Loading...
The Herald, 1908-08-14, Page 6Ic LS igh Winds Fan pled the Fire and the Place Fell a Prey to the Fla es. Terrible Deaths of Many Persons in the Fernie Cor flagation. THE DEAD, JOHN CUPEK, engineer, Hosmer. WALTER FORD, aged 6o, miner, West Fernie. MRS. WALTER FORD. Daughter, aged 8. Son, aged 2. MRS. TURNER, an aged cripple. Two children, names unknown. Man, unknown, in ruins of Waldorf. Man, unknown, found. near Sparwood. J. ANDERSON, stationary engineer, Pacific Coal Company. LENA BELL, colored woman, Red Light district. Two other women is same house. Boy, unidentified. LANE, aged 3o, miner. Skeleton, unidentified. ROBERT KERN, aged. man. Two men on ' track, near Wardsrope, supposed to be lumber jacks. "SCOTTY" MILLER, Michel. Two railway men at Michel. Several drowned in trying to swim Elk River. Michel Destroyed. Michel despatch: A fierce gale of wind. this afternoon fanned the slumbering embers in the forest west of the town into renewed fury, causing them to burn worse than ever. They swept on towards the town at terrible speed, and the fate of the new portion of the town was soon settled. The flames invaded the railway yards, where a hundred thousand feet of mine timber; owned by the Coal Com- pany, was soon destroyed, as was also considerable rolling stock. The train service will be blocked indefinitely. All the flat back of the Great Northern de- pot became a seething mass of fie -tees ' ' Counting the Losses. A Michel, B. C., despatch: Refugees are pouring in from J!'ernle and the devastat- ed areas, and the stories these survi- vors of the holocaust tell of the horrible disaster gave the first definite idea of Its extent. t'p to last night the work of rescue and exploration had only begun, nevertheless eighteen bodies had been taken from the ruins. The final loss of life, however, may not be greater than the first estimate. The property loss will run up to five millions, with insurance of about three millions and a {half. The heaviest individual losses are as follows —C. P. R. and G. N. R, half a mill ,n each; Trite Wood Company, a hundred end fifty thousand; Elk River Ltunber Company, a i...ndred and eighty-five thousand; C. N. Trading Company, a .hundred thousand; Fort Steele Brewing Company, seventy-five thousand; Fer- nieL•umber Company and McDougall Punter Company, fifty thousand each. These are conservative figures. Several insurance companies already have their appraisers on the ground making praiseworthy attempts to effect a speedy settlement, in order to give the people a chance to 'rebuild Resi- dents of the stricken area are deeply grateful to all for the prompt meas- ures of relief. The logging crew of the Elk Lum- ber Company, comprising twenty men, has not been heard from notwithstand- ing the company claims that all its then are safe. They were working on e mountainside and the only possible avenue was across the mountain, and even if they are safe, it may be sev- eral days before they can reach Fernie by the route they must follow. Re- lief over the burned area is beyond human possibility. Fifteen Bodies Found. • Fifteen bodies, most of them burned and charred beyond possible recogni- tion, have thus far been recovered from the ruins and ashes of Fernie. Chief of Police Cook, with a number of deputies, has been searching all day wherever it was reported lives were lost, and it is be- lieved many other bodies will yet be found. No attempt has yet been made to make a list of the missing,. as many of the families were separated in the mad rush to get out of town during the fire. It will be several days before the authorities will know how many perish- ed. . Family Suffocated in a Well. One of the most tragic fatalities of the fire, and ane which shows tate ex- tremes to which people were driven to escape the heat, was the finding of the bodies of a fancily of four in a well, a miner, his wife and two children, where they had tried to get relief from the terrific heat. The head of the man, whose name was 'William Ford, was badly burned. while his wife and ehil- dren, a boy Of two years and a .girl of eight years, all died of suffocation. re was little water in the well, which inginto it lie and his family were evi- dently unable to get out again, and the curbing burned down almost to the water's edge, suffocating then. Even more pathetic is the awful man- ner in. which Mrs. Addie Turner, an aged invalid' woman, who lived with her son in Fernie annex, met death. When it was seen that the house was going to be ignited by flying embers in the gale, Mr. Turner, a miner, prepared his wife and children for flight. The aged wo- man could not walk, and she pleaded with them to leave her and save