Toll of Dead Unknown. 



The fire monster that once had such free reign over the 

 forests holds as its own secret the details of hundreds of 

 instances where human beings caught in its mad sweep failed 

 in their flight for safety. But each big disaster has had 1 its 

 known train of suffering to stir the government into more 

 strenuous effort to smother the demon. 



During the big Northern Minnesota fire rescuing parties 

 brought into Warroad the bodies of seventy-five persons killed 

 in the fires which were burning over the surrounding country, 

 and they reported that they saw scores of bodies but were 

 unable to recover them. Several families were known to 

 have plunged directly into the deep woods with the approach 

 of the blaze, with the result that they were cut off without a 

 chance to escape. Two thousand fugitives escaped from 

 Beaudette in a long train of boxcars. The mob of men, 

 women, and children waited' for the train while their homes 

 were in flames. The track over which they escaped ran 

 through the forest fire for miles and they were forced to 

 Gross many burning bridges. 



At the time of the Michigan fire in 1908 a 10-year-old boy 

 came into Millersburg carrying in his pocket handkerchief 

 a little pile of ashes all that remained of the incinerated 

 body of his little sister. 



When fire swept the north fork of Lewis river in Cowlitz 

 county, Washington, in September, 1902, a party of nine pleas- 

 ure seekers had been camping at the foot of Mount St. Helens. 

 They were driving ahead of the fiery storm in an attempt to 

 reach the open prairie, when they suddenly found the road 

 barred by the fallen timber. There was no escape for them 

 and all perished together. When found by a relief party the 

 nine charred corpses lay close together near the iron all 

 that remained of the wagon. The horses had managed to get 

 only a few steps from the wagon when they, too, became 

 victims. 



On the occasion of this same fire one settler, when leaving 

 home in the morning, told his wife that should the flames 

 come near she was to take the children and seek refuge in 

 the green timber. She followed his advice, but the flames 

 devoured the green timber with fierce rapidity. 



28 



