The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-09-22

AeAhiN tud bulOkC lOT tue lake.
some reached it, to remain in the water
for hours while others fell on the high.
way aud were burned to crisp. There
WAS no TIME to save anything from the
houses, and when rode through the dis
.l'St' families "i!.ch but d day before
nad ,h been possessed of plenty, were not
.he owner OF knife or spoon. Women
were bareheaded and barefooted, chill.
orefi still worse OIL, and bareheaded men
SAT 30 on the .parched ground and wondered
II God had not forsaken them.
a terrible cyclone struck this district
with the flames and l saw many and
many spot where the biow of fire
Jumped clean half mile out Of the for.
est 70 clutch house or barn. The roaring
ana crushing were awrnl. Horses ran
mere and there neighing and almost
Streaming in their terror COWS and oxen
plunged and beloved, and the most saw.
age dogs werc SO overcome byn fear that
tney ran bac'i into the blazing houses and
died in the flames.
In this awful confusion, with trees
crushing lown before the cyclone, and
houses Icing :nroofed by its terrible
power. while q great billow of flame came
ssWecplng on as fast as horse could gal.
Top, fathers and mothers were called
upon to save each other and their chill.
dren. The highways were lines of fire.
Mivers and creeks were dry bitches.
ihe only chance to escape was to rush for
the open fields, and yet in the open
nields, men women and children were
burned to cinders. Those who
preserved their thought through the
terrible confusion preceding the ap-
pearance of the flames seized the
woolen blankets, wet them thoroughly.
ana drew these over them as they
crouched down OH the plowed ground,
and where this plan was followed their
lives were generally saved. In some
cases people lay out in the fields four.
teen long hours before it was safe to rise
up.
To one riding through the district it
seems miraculous that single soul
escaped. The fire swept through the
green trees tho same Us the dry. 1t ran
through fields of corn with speed of
twenty miles an hour, and fields of green
clover we're swept as bare as q floor.
DARK and gloomy swamps, filled with
ponds of stagnant water, and the home
for years of wild cats, bears and snakes
were struck and shriveied and burned
almost in 4 flash. Over the parched
meadows the flames ran faster than a
horse could gallop. Horses did gallop
before it but were overtaken and left
roasting on the ground. 1t seemed as if
every hope and avenue of escape were
of, and yet h ldreds of lives were spar
ed. People spent ten to twenty hours in
bitches and ponds, or in fields under wet
blankets, having their hair singed, their
limbs blistercd and their clothing burn
ed off piece by piece.
A mile north of where the old man
Goodrich lived was family which had
crazy son. When the smoke began to
darken the country he began to get
excited, and on the dark day, two hours
be fore the flames came, he mounted a
horse and galloped up and down the
country, crying out the last day had
come, and that the earth was to be swept
clean. Later he was seen rushing head
long towards the flames, whooping ana
cheering, and no doubt he perished first
of all. The horse seemed to partake of
the riders spirit, and his shrill neighs
answered the cheers of the rider.
People felt the heat while the fire was
yet miles away. 1t withered the leaves
of trees standing two miles from the
path of the fiery serpent. The very
earth took fire in hundreds of places,
and blazed up as if the fire were feasting
OH cordwood. The stoutest log buildings
stood UP only few minutes. The fire
seemed to catch them at every corner at
once, and after whirl and roar moth
ing would be left. Seven miles off the
beach, at Forester, sailors found the
heat uncomfortable. Where some houses
and barns were burned we could not find
even blackened stick. Every log,
beam and board was reduced to fine
ashes.
The people who sought the ueach had
still to endure much of the heat and all
Of the smoke. Wading out up to their
shoulders they were safe from the flames,
but sparks and cinders fell like a snow
storm and the smoke was suffocating.
The birds not caught in the woods were
carried out to sea and drowned, and the
waves have washed thousands of them
ashore. Squirrels, rabbits and such
small animals stood no show at all, but
deer and bear sought the beach and the
company of human beings. In one case
a man leaped from bluff into the lake
and found himself close behind large
bear. They remained in company under
the bank nearly all night, and the bear
seemed as humble Us dog. In another
instance two of the animals came out of
the forest and stood close to we'll from
which farmer was drawing water to
dash over his house, and they were with
him for two hours before they deemed it
prudent to jog along Deer came out
and sought the companionship of cattle
and horses, and paid no attention to per-
sons rushing past them.
Half enough collins to bury the dead
could not have been got into the burned
district in week. Some were buried
with neither coffin nor shroud, while
others had rude boxes as their last re-
ceptaclc.
The dead are buried, but there is left
a horribly desolate waste Of country full
of the ashes of prosperity, and crowded
with sick, wounded and discouraged hui
manty, whose tears and groans must
open the heart Of sympaty in every cor
ner of the country. Turn which way
they will, they see black ruin and utter
desolatiOn.
STRANGELY AFFLICrED.-A lady of
this city, the mother of a large family,
and lady of unusual intelligence, who
is in good health and withal like any
other lady, with the exception of q
strange malady, or whatever one may
term it, that at times occasions her much
pain, in fact almost prostrates her. AS
strange as it may seem, her trouble is
caused by looking at any striped fabric,
such rs calico shirtings, etc. Numerous