them- selves, bait finally, when the horse was caught by the flames, Mr. Turner wrap- ped the old woman in. a wet blanket, carried iter out of the house and laid her on the 'ground. IIe then seized his wife and children and fled. Nothing but the blackened bones of the old. woman were found by the searching party. Mr, Turner and his family escaped. Waldorf Hotel Victims. It is believed that several lives were lost in the Waldorf Hotel in the old town. The last persons to leave the hotel after it twine in flames say that there were four drunken men who were left lying there, and it is believed they all perished. Robert. Lane, whose body was found in West Fernie, near the Elk Lumber Company's boort, was a young miner, who had been married only a few months. When last seen he was going back towards the river with a laddea to help some of his neighbors to escape: Anderson, stationary engineer at the Pacific coal and coke works, became separated from the crowd, and wander- ed into the air tunnel, where an. inrush of smoke suffocated hull.. How most of the dead perished is not known, as they all died on Saturday af- ternoon between a and 0 o'clock, When the air was so filled with smoke that it was almost impossible 1.0 see across the street Women and Children Carried Out. Chas. Erickson, of West Fernie, car- penter, found a young girl who had just arisen from a sick bed, sitting in the door of a cabin holding a small baby in her arms. The girl chid not know what had become of her parents, and the fire was fast corning upon the cabin. Erickson seized the girl, who was clad only in a night gown, iu one arm, and the baby in the other, and carried them to the G. N. tracks below the fire. Two other little girls, who had lost their parents, were found by Erickson and carried to safety, after which he return- ed to the cabin and found two old wo- men. One of the women refused to leave the house, and he was compelled to take her out by force to save her life. An old woman, who was 90 'years of age, was carried by .John Volume on his back from Fort Steele brewery, below the town, to the Crow's Nest Company's offices. Fernie People Act Promptly. A Fernie despatch: Communication by wire auu railway with the outside world has been established, and vigorous ef- forts to identify and bury the dead a.nd prevent the seven. thousand; homeless people from starving are under way in the stricken region to -day. A public safety committee of fifty is directing affairs. The patrol of mounted police is assisting in the efforts to re- store order and• distribute relief. Twenty-two dead bodies have been recovered, and while this is not sup- posed to be all the victims it is known that the death list is very much smaller than at first supposed, while the missing list contains nearly 100. This is now thought to be due to the separation of various families, for during the rush to escape the sea of flames the inhabitants of Fernie and surrounding coal towns scattered in all directions, some follow- ing the streams into the isolated regions and others following the track. The tabulation of business men's losses began to -day, and it is planned that a special session of the British Columbia Legislature or -order in council will be passed to supply credit where it is ab- solutely necessary. Telegrams have been received in a vast 7uantity from all parts of Canada, the United States and England offering aid. The wholesalers of Winnipeg, To- ronto, Montreal and Spokane doing bus- iness here have promised all credit ne- cessary to those business men who re- quired extended credits to restore their business. This will probably be neces- sary, as in a large number of cases the losses are complete. As a rule in Fernie even those insured have lost their poli- ties and all records, and will have much trouble in settling their claims, all notes of their debtors, as well as books show- ing who their creditors are, being de- stroyed. A Heroic Mother. • Among the many heroin 'cases re- vealed is that of Mrs. Henry Morrie, wife' of a miner, caught it the edge of a'brush with her five little children, Her husband had been caught in their burning hone anti, perished. The e , her ehildren the youngest four years old, along a small stream into the interior, twelve miles, fighting for their lives every ineh of the way. Frequently the whole family had to lie down in the stream to 'avoid suffocation. Their clothing wasp literally burned from their bodies, their bodies being blistered, and they were nearly thirty hours without food. The heroic mother fought her way through a • pall of smoke • and flames, and finally reached the railway track, where she was picked up, with her