The morning call., 1894-07-29
FORESTS ON FIRE.
Great Pines Blaze Like
Torches.
ONE TOWN SWEPT AWAY.
Thousands of People Homeless
in Night.
THREE MET DEATH IN A LAKE
To Escape the Fiercer Element They
Fled to the Water and
Were Drowned.

| smoke and ashes on the site OF Wnat wa;
Yesterday the fourishing city of Phillips
the county-seat of Price County aud one o1
the wealthiest and most prosperous OF al
the towns in the timber regions Of Wis
consin.
Three thousand people are homeless. and
except those who have been offered shelter
in the neigbboriDg t0wns-whose people
will themselves pass a sleepless night
through the fear that the fires raging in
the forest on all sides will sweep away
their homes at any hour-will have no
covering for their worn-out bodies to-
night. Worse than all. at least thirteen
pc ople 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 j. r. Davis Lumber Company, and
two-year-od child.
Mrs. David Dryden. wife of the fore
man Of the Fayette Shaw Tannery, and
two children.
Mr.. Dryden 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.
All the dead were drowned in Elk Lake
while trying to escape from the fire exec pit
the unknown man, whose body was found
in the RUNS of the house of f. w. Sackett,
editor of the Phillips Times.
The property loss cannot at this time be
accurately estimated, but it will reach at
least 81, $50, 900. The immense plant of the
John r. Davis Lumber Company is total
loss amounting TO between S500000 and
100000. On this property there is an in
surance equal to about four-ffths of the
value. In the rest of the city about half
the property was insured. Many of the
poorer people carried no insurance on
their homes and have lost every thing.
There were many fine business blocks and
private residences, and every one was
burned to tie ground. Many of the resi-
dences cost upward of $1,000, and were
handsome for city of this size.
| Four gales of fire following each other.
as soon as one had accomplished Its work
! of destruction, cut four swathes throug b
the city, leaving standing only the
Lutheran church and some dwellings near
the southern limits and freaki5hIy jumping
over the Worcester Town Hall and a group
district. A system of wafer works which
would ordinarily be ample protection
against the blazing forests were rendered
useless by the burning of the pumping
station in the first fire. The volunteer
fire department. consisting of thirty -foul
men and having 5000 feet of hose, had
been working two days in the swamp tc
the west of the city 10 prevent the fame
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 a foot in
depth. it could be heard roaring for fully
an hOur-a sound that rendered the people
panic-stricken. The fremen fought itunt
it drove them back with blistered hands
and faces, and then they sought to stop its
progress 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. includ.
ing the box factory Of the John r. Davis
Lumber Company and the schoolhouse.
Just then another cyclone of fire struck
the western side, sweeping through the
main business and residence portion of the
city and destroying the rest of the Davis
Company plant. The path Of the fire too K
in the city hall, courthouse, jail and the
Visions sin Central depot. and swept every.
thing to the lake. Thirteen prisoners
were in the Jail, and three of them made
their escape from the Sheriff.
1t was during the first fire that the loss
of life occurred. Driven frantic by the
rushing gale of flames the families OF
James Locke. Frank Cliss and Dave Dryden
gathered hurriedly in their arms all the
possessions they could and made for q
| floating boathouse that was tied to the
town bridge near the box factory. After
they had gone short distance the craft
began to sink, and death by fire staring
them on one side and drowning on the
other. the boats were resorted to; but In
the gale they capsized almost instantly. all
perishing with the exception of Mrs.
| Cliss, who was found floating this morn
ing on the opposite side Of the lake. cling
ing with des esperatiOn to boat.
When it became evident that the city
was threatened with destruction the John
r. Davis Lumber Company made up train
% its cars and sought to take the women
|
Little Elk branch. The train had pro-
ceeded but short way, however. when
the bridge across the stream was discov-
cred to be burned, and the train with its
cargo of human freight was forced to re-
turn TO the city and run the gauntlet OF
flame and smoke.
In the meantime permission had been
received to use the main tracks Of the Cen
trail road and the homeless people were
] carried south twelve miles TO Prentice.
The people of Prentice opened wide their
homes. but there was not room for all the
crowd Of men. women and children. About
II o'clock at night the fire-fghters. who
had remained on the scene, betook them
selves TO a clearing south of the city, a
place that had been burned over few
days before, 80 that there was nothing
more for the fire to feed on. Their route
was thick with smotnering smoke. The
flames jumped directly across their path
from one side to the other. The fire in
the forest broke out with vigor, and the