FOREST FIRES IN MICHIGAN

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 23 November 1881, Page 2

FOREST FIRES IN MICHIGAN

A correspondent of a New York paper writing on the forest fires in Michigan snys : — Reliable information leads me to say that upwards of 300 people perished in the flames. There was no escape for them. The woods and ground were so dry, and no warning was given. Faster than racehorse came the fire It would embrace a | house or born with its contents, then pass to the next. Persons who have been through the terrible oraeal say in ten minutes from the time the fire struck a house there wcuid be no vss«tige of the building left. I have "just rpturned from a trip. --'-through the burned district, and a description of the sights would make the reader's blood turn cold. I saw many instances of men, women and children lying on their faces in the road where they had fallen whec overtaken by the fire. Children were lying on tags where they bad clambered for safety. There w;iß no finding each other when once separated. Many took refuge in wel's nnd on roofs of bouses, thinking to escape, but in almost every instance were suffocated. The details of suffering in Huron country are sad as here. T believe that when the returns are all in 1000 persons will be f^und t a have perished in the fl unes. "Forest town* ship will turn out on Thursday to bury the dead cattle, horses and sheep-, the stench from which is unbearable*