The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-04-10
TERRIBLE DEVASTATION
gYFIPH on THE PRAIRlES OF DAhVfA
AND MINNESOTA.
VILLAGES and Towns Leveled to the
Ground, Farm Houses, Barns ana
live Stock Consumed--Losses AggTe-
eating Millions Of Dollars.

SCOTLAND, Dakota, April 5.-Another
terrible prairie fire swept over the
country South of Scotland Monday
afternoon, and its path is now marked
:hv the smouldering emberS OF many
shames: Avery high wind prevailed all
dav. and. with grass as dry as tlnder,
the terrific force of the fire is beyond
description. At 3 o'clock word was
brought to town that the pralrle
was afrc Northwest OF town, ana
Immediately a hundred men started
in teams towards the approaching ire,
armed with broomS and sacks. Arriving
at Aired Browns farm, two miles
Norths all his barns, dairles and cattle
Sheds were one blazing mass, and the
Efforts of the crowd were directed to
saving his residence and beating the tlre
out that would in a short time have
swept down upon the town: Brown $
residence was saved, but all his house
hold goods that had been carried out by
the :amily were burned.
Oae mile North Of Browns the lire
burned Henry Hagelfry out OF every
> earthly Possession. His Louise, barns
and stock were consumed and he barely
escaped with his family.
Across from Hagelfry livedS. X. Tom
linSon, prosperous farmer. and every
thing about bis place except his house
was swept away. Five horses and sew
eral head of live stock were among his
losses. His wife was home alone when
the fire: broke out, and could DO moth
ing to save the property.
BY evening the fire in the West had
been extinguished, but it IS still raging
in the Southeast. The town of Olivette,
the County seat of Hutchinson County,
eight miles North, is reported to be
more than half burned up. Bridges on
the railroad West Of town were burned.
The losses for the last TWO days will be
: $4,000.
MINNEAPOLIS, April 4.-During the
last two days South Dakota and Min
nesota have been swept by a series OF
wind storms which have caused hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars damage to
property, and. several lives have been
lost. The storm started Monday night
and swept over large area South Of
the Northern Pacific Railroad in Dakota,
and extending into the Southern tiers Of
Counties in this State.
The greatest damage has not been
caused BY wind alone, but in many
places The fires, famed into fury by the
storms, have wiped out Of existence
several small villages and hundreds of
J. farmers houses.
The towns almost completely destroyed
are Violin, Oliret, Pukawana, Lester
vile and Mount Vernon, and three or
four villages were badly damaged. At
Violin every house in the place except
three were demolished and 100 people
are without homes. Lesterville IS
fattened to the ground and twenty
families are without a roof.
A terrible gale of wind struck Mount
Vernon and FIRE started from small
house that was blown over early last
night. No human power could stop the
flames, and in an hour the best portion
of the place was one great raging fire.
Nearly 200 families are homeless and
the loss will foot up 100000. It is re-
ported that several persons lost their
lives in this fire, but no confirmation
has vet beer received. Four large ele-
,yators and the Milwaukee depot were
destroyed.
Near Clunt, one man lost 500 head of
sheep which were caught in the prairie
fire. Several head of horses We're
saved by swimming the river: In many
places the crops We're covered by loose
sand and dust and Will have to be re-
planted.
Trayetwas suspended on some lines
of road SO great was the force
.:of the-Wind. Clouds of dust
prevented the engineers, from seeing
the track. 4 report from
Gary says the sun was almost totally OBJ
seured, and the supersttiouS thought
the end of the world had come. Farm
houses and barns we're swept away and
horses and cattle were burned to death
by scores.
Near Milbank fifty head of live stock
are reported lost, and fire has swept
over twenty miles Of country, causing
immense losses. !
The stosm has abated somewhat, but
the wind is Yet high enough to keep the
fire burning iereely, and further heavy
losses are almost certain. The damage
in Minnesota IS much less than in Da-
kota, as the. force of the storrs was
pretty well spent before it reached the
boundary.
A dispatch from Yankton, Dakota,
says: The records of the Signal Office
show that during the prevalence Of the
fires in this region the humidity was but |
seven,per ceut.-a condition of dryness,
SERGEANT Oswald says, never before at
tanned in this region. The maximum |
humidity is 100; the mean annual >hu-
midity here is 70. This shows that the |
atmosphere, was almost devoid of |
moisture. The velocity of the wind was
forty-six miles an hour Ehe losses in |
South Dakota will foot up $4,000, 900,
at low calculation
ST. Paul. April A Lake Benton,
Ninn., special says: The most devastat-
ing prairie fire ever known ragged over
the prairies West and North of Lake |