Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1881-09-15
A TORNADO OF FLAME.
Particulars OF the Terrible Michigan
COnfiagrations-App DcstTac-
tion OF Life and Property.

|
Confiagrations-App Dcssrac-
tion of Life and Property.
DETROIT, AIIoH., Sept. ..
The scene Of the terrible tornado of flame In
the lower Michigan peninsula may be readily
placed in the mind Of the casual reader by the
aid Of the following explanation The southern
peninsula of Michigan has the FORM on the
map, OF left-hand nitten, laid on its PALM
The space between the thumb and fingers is
represented by Saginaw bay. Huron county
forms the end Of tho thumb, and beneath it,
on the map. lie Tuscola and Sanllac counties,
side by side, Sanilac TO the east ward Bad Ak
is in the center OF Huron county, and IL the
county seat, and Caro- is in the center of Tus-
cola county, and is the county seat. Each OF
the three counties has about twenty-four town
/ ships Elk miles square, ,.--. -
The loss OF life and property is immense. A
dispatch from Lexington says that dead
bodies are being brought in from all directions
| 1t is estimated that 800 people are homeless and
| In immediate want OF assistance. The farm
| ers in newer townships lose live stock houses
barns, crops, everything. A farmer who Just
| came in from Austin township saved his family
| OF eight children in field of buckwheat, but
| he says the whole country in that part Is total
y destroyed and many lives have been lost
! The loss OF live stock is simply immense.
| The older settled townships escaped with but
little loss, but in most of the newer townships
nothing remains but a fre-swept, blackenod
| wilderness,
| A dispatch from Marlette, Sanilac county,
| says a terrible state OF affairs exists at that
| point The entire section Of the country l3ing
| to the north and east of that place has bean on
| ire, AID the number OF families rendered home
| less Will reach the hundreds. Up 10 this time
| seventeen persons are known to have met the II
! death by fire. The horse of Ira Humphrey, the
mail carrier between this place and Davies
| Corners, came home badly burned. with a card
attached to the saddle written by Humphrr "
stating bis peril FROM fire. A relief p..rty
found him on the road dead. He was oAtircE
dtnuded OF his clothes, either having been
burned on his person, or torn OF by himself in
his desperation. In the townshipsot ArQvle.
Huron county, the following were burned dead |:
P-al Wetzel, wife and tive children George
hrotoh. wife and three children Mrs Morris
WEIGH and two children; James Gibson, and
two women, recently from Canada, names uli-
known
The Rev. z. Grener, Jr., pastor of the First
Baptist Church, OF this city, arrived from Sand
Beach at noon to-day by the Narrow Gaure ana
Grand lrRnk. passing through most OF the
burned region in Sanilac county. He gave a
reporter graphic and fearful dissertation OF
the calamity as he saw il, and heard Of it from
eye-wltncsses. On his way 10 Port Huron bv
the Narrow-GauSe railroad 1t was noticed that.
III some places, the railroad track had
proved an eHectua. barrier to the flames.
which did nos find fuel in the gravel of the
road. bod. In other places, however, it burned
the tics and twisted and DESTROYED the ra,ls
which had to be replaced. In other places ii
had ieaped clear over the road and taken new
start on the other side. For the most part IA
got across in some way, and the spots of I'M
burnt country were small, few, and far between
From the car-wlndows, all the wav it pre-
scented to the view the aspect of q burned
desert o! ashes and smoldering embers, without
a Sign OF animal or vegetable life, q coun;ry
abandoned by God and man. and 10 wh.rh It
was impossible to imagine any one returning.
Tho telegraph poles had all burned and the
wires had been reset upon any stick that could
lie found, and, for long distances. were merely
laid along the ties beside the rails.
One Of the most singular and appalling phe-
! nomena accompanying the calamity WAS the
| awosome darkness which preceded it and Pc
| Alned until Sli WAS over The experience of
| sand Beach viii illustrate that of the who e
lake shore At sunrise Monday the air was as
Gear as usual. AT p. m. the people began to
| observe singuiar coppeT+ colorfd appearance
| OF the whole tilInamelII. A little later this
| decpened to I'D. and by 2 O'clock it
! was 80 dark that people w,ra compel M 10 take
| lanterns TO find their way Ut uf Doors Mr.
