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Show Forest Fires Sweep Across Two States DULUTH, Minn., Oct. 13 With probably 500 persons dead, thousands homeless and without clothing, and with property damage mounting far into millions of dollars, whole sections of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota timberland. tonight aro smouldorlng, firo stricken areas, with only the charred ruins of abandoned, depopulated depopu-lated towns to accentuate the general gen-eral desolation. The bodies of seventy-five victims lie in Duluth morgues. Hundreds moro along the roads leading to Duluth Du-luth and Superior lay whore they fell I when overtaken by the fire. Twelve thousand homeless and penniless pen-niless refugees all in need more or loss, of medical attention are quartered quar-tered in hospitals, churches, schools, private homes and In the armory here, while doctors and nurses sent from surrounding communities attended them, nearly every able-bodied man In tho city has been conscripted to Vight tho flames which now aro reported report-ed to bo .dying away. Reports that the holocaust resulted from the work of onemy agents were circulated hero tonight. Definite confirmation con-firmation was not available but It was learned that Incendiaries were driven away from a local shipyard when the fires in Duluth and Superior were burning at their height. DULUTH, Minn., Oct. 13 More than 500 persons are dead or missing and at least twelvo thousand have boon made homeless by five forest fires which have spread across northern Wisconsin and "northern Minnesota during the past thirty-six hours. Seventy-five bodies, most of them charred, are In local morgues tonight. Cloquet, Brookston, Brevator, Corona. Coro-na. Thompson, Arnold, Moose Lake and Wright have hoen wiped out, according ac-cording to refugees. Scores of hamlets ham-lets and hundreds of settlers' homes havo been destroyed. The property and timber loss will total many millions mil-lions of dollars. The bodies of seventy-five fire victims vic-tims were brought hero tonight and placed in local morgues. More than twelve thousand refugees, men women and children, are being cared for in Duluth and Superior. Many are housed in Duluth in the armory ar-mory while hospitals and private homes havo been thrown open to those who in addition to being homeless home-less have suffered some injury. The majority are in need of clothing and medical supplies have been placed in care of doctors and nurses rushed hero from, all sections of the state by governor gov-ernor BurnquIsL Reports reaching Duluth tonight told of widespread destruction but it was evident that in most casos the fury of the flames is spent. Duluth and Superior Su-perior are In further danger. Great loss of life and property damage dam-age is believed to have occurred in the Cloquet region where a number of small towns have been destroyed and all semi-rural settlements virtually wiped out. Until a careful census of the burned area is taken no accurate estimates can bo made either of the loss of life or extent of property damage. The fires in Duluth and Superior it was said, destroyed property valued at more than a million dollars. Physicians feared an increase in tho influenza epidemic among the refugees as the result of exposure and privation. priva-tion. A special train of twenty coaches brought 1500 refugees from Cloquet and Carleton, Minn. They confirmed reports that many persons had lost their lives in those towns. Albert Michaud, a special policeman, told a tragic story of the burning of Cloquet and of the mad rush of Its residents to escape. "At 6 o'clock last night, a forest ranger gave warning that unless the wind died down the townspeople would have to flee," said Michaud. "A thick pall of smoke hung over the town and at 7 o'clock thq special trains were called. "The scene at the station wts indescribable. inde-scribable. There came a rush of wind and the entire town was in flames. The trains pulled out with the fires blazing closely behind them. Women wept and clung to their children while others cried frantically for their missing ones. The flames licked at the cars. Windows Win-dows in the coaches were broken bv the heat. Tho engineers and firemen alternately stoked to give the "boilers all the steam they could stand. "Other trains were hurriedly made up out of flat cars, box cars, anything that would roll. But even then all did not get away. There are many dead In Cloquot." Cloquet was a town of about 7500 population. More than 4700 were brought to Duluth and Superior from there alone. Information brought in by rescue parties tonight indicated that nearly 100 bodicB have been found on roads leading to Duluth. Several burned automobiles filled with bodies wcro passed, rescuers declared. Other bodies bod-ies are being brought in from ovorv village and hamlet stricken by the gale-driven flames. Tho list of dead will not be definitely definite-ly compiled for days, perhaps weeks. Hundreds of panic-stricken people havo gathered about numerous lakes in the burned area and those reported missing may be among them. The town of Twig, on the Miller Trunk road, was wiped out. Other towns reported as being entirely destroyed de-stroyed Jncludo Rice Lake, Brookston, Brevator. Coronado, Adolph, Thompson- Arnold, Mooaelake and Wright. There is no community within a radius ra-dius of thirty miles which has not sustained sus-tained more or Icbs damage and each has its quota of dead and injured. Both fire -fighting and reliof work is being carried on under the direction of the Minnesota home guard and state officials. The cities of Duluth and Superior Su-perior were not out of danger until today. As it was property damago wrought yesterday will total more than a million dollars. The Duluth Country club and the children's home, ono of the largest structures of its kind in the state, were total losses, and the fire swept Woodland and Lester park, recreation centers, loss of which will amount to several thousand dollars. Tho fire also destroyed one approach to the inter-state bridge which connects con-nects Duluth with Superior, the Wisconsin Wis-consin city across the St. Louis river from here- Automobile parties dashed through a wall of flame to rescuo 200 tuberculosis tubercu-losis patients at tho Nopeming sanitarium sani-tarium which was partially dostroyed. Tho v patients were taken out with greatest difficulty flros having cut oft the rescuers' retreat but it was said tonight none probably would suffer ill effects. Every hour adfls to tho horror of tho disaster and additional names to the list of dead. At Moose Lake an Associated Press correspondent saw seventy. five bodies pilo in a firo-gutted building. On a road leading out of Moose Lake at least 100 bodies were strewn here and there. A relief worker reported that in a root cellar between Moose Lake nnri Kettle river, there were thirty bodies piled in a heap. Reports received here late tonight, said Cass Lake and Grand Rapids on tho westorn edge of the firo zone, wore out of danger, due to the heroic work of citizens. Three improvised morgues in Moose Lake building which escaped the flames hold the bodies of eighty vic-l Urns, General Rhlnow said, and many of them aro charred beyond recognition. recogni-tion. Bodies of seventeen men, women and children were found in a cellar, four miles west of here. On another farm, two miles west, fourteen more bodies were taken from a well where firo-drivcn unfortunates sought safety from the flames, only to perish by drowning. The fire which burned an area twenty miles square around Moose Lake was being brought under control! In this vicinity. Roliof work is well1 organized, he said, and all immediate, wants aro supplied. Tonight General Rhlnow ordered ten! motor trucks to roport early tomorrow.! These will bo sent out in all directions direc-tions to gather up the dead and injured, in-jured, and bring them here. Home! guardsmen from surrounding towns! will aid in tho work despite the fact that they have been on duty continually contin-ually since tho fire broke out. "The country for miles around Moose Lake is a smouldorlng ruin," said General Rhlnow. "Perhaps six or soven buildings aro standing hero and thero, but all else is desolation. On tho roads wo traversed to reach horo we saw crazed settlers pacing about aimlessly, generally too stunned to talk. The whole situation Is appalling ap-palling and beggars description." Orders were issued to all railroads! not to sell tickets to any one bound for the fire-swept region not authorized authoriz-ed to go there. This order is intended intend-ed to bar sight seers and curious per- j sons who would hamper tho relief work. |