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Show DEATH UST NOT yETMPLETED STORIES THAT CAME FROM FIRE REGIONS WERE NOT EXAGGERATED. EXAG-GERATED. Forestry Officials S&y They Do Not Know How Many Lives Have Been Lost. But List Is a Long One. Spokane, Wash. Tho death list as A result of tho fenrful forest fires In Montana nnd Idaho has not yet been completed, and It Is not' known definitely defi-nitely how many lives wcro lost. In fact, it may never bo known how groat was tho toll exacted by tho fire demon. Persons returning from tho burned country say that thcro has been no exaggeration in the nowspapor reports re-ports of tho loss of life and destruction destruc-tion of property. Tho forest sorvlco Is unablo to check up Its men and to say positively how many are missing. On Saturday aftornoon, August 20, thoro wcro 850 forestry men In tho Hold. Thcro was a record of their names when they wcro engaged, but Bomo of tho timekeepers have been burned to death and with them tho lists of omployees. Wages arc duo tho men, nnd If they don't call for them It will bo assumed that tho men aro dead. Forrestry officials who don't wish to bo quoted directly say they don't know how many men have been lost; that when tho rangors go out to cut trails and survey tho lossos of timber they will find many skeletons. Tho lost men were nearly all laborers picked up by the employment agencies of Spokane and Missoula. None of tho graduates or the Yalo forestry school was killed or Injured. The eight men killed In the Bullion mlno and tho thirteen killed on tho Big Fork of tho Coour d'Alene woro forest sorvlco employees, though not Included in tho lists of the district officers at Missoula. While Supervisor Welglo at Wallaco was gathering information concerning his missing rangers, ho received reports re-ports of others than forest men killed, and tho list ot theso totalled moro than 100. These roports woro unofficial and unverified, but tho agreo with tales brought to Spokano by refugees. It was reported to Wallaco that a number of Japaneso employees of tho Milwaukee railroad wero killed, and that numerous settlers, loggors and miners perished. Whon tho mining and logging companies check up their payrolls thoy will find many omployees omploy-ees missing It is believed. Tho land off ico is in touch with tho settlers and will bo able to glvo a list of thoso who havo vanished. Tho dead bodies where fire has swept directly over them, seem to bo burned to charcoal. Flngors, ears and oven arms drop off when tho bodies woro touched, and it is best to bury them where found. Tho men suffo cated in tunnels aro recognlzablo and some or those roasted in crook beds nro not carbonized. An entirely now government survey or tho Coeur d'Alono country must bo mado. Tho old boundaries wero fixed by landmark trees that havo been removed, re-moved, nnd tho settlers havo no way of exactly locating their land. Of tho fifty Injured men in Wallaco hospitals, all will bear scars or other marks to tho gravo. Thoso who In-haled In-haled smoke aro suffering from lung trouble. Half tho patients sustained broken legs or arms. Many havo pitifully piti-fully seared faces. Tho number ot injured in-jured In tho wholo firo country runs Into hundreds, und, whllo all aro Bald to bo recovering from tholr Injuries, In most cases thoy will all bo disfigured. |