children, by a relief 'train. The whole family had been listed as .dead. The theory that the Black Hand started the fires in revenge for impris- 'oninent of their members is being fol- lowed up by the Mounted Police, and, while the story is not generally cred- ited, it is to be sirted to the bottom. Relief trains have poured enormous quantities of supplies into Fernie and surrotniding towns. It is largely now • a question of • organization. The Com- mittee of Public Safety proposes later to make a list of those worthy of the life-savers' medals for heroic conduct during the great conflagration. The quick response of American towns along the border has created the liveliest feeling of cordiality among all the towns of Crow's Nest Pass region. . BANK LE: ENDS HIS LIF. FIRED BULLET THROUGH HIS BRAIN IN A VAULT IN BANK. Announced That He Was Going in Search of an Old Check Book, and Half Hour Later His Body Was Found by Fellow Employes. New York, Aug. 10.—Charles W. `Vuestenfeld, a bank clerk, 20 years old, shot and killed himself in the vault of the Produce Exchange Bank at No. 12 Broadway shortly after noon to -day, just as two worthless cheques bearing his signature, were handed in at the paying teller's window by a man who succeeded in getting out of the bank before he was stopped. Wuestenfeld carie to the Produce Exchange Bank three and a half years ago, and according to Cashier W ood, had worked himself into a trusted po- sition, where he was earning more than many mens an the bank's employ six or seven years. Ile had just had his salary raised and was in a fair way to a suc- cessful catreer in the bank when the tragedy occurred. Wuestenfeld, who was standing near the screen separating his cage from that of Paying Teller Cullen, turned hurriedly to Cttllen and said: "I'ni going downstairs to the vault to find an old cheque book for an ac- count 1 have to untangle." Just at this time a stranger present- ed two cheques for $20 each at the pay- ing teller's window, and it is thought that Wuestenfeld saw the pian coming through the door of the bank. The cheques were drawn on the Pro- duce Exchange Bank to the order of "cash," and endorsed on the back with Wuestenfeld's name and were there- fore payable on sight to the bearer. The paying teller looked around for the young man, as it was known that he had no account with the bans. and that the cheques could not be good. When the paying teller failed to see Wuesten- feld he took the cheques into Cashier Wood's office and told hint of the mat- ter. Wood asked that Weustenfeld be sent to him at once and was told that the young man was downstairs in one of the vaults. The man at the window had gone and the cheques were held by the cashier for Wuestenfeld's return. When he failed to conte up in thirty minutes Cashier Wood became sus- picious and sent men to the sub -cellar where the vaults are located. Just then a shot came from the vaults. The men ran downstairs and inside a small vault used for storing old 'hcgae books and ledgers they saw Wues- tenfeld lying on the floor with a re- volver which was kept in the eage be- side him. Tlie door to the vault is a self-locking ane, and they went, up- •stair•s to get a, key for the vault. When they got it open they found at once that the bullet had gone through the right temple - and ,that the young man had been instantly killed. No note or letter . or money was found on the young man's clothing, and there was nothing to give any ex- planation to his act other than the pre- sentation of the cheques. EXAMINE CHILDREN'S TEETH. Dentists in Annual -Convention Cali for Preventive Measures. Ottawa despatch: The Canadian Den- tal .association opened its fourth bien- nial meeting to -day. A Large number of American dentists are in attendance, having come to the city directly from Boston, where the National Dentists' Association of the United States has just finished its yearly session. Janes M. Magee, of St. John, N. B., was elected president. The opening paper was read by Dr. George .K. Thompson, of Halifax, who , discussed the questionof dental - education of public and school children. He advocat- ed examination of children in schools by capable dentists who would be able to give a . verdict concerning condition of teeth and mouth: Members of the association who_took up the question were a unit in de- manding legislation making it impera- tive that school ehildren be examined by dentists as a preventive 'measure. The general opinion was that a great deal of suffering and. misery and per- manent ill health is due to neglect of teeth. SIX 'Ff USAND E ' ST JKE. C. P. R. Mechanics Threw Down Their Tools Yesterday. Both Company and Men Determined to Fight it Out. - / NUMBER OF STRIKERS Montreal ... . •... ... ...... . . 