The San Francisco call., 1910-10-10
TOWNS BURN;
HUNDREDS OF
SETTLERS DIE
Forest Fires Rage and Northern
Minnesota Pioneers Are in
Dire Distress
Sevenfy=f1ve Bodies Located
and More Than 300 May
Have PerisheG

WARRoAD, MINI. oct. s.-Beudette,
spooner. Pitt and Gracetown. Mimi.
were wiped off the map by forest
fire. The bodies of IS victims have
been located, and it is thought the
death rate among settlers will be up
ward Of 900.
Wagonloads Of human bodies are be-
brought into the railway station at
Beaudette.
1t is reported that many settlers.
erazed with grief at the loss OF fam
HES and property. are roaming the
woods and searching parties are look
for the injured. the dead and demented.
One family OF nine, one OF seven. and
one OF five perished on Friday night
A tornado Of fire struck Baudette
and Spooner at $50 p. m. Saturday,
and within three minutes after the
first alarm every building was ablaze.
Within half an hour they were heaps
or ashes. The people Of these two
towns had just enough stime to get out
OF their homes with what they had on
their backs. They Were loaded on a
passenger train that was standing at
the depot and taken to Rainy River,
Ontario.
WHOLE COUNTRY ABLAZE
The whole country east Of here is
on fire. Roosevelt, Swift, Williams
and Cedar Spur are in great danger.
All the women and children are be-
ing rapidly removed to places Of
safety. The Canadian Northern rail-
way has stationed trains at every sta
ZION, and is doing everything in its
power TO relieve the situation.
The people of Beaudette and Spooner
and the settlers all through the north
central part of the state have lost
everything. Five thousand are home
less and the greater part of them alb
olutely destitute. Help must reach
hem in the next day or two, and
hat in q substantial way. as the
Ereater part of them are about half
clad.
II will be Impossible to get details
and names Of the dead an injured be-
fore tomorrow. and some of the dead
VIII not be found until spring. It will
he impossible to estimate the damage
or casualties until later, but the pio-
neers of northern Minnesota must have
help.
WIND SAVES ROOSEVELT
The wind shifted tonight and carried
the flames away from Roosevelt and
unless il changes again the twon will
be saved.
Canadian Northern trains have been
stalled here since Friday night, when
q freight train went through bridge
neat Pitt. The crew was saved and
Conductor Monahan walked into Beau
detre, which he reported as destroyed.
only the water tank the schoolhouse
walls and the depot standing. Mona
han says he walked over dead bodies
on the way, but could not say how
many.
Many settlers took to the woods and
have not been heard from since A
mother and five children are known to
have been burned. The fires are still
raging and the smoke is dense. Sa-
looms in Roosevelt were closed by the
mayor.
The dead, as far as known, are:
Katherine Jasper, 55, domestic for AL
bert Berg, Baudette; John Golvin, As,
homesteader, four miles from Beau
dette, wife and three small children,
two girls and q boy.
katherine Jasper fought her would
be rescuers with a butcher knife and
perisLed in the home of her employer.
The missing include 1000 residents
OF Beaudette, Spooner and Pitt, some
Of whom are dead, but the most of
them are safe in Rainy River and the
adjacent towns on the Canadian side
Of the line. Many homesteaders and
farmers are in the brush for dis
tance of 100 miles east and 20 miles
south. OF these nothing can be learned
for some time as searching parties
dare not penetrate the smoking forests.