The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1894-08-03
REVELRY OF HAVOC.
Dreadful Work of Forest Fires
at Phillips, Wis.
DEATHADDED TO THE DEVASTATION

Out OF 700 Buildings I'm the Town but
Thirty-Nine Remain-MasoD Practically
Destroyed Also = Total Loss i'm the
Region Estimated at 49,, 300, OOO-Relief
Is Prompt and Rebuilding at Phillips
VIII Begin at Once.
MILWAUKEE, July 30-The Sentinel's
special from Phillips says: Thirty-nine
buildings out of 700 stand amid smoke and
ashes on the scene of what was the -four
ishing town of Phillips the countys eat of
Price county, and one of the wealthest
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 they have no covering
for their worn-out bodies. Worse than
ALL at least thirteen people are known to
have lost their lives.
The dead are: James Locke, wife and
five children; Frank Cliss, in charge of the
company, and 2-year-old child; Mrs. David
Dryden, wife of the foreman of the Fay
cite Shaw tannery, and two children; Mr..
Dryden was also supposed to have died,
but has returned here, having been away
from the city, only to hear that his family
had persisted. The last on the list is an
unknown woman.
Water More Deadly Than Fire.
1t was not the fire, however, that
claimed these victims. it was the lake.
There were four gales of fire swept the
town and it was during the first that the
loss of life occurred. Driven frantic by
the gale of flame the families Of James
Locke, Frank Cliss and Dave Dryden
gathered hurriedly in their arms all their
possessions that they could and made for
floating boat house that was tied to the
town bridge near the box factory. The
ropes were cut and the occupants thought
the gale would drive them across Elk
lake where the flames would not reach
them. But the raft was q rickety affair
and overloaded, and the fire seemed to
create a current of air that pulled them
directly towards a great pile of burning
lumber on the lake shore. The raft began
to sink, and with death by fire facing
them ON one side and drowning on the
other the boats were resorted to, but in
the gale the boats capsized almost in
stantly and all persisted with the excep-
ton of Mrs. Cliss, who was found floating
on the opposite side of the lake clinging
with desperation to boat.
A Freak of the Flames.
AS said above there were four gales of
fire, and all cut swaths through the town,
leaving standing only the Lutheran
church and some dwellings near the
southern limits, and freakishly jumping
over the Worcester town hall and "a group
of buildings in the very heart of the
burned district Another prank was
played with the property of William
Nelson. His house was the only structure
on the main street not burned. 1t is
frame dwelling, and not even his fence
was scorched, while ruins surround it on
all sides. The furniture which he moved
out in order to save was destroyed.
Driven by the increasing wind the fire
reached the south limits of the town about
3 O'Clock Friday afternoon. Across miles
of swamp where the water was from six
inches to foot in depth it could be heard
roaring for fully half an hour-a sound
that rendered the people panic stricken. A
system of water works which would ordi-
narily be ample protection against the
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 prevent the flames coming into the
town. The firemen fought until driven
back with blistered hands and faces, and
then they sought to stop the progress of
the flames with dynamite explosions.
This they did accomplish after the north
end of the city had been destroyed.
Fire Fighters Acknowledge Defeat.
So the fight went on. But as the attacks
of the fire fiend were resisted in one direc-
ton they were renewed in another and
about IL at night the fire fighters who had
remained on the scene bctook themselves
to a clearing south of the city, being a
place that had been burned over few
days before, so that there was nothing
more for the fire to feed on. Their route
was thick with smother!ng smoke. The
flames jumped directly across their path
from one side to the other. The fire in the
forest broke out with vl2or and the tall
pines, even the greenest ones, were great
blazing torches throwing long tongues of
fire high in the air. There they waited
for morning which showed them only a
waste of ashes where the town had once