Teacher and Three Children Burn in Terrible Prairie Fire, Three Others May Die and Flames are Still Raging
School Children Near Belfield Try to Escape From the Path of Seething Flames Fanned by Thirty-Mile Gale; Bodies Found Huddled Together Only Four Rods From Where They Would Have Been Safe.
Dickinson, N.D., Nov 6—The worst prairie fire in the history of this country occurred this afternoon, when a teacher and three pupils of a country school were burned to death, and three other children so badly burned that their death is only a question of hours.
The fire was started some 17 miles southwest of Belfield, about noon, by a threshing outfit, which was moving to a new setting, and, fanned into a devastating flame by a 30-mile gale, swept on to claim a terrible toll of life and property.
Saw Fire Coming
About 1 o'clock, Miss Gladys Hollister and her little flock of 12 school children in the Davis school, 12 miles southwest of Belfield, saw the fire, about five miles away, coming up the valley towards them. Frantic with fright, they left the building, which tonight stands uninjured and which would have kept them safe while the fire demon swept by, and made superhiman efforts to reach a plowed field, which they thought was their only salvation. Five children, living in a direction away from the path of the fire, succeeded in reaching home.
Four Rods From Safety
Their teacher and six little comrades struggled on, now falling, overcome by fear and smoke, then up and stumbling on again. But the dense smoke enveloped them and they were found huddled together, only four rods from the plowed ground, and safety. Three children were dead when found and three terribly burned. Their clothes were completely burned off. Miss Hollister, who was in a most pitiable condition, with 90 per cent of the skin of her body burned, was unconscious, but regained consciousness long enough to say that she realized she made a mistake in leaving the school house, but did what she thought best.
The Bismarck Daily Tribune, 11/7/1914
More info can be found via this Plains Folk story.
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Rolla.—William Mayo was laid up the latter part of the week by a kick from a colt he was driving last Thursday on Route No. 1. On Saturday the trip was made by Arthur Galloway, substitute carrier.
Turtle Mountain Star, 1/16/1913
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Woman Educator Pinned Beneath Car For Hours
Miss Aagot Raaen, Steele County Superintendent of Instruction, has Experience
Aneta, N.D., Dec. 5—Miss Aagot Raaen, Steele County superintendent of schools, lay pinned under her overturned Ford car for two hours before a traveling medicine vender {sic} chanced along and with the aid of a lifting jack raised the machine sufficiently to relieve her of the weight, which was slowly but surely crushing the breath from her body. Miss Raaen was by this time bleeding freely from the nose and mouth and, finding that he could not release her unaided, the peddler was forced to proceed some distance to obtain help. When the car was righted Miss Raaen found herself in condition to proceed on her journey, and, unless some internal injury should develop, she wll be none the worse for her terrifying experience.
Bismarck Tribune, 12-5-1917
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Notes From Buford.
About the 10th of this month Gottlieb Lutz, better known along the Missouri river as "Dutch Louis", was drowned in the Yellowstone river, having walked into an air hole while crossing on the ice near his woodyard.
He was a very industrious man, and was doing well, both as a hunter, and in selling wood to steamboats. The men who were employed by him at his woodyard say they endeavored to rescue him, but found it impossible. "Dutch Louis" is from Switzerland, province of Schaftean Argan, and was formerly a 1st Sargeant in the 19th Infantry.
Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, 12-27-1877
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NEWS NOTES AND COMMENTS
In Blunt, Dakota, at a social gathreing, a Miss Schlosser and Mr. Featherstone stood up and were married "just for fun," by a young man named Burke. It afterward transpired that Burke was a justice of the peace and the marriage was legal. The joke of the affair is that the involuntary bride was engaged to Burke, who thus cast off his own best beloved. A platonic divorce is in order.
Bismarck Daily Tribune, 12-29-1885
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ALLEGED SLAYER LOSES BOTH FEET
Cleon Nash Will Be Cripple for Life as Result of Tramp Through Cold
Nature exacted a severe penalty from Cleon Nash, alleged self-confessed murderer of Clarence Hicks, of Robinson, when both of his feet were amputated just below the ankle in the Bismarck hospital this afternoon. In addition to being a cripple for the remainder of his life, Nash probably will also be terribly disfigured, as his nose suffered so severely from the frost that it is slowly sloughing away.
Nash surrendered to Sheriff T.A. Price of Kidder county the fore part of last week, after the alleged slayer had wandered for days in the biting cold, seeking some means of escape from the scene of his crime. He was brought to the Bismarck hospital late in the week, and today an amputation was found necessary to save his legs, the feet having been frozen so severely that there was no possibility in restoring life in them.
Nash seems to be a clean cut sort of fellow. He is taking his sufferings stoically, and he has won the sympathy of all who have come in contact with him. He may have been a murderer, but just now he is a human being in dire distress, and his courage and patience have made a favorable impression.
Bismarck Tribune, 12/26/1916
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