The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-08-01
A CYCLONE OF FIRE
Sweeps Wisconsin City from the
Face of the Earth.
Three Thousand People are Rendered
Homeless and Many Lives are Lost
Two Million Dollars Worth of
Property in Ashes IAN APP
palllng Calamity.

@HlLLIPs, Wis, July 29.-Thirty-ninc
buildings out of 700 stand amid smoke
and ashes on the scene of what was Sat
urday the fourishing city of Phillips,
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, worse than all, at
least sixteen people are known to have
lost their lives.
Four gales of fire following each
other as soon as one had accomplished
Its work of destruction cut four swaths
through the city, leaving standing only
the Lutheran church and some dwell
|. .ings near the southern limits and
freakishly jumping over the Worcester
town hall and 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 was 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 Saturday after
noon. Across the miles of swamp
where the water was from six inches
to a foot in depth it could be heard
roaring for fully half an hour-a sound
that rendered people panic stricken.
The firemen fought it until it drove
them back with blistered hands and
faces and then sought to stop its prog
ress with dynamite explosions. This
they did accomplish, after the north
end of the city had been destroyed, the
entire First and part of the Second
ward, including the box factory of the
John r. Davis Lumber Company and
the schoolhouse
Then cyclone of fire struck the
western side, sweeping 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
! from confinement.
There was hardly enough property
left to be called ruins. Nearly amile in
| length, from north to south, and half a
mile wide, from the lake on the east to
the swamp on the west, was nothing but
embers and ashes.
Philips, Wis, July So.--All that is
known of certainty forty-eight hours
after the destruction of this town re-
garding the loss of human life in the
flaming sea is that sixteen persons per-
ished by fire and water in the burning
Of the raft on which they sought an es-
cape from the flames on the bayou.
The most conservative estimate of the
loss made by the principal sufferer is
$l,50O, 600, one-third of which falls on
the Davis Lumber Company. The
charred bodies of many victims are ex.
pected to be found in the debris of the
big lumber yard near the bridge which
burned over the bayou. Women and
children fed there when the bridge fell
under the fiery wave. 1t is certain that
several women and children who were
crossing the bridge when it burned per
ished in the flaming mass,
A semblance of order was created out
of the smoking chaos yesterday morn
ing on the arrival of Gov. Peck and his
staff and relief parties with provisions
from Marshfeld and Stevens Point
The fifteen car loads of food were
welcomed more than the visitors. AL
except thirty-seven of the buildings are
in ashes. The names of the dead 81
far as discovered at a late hour last
night, are as follows:
Anton FAINTER killed by the fall of tn,
chimney Of his house.
Frank Cliss, machinist, body found under
pile Of drlftwood
Mrs. Frank Cliss, and two children. fount
near Cliss' body afterwards.
Jane Lock, butcher, body brought to tn
surface of bayou by dynamite.
Child of James Lock, drownde in his arms.
Mrs. David Dryden, wife of the foreman o
the Feyette-Shaw tannery, aud her two chill
dren.
Wisconsin towns have made contribu
tions for the sufferers as follows: Chip
pewa Falls $500 and car filed will
provisions; Eau Claire $500; West Su
perior $500 and car of food and cloth
ing; Marshfeld, several cars of pro
visions; Oshkosh $500; Milwaukee $500
There were many pitiable scenes in tn
town hall during the day, where tn
wants of the hungry were attended to
A poor Norwegian woman with small
baby in her lap and three other chill
dren huddled about her on bench at
voraciously of the thin slices of brea,
with great chunks of boiled ham be
tween them.
A half dozen willing women worke
incessantly, making sandwiches, grind
ing coffee and dispensing food to tn
hungry. All day two delivery wagon
that had been saved from the fame
were employed in carrying bags G
flour and meat to different quarters q
the city. Among the ruins near tn
$own hall cook house was set to goin
and there in the air the women cooke
meat and potatoes for everybody
ASHLAND, Wis, July 9O,--The lates
: advices from Phillips, Wis, state tina
the prosperous city is simply heap {
ruins and ashes. Everything is total
,, wiped out The damage to propert