The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-08-27
PROBABLY OVER 200 PERSONS
MOSTLY FIRE FIGHTERS,
ARE DEAD.
RAIN AND SNOW BRINGING RELIEF
all Towns Now Believed Out of Dan.
oer.-Only Nine Known Dead
in Western Mon.
tana. q

Spokane, Aug. 25.-It is believed
that more than 200 persons, nearly all
fire fighters, persisted in the Idaho
forest fires.
Superintendent Weigle of the Couer
d'Alene national forest, after receiv-
ing many reports of disaster to va
>rous parties of his 900 employees, post
ed bulletin in his office at Wallace
announcing the death of Ia of the
men, and also stated his grave con-
Germ for the safety of Ranger Joseph
B. Hahn and "a men who were sur
rounded by: fire Saturday night in
the forest on the Big Fork of the
Occur d'Alene river near where an
other party lost 10 men.
Hahn was for four years the best
athlete of~the Washington State col
lege at Pullman, renowned football
and baseball player. The charred
bodies of Is fire fighters were found
on Setser creek, in the st. Joe coun-
ty. Two burned Japanese dragged
themselves to Avery, Idaho, and told
of the death of ten of their compan-
ions. The IL men, employees of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound
railway, had gone out to fight fire
and had been surrounded by flames
and only two men escaped death.
The rangers missing in the Thomp-
son Falls county of Montana are not
heard from.
The number of deaths in the state
of Washington was reduced to three,
all in the Pen d. Orielle valley near
Newport. One of these victims, Mrs.
Ernest Deinhart, wife of a rancher,
was the only woman known to have
been burned to death in any of the
fires.
Dead Were Fire Fighters.
Nearly all the dead were fire fight
ers. The wholesale loss of life oc-
CURED Saturday afternoon and night.
when great bodies of men were striv-
ing to check the flames.
The names Of many of the dead will
never be known. The rangers en-
ployed all the able bodied men whom
they could press into service. When
the groups of fire fighters were over
whelmed, the camps were also de-
stroyed. The clothes were burned off
the bodies of the men and the bodies
Of the dead were often so charred
that searchers stepped on them, think
ing they were pieces of burned logs.
The fire obliterated the trails and the
burned country is difficult to go
through because of fallen trees. With
the towns out of danger, and the set.
tiers fled to places of safety, the ran
gers were able to devote themselves
entirely to the saving Of the trees.
Various fires are isolated and will
die for lack of food.
In Montana rain and snow fell,
checking the flames. In Spokane the
sun shone clear and even at Wallace
the smoke cloud was lifted.
No one ventures to estimate the
financial loss, for the extent of the
burned area is not fully known. A
pine tree, centuries old, has value
beyond the lumber it contains, and
the national forests have lost many of
the finest trees they possessed.
Nine Known Dead In Montana.
Missoula, Aug Acknowledgements in
the forest fire situation in Montana
are encouraging. The sun shone
through the pail of smoke that has
hung over Missouia and hopeful re.
ports came in from all directions.
Men, reported as missing, are being
found. The intensity of the flames is
greatly reduced by the snow and rain
and ill towns in the fire districts are
row out of danger.