Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-10-15
Canadian Village Destroyed
BY the Fierce Forest TIres---IOOO Peo-
pie HomeIess---SeverRI Perished---
Hundreds Of Animals Burned.

The fire which swept along the line of
the Canada Atlantic railway, for a radius
Of y or ID miles east aud west Of South In
dian, last week was the worst In the his
tory Of that section. The three villages of
Casselman. South Indian and Cheney sta
ton were literally wiped out Upwards of
1000 persons were rendered homeless, and
most Of them penniless. The loss Of prop
erty was great The charred remains Of
five persons who persisted in the flames
have been recovered and it Is feared that
others who are missing were burned TO
death One woman, Mrs James Cunning
ham, died from exposure, after giving
birth to an infant girl
With scarcely an exception the inhabi
tants Of the three burned villages lost their
entire possessions The officials Of the
Canada Atlantic sent a relief train with
provisions to the scenes Of the calamity,
aud the sufferers were taken in large num-
bers to Ottawa. the several charitable in
situations of which city threw open their
doors 70 them a relief fund ha, also been
started in Ottawa and money Is being lib
orally subscribed.
Casselman had a population Of from GOO
10 700 and about l2u houses After vain
fight 70 stay the flames and save the town
the inhabitants abandoned their homes and
took refuge in the Nation river, which ran
through the village. Here, on wagons and
improvised RATS, they spent the night,
while arc md them on every side the flames
ragged furiously dying out only when there
remained nothing more 70 burn.
The Nation is not a deep river, and in its
centre were numerous rocks which project
a few inches above the surface Many,
driven by the flames from the shore. waded
out to these rocks, aud there, drenched
and cold. pas ed the night.
Hundreds of domestic animals and fowl.
the property Of the ruined villagers, were
burned to death. The loss at Casselman is
roughly put at $500 900
South Indian village was wiped out in an
hour. Sixty houses, three hotels. two
churches, stores, etc, were burned the in
habitants saving little except the clothes
they wore. Five persons here persisted in
the flames and 81 families, containing some
800 souls, are homeless and in the maior
ity Of cases utterly destitute The houses
were frame houses, and fell an easy prey to
| the flames. Near the village was the house
of Mrs. Frank Leveille, widow, with two
| daughters and a sister Miss stiles The
| flames did not at first threaten this house
| and many of the men Of the village, whose
| own homes had gone up in flames, gave
their assistance to the poor widow to save
hers The flames passed on and around,
| and when it seemed certain that the house
was practically safe, the men left Re
turning the next morning to see how the
women had spent the night, they found the
house empty. Their charred bodies were
| found in clump of trees a short distance
away. The mother held the bodies of her
two children tightly in her arms Nearby
lay the body of Miss Stiles Had they re
manned in the house all four would have
been safe. Evidently they became terror
stricken at the near approach of the flames
and sought supposed safety in flight
Cheney station, on the Rockland branch
of the Canada Atlantic, also disappeared as
the result of the disastrous confagration.
The entire village, including station, saw
mill, several thousand cords of wood and
private dwellings, was burned