JoilkS, weli-hnown citizen, sad that lie passed
| mis- hand back and for h Leforo his face an |
| could not see. Tie fearful darkness continued
| all the afternoon, with an occasional rift
| through which The rays Of the dArted FUR
| lively with unnatural brightness to be su,-
coded immod!ateiy by stiit more binding
| blaeknl So
| Many thought the end OF the world WAS at
| haDd, aid were filed vita terror The horrors
! = the IMAGINATION were soon intensified by the
| approach OF the flames, the stories Of the un.-
yersal desolauon to the west OF them, the
dread that they were fsted to irigh fui DEATH
| and then by the arrival of the CHI l3red
hlackencd and snapeless remains OF
| db poor victims. This awful condition
| continued all along the shore until Wednesday
| morning at O'Clock, when the wind, VIII CHI had
been blowing steadily from tue v est, turn5 d
| suddouly from tie north, carving the cool
| moist arr Of the lake to the feyercd hea d. and
| smoke -and-ash-b egrimed faces OF the yeople
| Il was sweet as the breath of God, and was ae-
| ccp,ed a. thankfully.
The scenes Of horror in the woods were too
friShtul tor any pen to portray. Tne dead
| Here found everywhere, very rart " reeognIza-
| bic, ana III most cases undis ingu shahle as hui
| man beings. Many were mere masses Of burnt
| neeh. which fell apart when touched aud in
| very few could sex Or age be dsting ulshed.
From one body the head fell when it was lifted
up; from another, that of young woman,
tue leg separated aud hung suspended by
! tue tendons In some places families were
found reduced TO an undistincuishableh aaps Of
| roasted and b!achened blocks of flesh. where
they fell together, overwhelmed by the ru hing
hAmes. The manifold horrors of tbs calamity
| wire multiph.d by fearful tovnadoss which
| cut off retreat in every direction. The awful
1 heat of the atmosphere raised the smoke a
| little from the ground, and 1t hung above the
| earth III an lmpenetrahle mass, shutting out all
| light, and leaving IT, poor creatures below
helpless and blind, until the FIRE caught tlc11
| and closed Their agony in death. Now and
ahanft in n
which would he seized BY aternado and carried
| bodily qulrter OF mile away, and then
! pushed down again to start the flames IN a now
quarter. In this way helpless fugit.ves fl,ing
FOR hfe were penned III by soas of fame,
and roasted Ike rats in n cage One farmer.
few miles from Sand Beach, who VS. plow-
ing with oxen on noticing the approa ching
darkness, and thinking no had plenty oil
time, waited to turn hi1 cattle and horses loose.
He then hurried to the house, and, finding his
wife goae 10 noighbor, took two children him
self. and rave three others III charge 81 his OLD
est daughter. Before they got many rods from
1 the house the flames tad got before them. He
hurried of in another direction with his two
youngest, but the girl pushed on over the burn
ing grass with the other three. He escaped.
The bodies OF the other four were aiterward
found in heap, eharred beyond recognition
John Ballentine, OF Verona Mills, says that
hity-three lives were Known to be lost in the
ncighbOrhood Of Sand Beach. The fire sui
denly reached Verona Mills on Monday, and
the town was soon wiped out. The wind was
SO strong that Ballentine and wife were picked
up and blown fifteen CT twenty yards. A
woman and her husband wers found lying
against tree, dead, tho woman being partly
delivered of child. TDe devastation
caused by the fires of 1871 is nothing
IN comparison to the fires of the past
few days. In the vicinity of r chmondyllle
Western, Forester and Marcer Townships reia-
bic Information leads one to say that upward
of 800 persons pershei in the flames There
was no escape for them. The woods and
ground were 20 dry that no warming OF danger
was gwen. Faster than race-horse came the
fire. Ii would embrace house OF barn WITH
its CONTENTS and away to the next. Persons
who have been through the terrible ofdsa
say that in ten minutes from the time t0s
fire struck there would be no vest,5e of house
left.
A correspondent saws 81 have Just returned
from trip through tho burned district and 4
deception of the sights would make the read
er's blood turn COLI. In many instance.
men, women and children were found living or
their faces in the road, where they had faiieI
when Overtaken by the fire. Children wcr,
lying on logs, whore they hal clam cred FOL
safety. There was no finding each other wh,l
once separated. Many took refuge iu vel aat
root-houses, thinking to escape, mt iii Amos
every instance were suifocated. DotaIs OF the
disaster III Huron are AS bad as here. | lie
heye that when the returns are in lO10 per
sons will be found to have persisted in III,
flames. Forester township will turn out Thurs
day to bury the dead cattle. sheep aud horses
the stencil from winch Ia nnbearable The Rev
W. L. Abingdon found sixteen dead bodies uea
Deckery.lle. 0aly fivs buildings wsre lett be
tween That place and Minden. John Ftetewa
> gers family, seven children AMI WIFE wcr,
oil ,sA ft.rf De-