p. 152 | A Storm of Fire

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 24, 1871

A Storm of Fire.

MILWAUKEE, Oct. 15.—Later accounts from northern Wisconsin confirm all previous reports and rumors. The loss of life in the neighborhood of the burned district of Peshtigo will reach over 1,800, and 15 per cent of those injured cannot recover. The fire tornado was heard at a distance like the roaring of the sea. Balls of fire were soon observed to fall like meteors in different parts of the town, igniting whatever they touched. People rushed with their children in their arms for a place of safety, but the storm of fire was upon them, and enveloped them in flames, smoke, and cinders, and those unable to reach the river were suffocated and roasted alive. This terrible scene happened on Sunday night, the 8th of October, already made famous by the Chicago horror. A member of the Relief Committee, sent from Milwaukee with supplies, says the only survivors were those who were fortunate enough to reach the water, many throwing themselves into the mill pond and clinging to floating logs. A number of these were drowned by being thrown from logs by maddened horses and cattle that rushed into the water. The fiery cyclone swept over a tract of country eight or ten miles wide. Every building, fence, and all the timber, were licked up clean by the tongue of fire. The town of Peshtigo numbered 2,000 inhabitants, one-third of whom perished in that fearful night.

Reports from the east shore of Green Bay, places the loss of life full as high as at Peshtigo. The same account states that the immediate wants of the people are supplied, but large amounts of clothing and provisions will be required for the coming winter. Mayor Ludington, of Milwaukee, publishes the following appeal for aid:

“MILWAUKEE, Oct. 14.

“The calamities which have befallen our State, and some neighboring States, are truly appalling. Over 1,500 men, women, and children have been burned to death in Wisconsin alone. Their houses and farms are, to a large extent, entirely destroyed, the very soil having been burned, and all their autumn and root crops destroyed. They are utterly destitute, and will require full support at least until another season. Seven counties in our own State are thus in a great part utterly desolated. Whole regions of country in Western Michigan are in the same condition.”