St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-29
FIRE-SWEPT PHILLIPS.
The Awful Fate OF the Fair
Wisconsin City.
ALMOST TOTALLY DESTROYED.
Thirteen Of the Fleeing Peo-
pie Lose Their Lives.
TIE RUSHING GALE OF FLAME
Drives Them Frantic--Mount
a Riekety Raft.
SUDDENLY BEGINS TO SINK.
They Take to Boats and Are
CapSiZed.
RELIEF FROM MANY PLACES.
The Governor to Go to Phil
lips Today.
The Governor to Go to Phil
lips Today.
TIE LOSS OVER A MILLION.

HlLLlPS, w lS., July Co. ulTly-nIu0
buildings out of 700 stand amid smoke
and ashes on the scene of what was
yesterday the fourishing city of Phil
lips. the county seat of Price county,
and one of the wealthiest and most
prosperous of all the towns in the
timber regions of Wisconsin. Three
thousand people are homeless, and
except those who have been offered
shelter in the neighboring towns, whose
people will themselves pass sleeplesS
night, through the fear that the fires
raging in the forests on all sides will
sweep away their homes at any hour,
will have no covering for their worn.
out bodies tonight. Worse than all. at
least thirteen people are known to have
lost their lives.
THE DEAD
are: James Locke, butcher, wife and
five children; Frank Cliss, IN charge of
the dry kilns of the John r. Davis Lum-
Der company, and two-yearold child;
Mrs. David Briden, wife of the foreman
OF the Fayette-Shaw tannery. and two
children. r.Briden was also supposed
to have died, but returned here tonight,
having been away from the city, only to
hear that his family had perished. An
unknown man is also dead. All the
dead were drowned in Elk lake,
while trying to escape from the
fire except the unknown man, whose
body was found in the ruins of the
house Of W. f. Sackett, editor of the
Phillips Times. The property loss can
not at this time be accurately estimated,
but it will reach at least 81, PSI, 900. The
immense plant Of the John r. Davis
Lumber company is a total loss,
amounting to between 100000 and
S60O.OOO. On this property there is an
Insurance equal to at least four-ffths of
the plant. Of the rest of the city, about
half of the property was insured.
Many of
THE POORER PEOPLE
carried no insurance Oh their homes,
and they have lost everything. There
were many fine business blocks and
private residences in the city, and every
one was burned to the ground. Many
of the residences cost upwards of s., 200,
and we're handsome for city of this
size. Four gales of fire following each
other as soon as one had accomplished
It's work of destruction cut four swaths
through the city, leaving standing only
the Lutheran church and some dwell
ings near the southern limits, and freak
1shly jumping over the Worcester town
hall and a group of dwellings in the
very heart of the burned district. A
system of waterworks which would
ordinarily be ample protection against
the blazing forests were rendered use
less by the burning of the pumping
station in the first fire. The volunteer
fire department, consisting of thirty
four men and having 5000 feet of hose,
had been working two days in the
swamp to the west of the city to pre-
vent the flames coming into the town.
Driven by the increasing wind, the fire
reached the southwest limits of the
city about 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
Across the
MILES OF SWAMP
where the water was from six inches to
foot deep it could be heard roaring
for fully half hour-a sound that rem
ttn
fremen fought it until it drove them
back with blistered hands and faces,
and then they sought to stop its prog
ress with dynamite explosions. This
they did accomplish after the north end
of the city had been destroyed, the en-
tire First ana part of the Second wards,
including the box factory of the John
X. Davis Lumber company and the
school house. Just then another cyclone
Of fire struck the western side, sweep
ing through the main business
and residence portion of the
city, destroying the rest of the
Davis company's plant. The path of
the fire took In the city hall, court
house. county jail and the Wisconsin
Central depot, and swept everything to
the lake. Thirteen prisoners were in
the Jail. and three of them made their
escape from the sheriff when released.
1t was during the first fire that the loss
of life occurred. Driven frantic by the
rushing gale of fame, the families OF
James Locke, Frank Cliss and Dave
Dryden gathered hurriedly in their arms