, 1886-08-12
~TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.
Forest Fires Still Raging in
Wisconsin.
Many Families Homeless and
in Want.
After the Anarchists---NOte
from Washington.


MILWAUKEE. Aug. ia dispatch
from Green Bay, says fire is still raging
throughout the woods in that vicinity.
Reports from the towns Of Eaton, Belle
vue and Depere, reveal much loss and
distress. Nineteen families in the vicinity
of Woodruff s old mill were burned out
The Clausen family OF five, saved their
lives by getting into a well. Reports
from Laney and Angelica, in Shawano
county, state that the fire is very bad.
Five families were burned out and their
crops destroyed. A mill near Angelica
was also burned. Fred Regan. near st
Matthias, Oconto county, lost five build
ings and his crops. Several of his neigh
bors suffered likewise. Bridges on the
Suamico river are gone; the people in the
district are terrified. The warning of
flames in the woods can be heard two
miles away. Big Suamico is out Of dan
ger; but Little Suamico is hay
ing hard time now. Several
families were burned out in the
town Of Denmark, aud stripped Of all
their possessions. Around the post Office
the residents packed all their goous and
there was a regular exodus to Green
Bay and Manitowoe. The streams are
drying up and cattle are dying Of %suffoca
ton. Their bodies can be seen on the
roads at intervals. Twelve miles from
Green Bay, in the town OF Huml.lt, the
lire is raging fercely., Several residences
were burned yesterday. Trenches and
irebreaks do not stop the flames. PEG
pie in the threatened towns sleep out of
doors, ready Tor any emergency. A large
load of provisions was sent to the suffer
ers from Green Bay to day and contribu-
tions would not come amiss.
Though the forests in the northern tier
of counties In this state are still ablaze,
and are likely to remain on fire until rains
ouench the flames, the danger u villages
and towns is over, unless heavy gales
should sweep down upon them. While
not over a dozen cases of human crema-
ton are reported. it is believed that
many backwoodsmen and families remote
from settlements cannot possibly have es-
capped. The fatality to live stock has
been terrible. Hundreds of charred
bodies of cattle lie on the blackened
track of the devastating cyclones of fire.
1t is estimated that in Calumet. Clark,
Marathon, and a few adjacent counties,
FIVE hundred families are rendered home
less and destitute, and will suffer unless
immediate relief is sent them. Many OF
these people had narrow escapes from
death, having hidden in wells or sub
merged themselves up to their necks
in streams, with wet blankets covering
their heads until the fire passed.
In some places the fire swooped down
so suddenly on the people that they barely
had time to seek this method of safety.
In other places the roar of the flames
could be heard for miles, and the terror
stricken people fed madly before the
flames to neighboring villages and houses.
The damage cannot even be estimated.
Hundreds of homes, dozens of saw mills
and lumber camps, and millions of feet OF
timber are in ashes. Acres upon acres of
ripening grain were laid waste.
To nights advices are that the fires are
abating considerably, by running into clear
ings and because the wind has died out.
However, fears are entertained Of a repe-
tition should high winds prevail before
rain appears.
Along the valley division of the Chi
cago, Milwaukee and s.. Paul railroad
heavy rains to-day e~xtinguished the
flames, saving the largest part of the rail
road property in marshes in that section.
To-day suffocating clouds of smoke from
the burning forests were borne by north
winds as far south as Milwaukee. On
the lakes near Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay
and even further south, smoke clouds are
so dense that the sun is obscurcd and yes
sells experience extreme difficulty in navi-
eating, it being impossible to see 400 feet
ahead at midday.