The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-09-14
r1yCOLITH In ASHES.
r...l Destruction of a British
Columbia Indian Town.
.x.yy BLOW TO THE RED MEN.
-. ssrdinr Relief and the Kpiseo.
-, charch Making Efforts 70
repair the Ruin.

xu-er.. sept i3 -on Sunday after
- september 3, tne Indian village Of
<.-.slifh. At the mouth Of Mass river. was
s.~st wsped out by fire. Twenty-Five
s.-... lad the new church were burned.
,..-irx thirty families without homes.
ss>ssr o. food.
AIresdy sympsthetic friends are com
a.ss.~ hers 70 send supplies TO the scene
e x~ssssutson. and half . dozen collect
=. osFces have been established in this
- xhers money, food and clothing
~sr be Ieft. Bishop Ridley. who ar
s,.a from the north today, is per
.arsIlv interesting himself in the work
q collection. and has also pre-
..-sed . petltion 10 the Indian depart
800 asking that the government loan
fsss) 70 the peop.e Of kIncolitb. TO be ex-
s..,sat in the erection OF 4 sawmiil TO fur
s.h bnildlug material on the ground, and
!. - Yeusid 10 the government in install
ren.s Of 500 annually. Whether the gov
rnsaens can do this without Q special vote
4 raglssmsnt is matter Of doubt.
6reFdeaeon Collision. in charge OF the
y..seopal church at Kincolith, thus mar
a.. the story Of the disaster in q letter
sspesslng 70 the sympathy of the public:
sThe fire occurred in the afternoon,
yhjse services were being held IN the
rrstty church only recently erected.
Nor Of she residents not away ishing
stre in the sacred edifee. and the
srrhdeacon was the first 10 notice
!hDugh the open window the
smoke Of The fire, which accident
slly originated in one of the cabins where
FOODS bad been stored. The congregation
was hastily dismissed. and, headed by
their pastor, men aud women battlsd
fnned and spread by fresh
breeze from she water. mounted
quickly In the direction of the church.
With no apparatus for fighting tire at CON-
nand. the Efforts Of the earnest volunteer
brigade were OF little avail. Some thirty
houses we're blazing, and cinders and
pieces Of burning wood picked up BIZ the
wind and carried high in the air soon set
FIRE 10 the church. The dry, seasoned
timber burned quickly. and it. too. was
soon in ruins. The duration of the fire
va. not more than three hours, yet in
that short time the destruction of the
church, storenouse and thirty dwellings
had heen accomplished. Nor is destruction
Of their homes the fall extent of the mis-
fortane which has befalien the people
ofKincolith Many had already procured
winter supplies, which were also lost, and
the villagers are now in danger of iinme-
diate famine, for the stores in hand are
sufficient 70 last but few days and kpass-
Ing stesnners can spare little from fheir
stores"
The bishop OF Caledonia. now in Vic
soria. gives many details of the Gre which
chow The tight made by the people of Kin
collth 70 have been valiant one. The
srchdsaeon. who tainted twice from sheer
exhaustion during the battle, but
quickly recovered and again went
Into ne sork. was ably supported By the
rSishioners. both white and red, Mrs.
cclison devoting her attention especially
hfsmoving the fittings of the church,
Ebich. hut for her energy, would
hsFe been destroyed with the build
iae The mission building was saved
With extreme difficulty by the use of
Markets ard buckets filled from neighbor-
hs wells. II being Sunday and the In
tans, or majority, AT least, having gons
n procure winter supplies. the village
gas practically deieuseless, the fighting
brcs numbering fewer than fifteen.
Ills difficult 70 estimate the financial loss
Involved. The majority Of those burned
cut lost their all, small as il may seem
when expressed in dol ars and cents. The
sossl loss may be put down approximately
q $4,000.