Connecticut western news., 1871-10-27
Help for Michigan and Wisconsin.

It almost seems as though scourge of fire had fallen upon the Northwest. Close upon the heels of the overwhelm- ing disaster at Chicago comes the news of conhagra tions in Wisconsin and Mich igan, more extensive, and in their de- struction of life more appalling even, than that which desolated the prairie metropolis. In Wisconsin at least two thriving settlements have been utterly annihilated, wiped out as though they had never been. What is worse, hun dreds of their inhabitants are believed to have perished amid the ruins of their homes. Numbers were driven into the river and drowned, and in one place one hundred and fifty persons are said to have been burned up with Q large barn in which they had taken refuge. At Pishtego 500 bodies are reported to have been burned, while at Little Sturgeon Bay seventy-fve are supposed to have been destroyed by the flames.
 Of course in every calamity like this there is tendency at first to exagger- ate the actual loss of life. It is to be hoped that more careful investigation will materially lessen these shocking es- inmates. Even then it is to be feared that the death-roll will be long. II Michigan, the fiery visitation was even more fearful. East and south of Sagi- nav for forty miles the fire has made fearful ravages, and the best part of three fair counties Is now blackened waste Through the vast pine ranges that fill that country the flames spread with al- most the rapidity of thought, and towns and villages ceased to exist before they fairly knew they were in danger. Of course, in this swift, relentless sweep, life soon became as difficult to save as property, and, not to speak of multi tudes of the brute creation, hundreds of human beings, it is feared, were destroy ed. Elsewhere men, women and child ren were driven into the lake, where they remained up to thelr waists in wa ter for hours. In other parts of the State the ruin was scarcely less con- plete. Indeed, it is said that scarcely a county has escaped. In the words of the narrator of the sad story, "The whole country seems to be in flames. '' To these helpless people, fleeing through flaming land, penniless and homeless, from the ashes of all they held most dear, it must have seemed like the advent of that dread day when the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll.
 With this enormous destruction, not alone of property, but of all the indus trial interests which that property sup piled, there must come inca,culable dls- tress and suffering. The Collector of Customs telegraphs to Washington that hundreds of people thereabouts are starving. In the abundance of oul charity for Chicago let not these un. fortunates be forgotten. So generously has the entire world come to her aid that Chicago may safely be said to be beyond the fear of immediate want For the relief of these Michigan and Wisconsin sufferers, bound to them by no such intimate ties we can scarcely expect the outside world to contribute. They must look for rescue to a narrower field, and it behooves their countrvmer to be mindful of their sore affliction. The magnificent generosity so lavishly poured out upon the people of Chicago will not, we are very certain, fail thei1 fellow-sufferers, whose need is now ever more pressing.-N. F. Paper.