Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1894 — ABE STILL IN DANGER [ARTICLE]

ABE STILL IN DANGER

FLAMES THREATEN MANY TOWNS IN THE NORTH. Smoke In the Lake Superior Region Show* Fire* Unquenchcd-Losses Aggregate Incalculable Millions— Relief for the Suffering Subscribed Liberally. Fire Still at Work. Reports from the fire swept north pay that, while the worst is thought to be over, tho danger is not at an end. Fire smolders at countless points in northern Wisconsin and Michigan, and strong winds would fan the sparks into a blaze that wou'd sweep away many towns that have thus far fought successfully against destruction. Tnese rekindled tires were seen on all sides of Washburn and Ashland, and tho trainmen report the existence of Ironwood, Hurley, Odanah. Bayfield, Sanborn, Marengo, t’enoit and a dozen other sett'ements is threatened. Incendiaries, it is said, have tried to set fire to Ashland and Washburn. The authorities will not confirm the report for fear of lynching , bat it is known that the jails at botn places are well filled with non against whom no charges have been recorded. Fort Wing, forty m les east of Duluth cn the south shore (f Lake Superior, was totally destroyed Wednesday. The town hud 20d inhabitants. The town of Spencer, Wis., had aclo e call, Surrounded on all tides by growing fires, tho people sent a call for aid to Stevens Point. Ine hundred men responded, and, witn 300 able-bodied fire-fighteis of Spencer, succeeded in saving the place. The village of Thorpe, not far from Chippewa Falls, also had a nnrrow escape. Succor sent by neighboring towns prevented tho expected destruction, and the total loss was not more than $20,000. Still another town that caught fire, Rib Lake, in Taylor County, was saved by prompt and vigorous work, and the loss will not exceed $10,(00. The little town of Bruce, near Chippewa Falls, was not so fortunate. E ires enveloped it, and its 100 inhabitants waded into the Chippewa river and covered their hoads with wet blankets. Alter the fire had passed over them they saw an ash-heap where their homes had been. Tho loss is about $. 0.000. * Reports are to the effect that Carlton. Kerrick, and Larnum, Minn., are in clangor. The fires now surround these places, and are raging furiously. So dense is tho smoke at Carlton that the operator there said he could not see across the street. It is therefore impossible to know anything from any of these fire; except from the spot itself. Seven • people were burned to death in the fires at Marengo, a few miles south of Ashland, Wis. In Duluth the smoke is so dense that it is utterly impo sible to distinguish even faint outlines of buildings 41)0 feet away. Offers of aid to sufferers, both in "cash and goods, are coming in from distant States. The temporary relief fund subscribed in Duluth grows ajdl now reaches over SIO,OJO. There ifffe over one thousand destitute refugees from the Hinckley and Sandstone fires now in Duluth. Ono of the sal featuEes in the suffering cn the scene of the catastrophe is tho large number of cows, horses, sheep and hogs, as well as fowls that miraculously escape l the tiros and arc now suffering and slowly dying from hunger. The humane societies will at once take this part of the relief work in chai ge.

SHOWED THEMSELVES HEROES. Forett Fire Horror Brought Many jHrave Men to the Front. The heroes of the forest fires were many, and their deeds are just coming to light. Most of these men have been too busy to s.*v anything about themselves!', and their sto ies have only come out when some of those they have saved ate heard from. The stories of Engineer Root and crew, of the St. Paul and Duluth train, and that of the Eastern Minnesota crew, so noblyheaded by Engineer Eest, have been told, although the lull force of their heroic deeds cannot be understood by one who has never seen or realized the terrors of iorest fires, Ordinary' heroes become helpless under such an ordeal, and only the truest metal can stand the test of such a furnace. Engineer Ed Berry and Conductor Harry Powers, of the Kastern Minnesota freight, come to the front rank among the heroes who have stood the trial by fire. The 47* people whom they picked up and carried back to safety in the box cars were rushed through the midst of the furnace over burning ties, in the face of the knowledge that another train in the opposite direction had the right of way, and was liable to be met anywhere ir. the dense smoke and fierce llame. That wai a terrible ride ovor the if 0-foot bridge across the Kett e River, which was blazing and trembling under the wheels, apparently ready to fall. Fifteen minutes after the train pa sod tho ruilD of the bridge went down into the liver. It wai at this time that a crowd of alleged men crowded into the cab and begged Engineer Berry to uncouple the train and carry them to safety, leaving the people in the cars to perish. They were summarily fired The number of people saved by Gustave Wentz, a coolheaded German teamster, will never he known. Ho kept his horses on the jump and carried la ge numbers to plaeos of safety. Several entire families were‘saved bv him.

FIRE LOSSES TAX CREDULITY. Computed by Tens of Millions—Railroids the Chief Sufferers. The total loss causod to date by the forest fires in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota cannot yet be estimated with much accuracy, but it is known that computable losses almost tax credulity. In four counties in Michigan the loss on standing pine is known to bo at least $70,01)0,000, and in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota the loss is even greater. Logs ready for the mill have been burned in so many places that they cannot be estimated. Mi lions represent tho losses on saw'-mi:l plants and other millions the sawed lumber awaiting shipment. Ltill other millions were lost in the houses and personal effects of the victims. The railroads have suffered in the burning of bridges and damage to tracks, but their chief deprivation is of the future. Vast stretches of country, denuded of their forests, will have nothing so ship and no inhabitants to lay freight and passenger tariffs. Men driven out by lire will not return, even if there was business to entice them. Damage at Sandstone, Partridge and llinckl y foot up SUM), 7)00 for tho three towns, and is( more than half the loss in the towns, but does not include tho timber. Exports from Germany to the United States have more than doubled since the taking effect of the new tariff law. _____ One man was killed and two others injured in a crossing accident in Philadelphia. A freight train struck a coal wagon.