Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1881-09-17
MICHIGAN IN FLAMES.
1000 People Perigh2OO or 800 Families
lef. Homeless

Detroit, Sept. 9.-Ihc horrors OF the
situation in Huron county, on the shores
of Lake Huron, arc deepening every
hour. An appeal was issued last nigh,
ut Port Huron, signed by Senator Conger
and w. l.. Bancroft, calling for money,
clothing and provisions, to be sent to
! Hon. T.. {. Carlton, mayor of Port
| Huron. The distress is unparalleled
| 1t Is believed that 800 people have
| periohc,l, and thousands are stripped OF
everything ng-fOod, shelter, crops, stock
all swept from the face Of the earth, and
| needs must have evething TO sustain Ii e
and cloth themselves. Accounts CON
tinue 10 come in Of the most harro wing
cription.
4 special t. the Post and Tribune says
Geo Mcdonald of Window, tells II har-
rowing tale that over POO families are
homeless in that section, and are suffer
ing for want of food and clothing. The
tire suddenly reached Verona Mills ON
Monday, and the town was soon wiped
ont. The wind was 80 stron. that men
and women were picked M and blown
liltcen and twenty yards a man and
his Wi 9 We're found lying against "A tree
dead, the woman being partially deliN"r-
ed ofa child. The devastation caused
by the fires Of II is nothing in compare
son to The fires OF thc last few days
In the vicinity of Eic!moadsvilc and
Western, Forester and Marian town
ships, reliable in .ormAtion places the
nuAjler of lives lost at 300 here WAS
no escape for t.on The woods and
ground were so d.y that no warning was
given. and faster than i race horse came
the fire. 1t wouio embrace house or
barn and away to the next. Persons
tGat III ten minutes from the time the
fire struck a house there would be no
veatigc of it left. Many Instances are
reported of men, women and @hildpn
lying Oh their faces in The road wht re
they had fallen when overtakeu by the
fire. Children were found lying on logs
where they had clainbcrcd ior safely.
Many took refuge in wells and out
houses To escape, but in almost every
instance they were sufocAted.
Details of the suffering in Huron
county are az bad as here | believe
when the returns are III, LOCO persons
will be found TO have periehed in the
flames. Forester township will turn out
to-day to bury the dead cattle, horses
and sheep, the stencil from which l. un-
bcarab!e. Rev Arlington found sixteen
bodic, near Dickerviiic, and five build
ings arc lett between llGat place and
Mndcn. john Fiitcwayer's family,
wife and seven chilircn, we're all burn.
el toLc her. Io.L'y the family were
buried with tltiorG's vile and child
Fifteen families were burned II Monroe
and A:gy!r 80 families arc reported
at Mindcn ~ having been burned out.
\ woman was burned al Smiths mill,
half Il mile from Tyre. Many of The
men are' tanadians VINO had been over
but Snort time, AMI just began to get
mattyfs in a comiortabi shape. Many
need medicine and medical assistance
Detroit, sept. 0.-Detaiis continue 10
ctme III respecting the fire in Huron
and Samilac counties showing that the
4, g IA =. -,
dense atmosphere entirely obscuring
light, the middle of the afternoon Mon
day. People carried laterns in the
street until ; O'Clock Wednesday morn
ing. In the woods are many dead Of all
ages Presenting a revolving sight. The
bodies were sx,orchet and charred. The
high winds had spread the fire anL
every avenue had been closed to fleeing,
homeless ones, leaving~only death by
fire.
Large burning masses OF inhammab.es
were lifted bodily and carried through
the air. Skill and courage of men seem
cd impotent, and men and cattle were
roasted together in the natural fire trap
One farmer plowing with oxen few
miles from Sand Beach started home on
the approach of darkness ana finding
his wife gone to neighbors, took two
children and escaped, bnt three other
children and his eldest daughter who
took another path were found next day
charred beyond recognition. heaped to.
gether. Up To wednesday night A.
bodies were found within one mile. In
Paris township many more were miss
ing, nearly all Polish people. The whole
settlement, crops and honscs were swept
away.
In Delaware township all the countr,
south Of Foresvile, from the lake sever
miles back, everything is swept clear
These new settlers owed for their farms
and lose everything Men and cattl,
fed to the lake where there was the ut
most confusion. A man vino had los
everything was blind and crazy. tn,
fire surprised everyone in that region by
its sudden descent, and only for the lax,
there would have been holocaust
Men laid in mud puddles and role,