Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-28
A HORROR.
Cokato, Mimi, Nearly Obliterated by an
Early Morning Blaze - Three Men, I'M
able to Effect an Escape, Perish in q
Burning Building.

Cokato, Mimi, Nearly Obliterated by an
Early Morning Blaze - Three Men, I'm
able to Effect an Escape, Perish In a
Burning Building.
81. PAUL, MIMI, July IS.
A special from Cokato, Mimi, states that
at two o'clock Saturday morning fire was
discovered in the hotel office. There were
about twenty hotel laborers and other guests
in the building. Three railroad men were
burned to death. Another guest had his
leg broken by jumping from a window.
The bodies of the burned men were so
charred that the three only weighed sixty
and Willingham, laborers. Three-fourths
of the town was burned, principally the
business portion. The loss is $50, 900.
In the clearinghouse where the three
section men-Willingham, Kelly and Shop
%ard-burned to death the scene at the time
of the burning was described by mel who
escaped as awful. The first alarm was CIV
en- by a young man who shouted fire Oh the
outside as Justify as his lungs would let him.
All but the three who were burned got up at
once and rushed downstairs pell-mell. The
doors would not open, or they could not
find them, in the black smoke, and the
flames were feeding on their s~cantily-
clad bodies before they succeeded in
etfecting. an exit, which they finally did by
bursting a hole through the side of the
house. Several of them were seriously
burned, and none had even a decent modi-
cum of clothes. Three of the worst
scorched at once made their way to one of the
holes, and there were instrumental in saw
ing ten of the occupants from q fiery fate.
All this time, save the carrying of a few
pals of water, no effort was made to quell
the flames, and, indeed, nom would have
proved Of any avail, since there is
no fire department. The houses are Of
wood, which the drought had left as dry
as finder. The three men who were burned
to death occupied a room over what was a
sort of summer kitchen, very flimsily con-
structed. just as they arose, as is sup
posed, the whole floor fell i'll, precipitating
the ~unfortunates, with beds and furniture,
into the furnace below. Their bodies could
plainly be distinguished wedged in the
mass of charred timbers. Willingham
lived in Montrose, and leaves a widow and
three children. The other two were unmar-
rled. Atraveling man named Storm was re-
ported as having broken his leg by leaping
from one of the windows. The number of
persons more or less severely burned could
not be told. Several Of the more serious
cases were taken to Waverly, the nearest
station to the east, and there received medi-
cal attendance. The accepted theory is
that the fire first caught in the boarding.
house, from a stroke of lightning, between
and two a. M, during the progress of
the storm, and probably just before the
cessation of the rain.
The three crisped and charred bodies
have been secured and sent to Waverly for
interment. The homeless women and chill
dren are being cared for in the surrounding
country. and everything possible is being
done to alleviate the sufferings of the
wounded. The citizens talk Of rebuilding
at once.