The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-08-03

DurlnB the nSnL the coal company >
Office was used as distributirg point
for food. Saturday night was fright
full one of excitement and many heart
rending scenes were witnessed. It was
spent In getting many of the women
and children on the trains and starting
them for Cranbrook
During the night the wind went down
and Sunday morning many of the men
and their stout-hearted wives came In
from tho hills to which they had fled.
to view the smoking remains of their
city. Many narrowing tales were told
One woman of West Fernie had Just
emerged from her home, which was on
fire. She dropped dead of heart dis
case. The neighbors buried her In her
garden and then ran for their lives.
The residents have been taken In
trains to places of safety and are now
destitute. Thousands of dollars have
been sent by Western Canadian cities
this morning to the relief of the des-
titute. Many are i'll and medical sup
plies are greatly needed.
Seventy I'm One Camp DIE.
Fernie with its lumber mills and
railway terminals is wiped out. Tho
fire is still raging around Hosmer and
Sparwood. but Michel is safe. the wind
having dropped last midnight. If
gale springs up that city will be again
in danger soon. Seventy men in the
camps of the Elk River Company
pershed.
The West Fernie bridges across Elk
River could not be saved. Several per-
sons lost their lives trying to escape
over the burning bridges. The fire
spread with such rapidity that hardly
anything was saved. Numbers fed to
the river banks and sought safety by
wading nthe water. Others ran to the
Canadian Pacific tracks. where special
trains were waiting to convey the peo-
pie to Michel, but this trip could not be
made because the bridge, 1t was learned.
between Hosmer and Michel had burned
out.
Starvation Added to Terrors.
w. Carswell, assistant superintendent
of the Great Northern Railway. has az
rived from Fernie, having made his
way out at great risk. Part of the
trip was made on a handcar and the
rest on foot. the railway line being de-
stroyed. Every stick of timber along
the line is gone and not living thing
is left.
The bodies OF Scott Miller and Louis
Fratina, a section hand, have been
brought in and four dead Italians have
been found beside the track.
Mr. and Mrs. Forester and twenty
five men have arrived at Campbell's
Siding, having been forced to give up
their fight to save the Sparwood mill.
Five members of the party succumbed
and the others only escaped by the
greatest difficulty. They travelled all
night by the light of the burning forest.
making their way in places along the
bed Of the creek where the water pro-
tected them in part from the terrible
heat. They are not yet out of the dan
ger zone. and locomotives will be sent
in for them. If possible.
The whole population of the region Is
clearing out. Fire is not the only dan
ger which the people OF the burning
area have to face Starvation has been
added to the terrors. When the people
left their homes for the protection
camps little or no provisions were taken
and now there are some six thousand
on the prairies with nothing to eat.
From the border of the burning aSr
to the destroyed towns there is,,.
means of communication except La
or by mule team. The bridges 4usf IS
and the trails hemmed in h> ~ A. &,
ing forest. Distributing "a. e * n -
ganizing. and these ~.
as soon as it Is hurgee-ssf n NJ
Canadian Pacificr sls-atf
to Michel frcs@lpesnesn of 5a>s.n-
rissey frcr., r - e I'm a