Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-10-10
One Estimate Says Total
May Reach High as
1000.
SEVERAL TOWNS GONE
Area of so by 80 Miles Burned
Over-FinanciaI Loss Up
in Millions.

Winnipeg, Man, Oct. lot is possi-
BILE the death list in the forest fires
along the1border will reach the appall-
ing total Of 1000. The most conserva-
tive estimates place the number at 200
to 500. Every settler in the flre-swept
district who has not been accounted
for is certain to be dead, as there was
no escape. For a distance Of so miles
from Baudette and Rainy River west
to Warroad the woods was solid mass
of fire Sunday
Charred Remnants of Towns.
Only charred remnants mark the
sites OF Baudette, Spooner, Cedar
Spur, Gracton, Pitt, Swift, and Roose-
velt. The mayor of Baudette states IS
bodies already have been found, and
the list may reach $50. Refugees re-
port having seen many dead bodies in
the roads.
Searching Parties Out.
Rainy River, Ont, Oct. 10.-Search-
ing parties started out this morning
over the fire swept zone. 1t will be
days before all the dead can be reach
ed, owing to the obstruction Of roads
by fallen trees. An instance is re-
ported of 16 persons being saved by
getting into a dry we'll and staying
there until the fire passed.
Many settlers were saved by wading
into Rapid river. The burned district
will be placed under martial law, and
soldiers will distribute rations to the
refugees.
Property Loss I'm Millions.
.s-Warroad,- MINI, Oct. 10--Estimates
Of the loss of life in the forest fires
which wiped out several small towns
and is still raging, ranges from so to
200, and the property loss will go into
the millions.
The fire zone covers an area SIS miles
in length and 80 miles in width, cover
ing all the territory between Red Lake
and Lake in The Woods. The fires
have wiped out Baudette, Spooner,
Graceton, Pitt, Myron and Malcolm.
Survivor Tells story.
Duluth, Mimi, Oct 10.-After be-
ing hemmed in by fire on nearly ev-
cry side and finally reaching a rail-
road station with the unconscious
form of a woman suffering from ty-
phoid fever in his arms, Frank Wat
today bringing the patient with him.
'It is impossible to describe it, "
he said, Everything was confusion.
Families became separated in the
rush. Women shrieked and children
cried. 1t was for the most part ey-
erybody for himself and the mad
rush for a place of safety was like
a stampede.
Women Sink to Ground.
Some persons ceased to be human,
while others were more than human
under the circumstances.
Women with babies in their arms
sank to the ground to be trampled
underfoot Some held out their
babies and asked that they be taken
to a place of safety knowing they
were unequal to the task and re-
signing themselves to the fate that
the fire would bring.
Rush Back Into Fire.
Men driven half crazy by the fact
that part of, and in some cases the
whole family had been lost. ran wildly
about asking of newcomers concerning
their relatives Every now and then
some man on whom the terrible disas- !
ter worked harder than others, would
dive back to the burning districts to
save his family or perish. 1t was nee
essary to hold a great number of men
who fought those who attempted TO re-
strain them Those who got away went |
back into the rolling billows of fire
and are numbered among the dead"
Sixty Bodies Found.
Rainy River, Ont, Oct. TO-
Three hundred charred bodies, pos
sibly scores or even hundreds more.
mark the path of a wall of seething,
cracking flame which has been fore
ed by relentless wind through the
bush of Minnesota on the south side
Of the Rain river.
Sixty bodies, bIackened almost be-
yond recognition by the fierce heat
of the burning forests, already have
been found. Most of them lay on
railroad tracks. far from the towns
testifying to the frantic fight of
men, women and children along the
only open space it was believed the
death-bearing flames might not
reach.
Two thousand residents of the
stricken district are missing. Many
OF them are dead, but most are be-
lieved to be safe in towns along the
Canadian side of the line.
Three Towns Wiped Out. |
Three Minnesota towns - Pitt,