Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-10-25


ing like the hum of threshing ma.
chine. As the wind blew so strong,
people were afraid that it would reach
the village, bnt no one thought it would
be what it was. No rain had fallen fol
six weeks, and the fire carried along by
the gale, strIck the village about nine
o'clock In less time than it takes me
to tell you, the houses on the west side
of the river were all on fire and the air
was filed with showers of burning Gin.
ders. / was boarding with my wife, al
Johnson,s boarding house on the west
side of the river, and as soon as [ saw
the fire near us, my wife and l packed
a bundle of our things, and started to
cross the river to the company's store,
thinking we would be safe there.
When we reached the road, the air was
filed with fire, and we had not left the
house before it took fire. We hurried
as fast as we could to the river, and al
most suffocated before we got there
Both sides of the river were in blaze,
before we got to the dock We had to
stay in the river from a little before 10
O'Clock until daylight next morning,
and even then we were not safe. The
heat was so great that we had to keep
our faces wet to prevent them from
bhstering. Our heads took fire and
blazed up. Saw logs in the river took
fire, and the fire seemed to be all
around US. There was no chance to
get sway in any direction, for the air
was all mass of blaze. The children
and the women had hard time of 1t.
If the fright had not been so great
they must have died from exposure.
Toward daylight the fire cooled
down a little as it had
burned everything before it.
Then we began to look about us, and
such sights as I saw were enough to
freeze persons blood. Coming up
from the river bank we stumbled over
five dead bodies, burned so that you
couldn't tell who they were. A little
further along we're three more. One
poor fellow was burned so that nothing
but his bones were left excepting one
foot and part of the leg. Bodies of
children, men and women allseemed to
the fire alike. The air was heated so
and so full Of fire that their clothing
would take fire, and they would fall
down sufficated before they could reach
the river. We found many of them
within three or four feet of the water,
where they fell down exhausted
and were roasted alive within sight OF
the river. Mr. Beebe, book-keeper IN
the Peshtigo .company's factory, lived
in little house near the store. He
was burned to death, together with his
wife and three children. One little
boy, about three years old, was the
only one that escaped out of the whole
family. Nh. .Beebe, with his wife and
children, started out of his house when
it first took fire, but the flames were so
thick that they went into the store for
shelter and were there burned up.
The little boy in some way got out of
the store and was picked up by some
one passing and carried to the
river. When it was daylight we could
see the awful work that had been done.
The great factory where $50 men had
been employed was all destroyed and in
that whole village not house, or a
fence or single board remained. Ev
erything was swept off so that it looked
like a prairie Even the railroad track
was ruined, the ties being all burned
up and the rails curled and crooked
up by the great heat. Here aud there
over this great field of ashes lay the
blackened corpses of the dead and the
carcas.es of animals. The stencil rising
that morning was so powerful that we
could not bear it. Thesmell of burned
flesh was SO sickeniag that many of the
women, after escaping from the river,
tainted. as soon as we could, we got
down to Peshtigo halbor, six miles off,
where we took the steamer ST. Joe, and
after being delayed sH day by the wind
reached Green Bay Wednesday morn
ing, and Oshkosh soon after. Here we
got the first meal we had taken since
Sunday night, except a few crackers on
the boat. F tEE 4r5f