in recovering, but as yet I
have heard nothing from my husband."