The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-10-19
PLAINS SWEPT BY FLAMES
DEATHS AWFUL HARVEST IN
NORTHWEST FOREST FIRES.
A Horrible Story of Devastation

Minnesota Towns Wiped Out Of Ex-
istence. While the Settlers Perish
As They Flee Before the Fire.
Destruction Is Awful.
RAINY RIVER, Ont Hundreds
dead. thousands homeless, millions
of dollars worth of property Destroy
cd and prosperous villages and nu-
nervous little settlements reduced to
ashes and desolation tell the tale
in briefest outline of the whitening
forest and bush fires which have
swept the Manitoba-Minnesota Dor
der. beginning last week and contin
uing this
The full horrors of the visitation
the tragedy, the anguish. the des-
perate struggle for life-will never
be known. Out in the clearances
whole families were cremated-some
in their homes as the cruel flames
swept down upon them with express
train speed; others as they fled,
blinded and choked with smoke,
cropping their way hopelessly and
vainly toward some fancied place of
security. In the settlements death
was no less certain, and the toll of
its victims was greater. Villages
burned up like sheaves of flax, Civ
ing no time for escape. Mothers,
with infants pressed to their bosoms,
were burned as they fed, crying to
heaven for mercy. Men, with chill
dren on their backs, fell exhausted
and suffocated, to be devoured
little later by the whitening flames.
Domestic and wild animals persisted
| by the thousands. Everywhere the
flames reached they left death and
ruin behind.
People Taken by Surprise.
Months ago there were fires in the
region, both in Manitoba and across
the Rainy River in Minnesota. These
hres did not become extinct, but
smOuldered slowly in the peaty
ground. They were started anew
by heavy wind which began to
blow toward the end of last week.
me wind increased in velocity until
walls Of flame, hundred feet high,
were started on their destructive
course The inhabitants of both
town and country had become so ac-
cuSJomed to the haze in the sky
caused by the smOuldering fires that
Iney did not realize the danger from
the renewed fire until too late. In
many cases escape was impossible.
Destruction in Minnesota.
BY far the greatest destruction
was wrought in Minnesota, where
me me towns of Beaudette, Spooner and
tlI We're wiped out, with heavy loss
u lie. The deaths would have been
Iuuch greater were it not for the
IelIeI trains sent out on the Cana
Glah Northern railroad from Rainy
i'lFer, across the river of the same
lnIo Minnesota. At imminent peril
" themselves the crews of these
SlalhS took carload after carload of
refugees across the international
-ln7 INTO Rainy River and further
vest TO Warroad Some of these
rams flashed through lanes of fire
anu across burning bridges, the
"ool9|ork of the cars being scorched
uy Ihe flames. Many of the settlers
CO %no were fleeing to Beaudette,
ra0 and Pitt persisted on the
an aIFoad track or along the rails,
oau Ineir bodies are now being pick
~, up by the score. Hardly a par
I've OF clothing, except the shoes,
rb 'elJ on them, and the bodies have
cd appearance of having been bak-
gu N a red-hot oven.
tba A'l through the region swept by
m ng 1ames-a zone of nearly 100
niles in length and 40 miles wide
'"e i've stock persisted. The bod