2,200 Winnipeg ... ... . . . ... . . .. 1,500 Toronto 460 London... ... ... ... ... zoo North Bay ... ....... ... . . . 200 Chapleau . ..... ...... . . zoo Ottawa - 40 Regina ... ... 40 Calgary ...... .. , . Fort William , . . . Medicine Hat ... ... . . . ... .. . . Moose Jaw Vancouver ... ... .. .. .. ...... Brandon ... ... ... ... Graud total ... . . . ... . .. 6,025 200 250 300 225 100 At Montreal. Montreal despatch: lit is accepted on either erne nal ssacileal tunt the �.wlla- cilan Paeans and Its mechanical =one knave loel>ed horns .for a definite fight to a finial, which is to decide whether ,thli tompaly or the uniuns are to settle tae rate of pay and terns of wort: of the men. 'luno was iiraetieally courted ay the company when. it abrogated the chedules with the unions and promul- gated the principle of paying luechamcs waist they were worth. ire men have now taken up the gauntlet and set their backs to the wall in adetermined effort to hold what they nave won. Igo far as the C'aundian Pacific is concerned, it is pursuing a policy of masterly silence. instructions were issued to -day by Sir 'Thomas Shaugh- nessy that nothing was to be said with regard to the strike, and ac- cordingly nothing bus been said, Vice - President Mc.Nicholl malting the signi- ficant remark that the company Had already said all there was to be said on the subject. This has already been said by Mr. MvNicoll himself, who in ;previous interviews intimated that the time had come when the relations between the company and the unions must be re -adjusted, and that if the men were looking for trouble, they would prdbably find it. Not of Company's Seeking. It was unofticially • stated this even- ing, however, that the position as it existed was not one of the C. P. R's. seeking. The -men, not the company, had sought the intervention of the Arbitration Commission; the Govern- ment, not the C. P. R„ had appointed its members, and when the C. P. 11. representative' withdrew owing to the disagreement over its jurisdiction the Government appointed its succecssor. The C. P. 11., it was further stated, were disappointed at the finding of the comminission, which they considered as not altogether fair to their company, but the decision having been given, the company accepted it and put it into force, but the men were dissatis- fied with the finding of` the commis- sion they had asked for, refused to accept its finding, and struck. The C. P. R. therefore took the ground that the onus for the present disturb- ance rested entirely with the unions, not with the company. The Men's Side. A mass meeting of the strikers was held this afternoon at the Montunent National, when about 2,500 were pre- sent, and addresses were made by Chairman Bell Hardy and others, in 11'uren tug clanns ul the men were urg- ed. The speakers called upon the strikers to stand together, as the vital principles of the umon were at stake, and they wanted not only to hold what they had, but to secure the nine - hour -day for the eastern men, which would be the precursor for the eight- hour day. To -night everything is quiet at the Labor 'Temple, which is the strikers' headquarters, but a series of confer- ences have been held by the strikers' leader to arrange their plan of cam- paign. There is not the slightest sign of any disturbance, most of the men seeming to regard the affair as a not unwelcome holiday, which will not last long, as they expect the harvest rush to aid their cause and. bring the coin, pony to time. Tlie C. P. 1c,, however, nave guards at the entrance to the Au- gue shops, and no one is allowed to en- ter without specific business there. The strike has not altogether tied up tile mechanical - department at the Angus shops, as two or, three hundred of the men have refused to go out, but effokts are being made by the strikers to bring- them into line. • Prophesies a Tie -Up. Winnipeg despatch: About 1,200 -men employed un the C. P. R. shops here ghat work at 10 o'clock this morning, The strikers were quite orderly. "Within ten days not a wheel will be turning on the company's western lines," said one of the strike leaders, just after quitting work this morning. "The public are with us, and will see to it that scab labor is not brought in from the States or Europe." Quietly, as though quitting as usual at the end of a day's, work, the me- chanieal unions of the 0. P. T. walked out this morning at 10 o'clock, inaug- urating- what -is regarded as the great- est industrial' strike in the history of Canada. There was rio demonstration whatever, although every man seemed determined to fight it out to. the