The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1910-10-13
HORRORS OF
FOREST FIRES
Deaths are Estimated at 100
10 400 and Property
Loss Millions
RESCUE TRAINS ARE USED
Thousands Are Homeless, While the
Hospitals Are Filled With Suffer
ers Who Have Fled.

Winnipeg, Manitoba.-Latest re-
ports of the forest fires III the Rainy
river region of Minnesota increase the
horrors of the situation, if not the
number of lives lost Estimates of
the number of persons killed range
from Is to 400. Several conservative
men of business and authority place
the deaths at more than 100. But the
greater concern for the present is the
rescue of the helpless and the relief
of thousands Of homeless men, women
and children
Stories of wild animals fleeing for
safety side by side with human beings,
their natural hostility and fear quench-
ed by the horror of their situation, are
being told, showing the desperateness
of the situation. Tales also came Of
mothers burned to death with their
babies on their breasts and strong
men calcined while endeavoring t
shield their children.
Its hell down there" said Engi-
neer Smith of the Duluth express,
when a reporter swung into the cab
after the. train passed the fire zone
His train took many refugees from
the scene Of the conhagration to Win
nepeg. If the fire keeps on the way
it is doing now there will be mighty
little left of the population of that
part Of Minnesota he added.
THE flames have quoted down a
little, but it only needs puff of wind
to cause it to renew its fury. There
is one good thing. however; it cannot
come near the railway lines again, for
all the timber in that section is burned
away. For miles around Baudette and
Spooner where there were large
tracts of bush, it is now as level as
the prairie.
Everything is wiped out. The FIRE
went at such terrific rate that it
burned everything before it. There
has been a forest in that part Of the
country for So long that the earth is
peaty, and when a tree was blown
down it began to burn even to the
roots and the earth around the roots.
A special train with machinery and
workmen is going over the entire sys-
tenn, strengthening all the bridges on
the Canadian Northern road
Many of the bridges over which we
have had to go have been slightly
charred, but the strength Of them has
not been seriously hurt.
From where we in the engine were
it seemed that every timber mill in
the country had been burned except
that of the Shevlin- Matthew Compa-
ny, which is safe. All the lumber in
the Yards, however, was burned.
When we passed through all the tim
Der near the track had burned and
was merely smouldering. We came
through at o'clock in the morning,
and the small red fame from the
smouldering mass of logs looked like
real picture of the inferno through
the clouds of smoke which reeled
across the path of the engine.
"All the ties Of the road have been
charred and the country is level with
the tracks We stopped every little
while to take on some people, but
most Of them stopped off just outside
Of the danger zone SO that they could
Immediately go back to what was
left Of their homes after the fire had
subsidized
Everybody has been making prep
arations at Warroad and lust south
of the town, where everything could
be kept under control; they have pre-
pared for back-fring. so that if the
town IS threatened this will be imme-
diately set on fire. If they can kill the
flames before another breeze springs
I'D, there is hope. but if another
breeze comes UP, God help then!'