finish. The had a meeting in the afternoon, • when the whole plan of campaign was carefully discussed and committees appointed. The matter of picketing was also considered, but it is under- stood no action was taken. The Gen- eral Chairman of Conductors has is- sued a statement declairing that his union or. federation of operating em- ployees are not going to take any of- fensive action in the present trouble. On the other hand, the inechanies claim to, have assurances that the trainmen will strike in sympathy, and if this be true there is nothing but crupi- tulation ahead of the company. The men say the engineers cannot take the engines out after four days without inspection, and will refuse to do so. The company, officials are not talking, but it is known they believe the public is with them, or should be, in this trou- ble, because the board was not recog- nized by the eompany, was net asked for nor wanted by it, and did not have an accredited. representative of ,;the company on it. Nevertheless, its find- ing is rejected by the men. ' On the ether hand, speaking of the men, Mr. McVeitz• sans: STOLE A RING. Toronto Nurse at New York Hospi- tal Robbed Patient. New York, Aug. 10.—Among the pick- pockets and thieves who were wait- ing in the assembly room at police headquarters this morning to have their pictures taken for the Rogues' Gallery, was a slim, pretty young wo- man with chestnut hair and brown eyes, Chatty Cameron, a nurse at Lebanon Hospital. She had been arrested for stealing a diamond ring valued at $400 from May Kilfoil, a stenographer, who lives with her sister, Mrs. Francis Burton, at 365 East 163rd street. Miss Kilfoil got her ring back to -day, after the nurse had confessed to the detectives that she had hidden it in a medicine chest. She said that one of the doc- tors at Bebanon, a young ambulance surgeon, whom she named, told her to take the ring, saying she need not be afraid of being found out, be- cause Miss Kilfoil was unconscious when carried into the hospital and would think the ring had been - lost in the street. Miss Cameron is only 19 years aid and was never away from her home, in. Toronto, until she came to New York to Study as a professional aurae. OA. O MUST REFUND. Judgment Against T., H. & B. and C. P. R. 'Ottawa despatch: The Railway Com- mission has just handed down orders in a number of cases recently heard by sits In the case of the PIymouth Cordage Company against the Toronto, Hamil- ton & Buffalo and Canadian Pacifio Railways, complaint was made of a charge of 22 cents per hundred on binder twine carried between Welland and Montreal. The proper rate was 15% cents, and the companies • must refund the difference with interest at the rate of 5 per cent. The commission has also issued an order to all railways for the protec- tion of trestles by watchmen and fire alarm devices from May to October in- clusive. This is a month longer than was provided for in the original order. EARTHQUAKE IN ALGERIA. Buildings Wrecked and a Number of Lives Lost. Constantine, Algeria, Aug. 10.—A vio- lent earthquake was experienced here at twenty minutes past 2 this morn- ing. It lasted ten seconds and did great damage. 'No people were kill- ed here, but it is reported that a -num- ber of lives were, lost' in the nearby towns. The population, especially the Arabs, is panic-stricken. The theatre, the bank, the hotel and the market were partially wrecked. The Arab quarter was badly damaged. , The' casualties occurred at - Rouftach and Conde Menden. where many dwell- ings were destroyed. Hundreds of huts were demolished in the suburbs of Con- stantine, - and a great crevice in the earth has appeared on a neighboring plain. e10 STRIKERS S"? ONE POLICE. Four Persons Injured in the Meas at Clinton, Mass. - Clinton, Mass., Aug, 10. --Four persons, 'two of whom ware policemen, were • slightly injured to -day in a battle be- tween the police and a baud of striking Italian laborers. The strikers attacked. the officers with stones and other mis- siles. The officers fired their revolvers into the crowd, slightly wounding two Italiana. The strikers returned the fire and drovd the officers back to a wooden shanty.' It was then found that two• officers were injured. The officers ,fin - Belly attacked the strikers and dispersed them. ' JAPANESE ENTERPRISE. New Service to American Ports ty Suez Canal, Victoria, B. C., Aug. 10.—As result of the expected adverse effect of the ruling of the Interstate Commerce Commission on liminess across the Pacific the Nippon, Yusen Kaisha will establish a new service, commencing in November, to carry Japanese mer- chandise to Atlantic ports of the United States by way of the Suez, Canal.