THE "WISCONSIN HORROR.—Thirty-

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 92, 25 January 1872, Page 3

THE "WISCONSIN HORROR.— Thirty-

two Persons Drowned in a Were. An eye-witness of the recent devastating fires near Uniontown, "Wisconsin, relates an incident, occurring during the conflagration. which is absolutely unparalleled in the history of all similar horrors, lie writes :—The most horrible of all was at Boorman's well, ilr Boorman's house

was the largest in the villiage, and in the centre of the yard, midway between the house and barn, was a large but shallow well. Several of the neighbours were supplied with water from this fountain, and it is likely that in the conflagration, when all hope was cut off, the neighbourhood. insane with terror, thronged with one purpose to this well. The ordinary chain and wheel pump used in that place had been removed, and the wretched people had leaped into the well as the last refuge. Boards had been thrown down to prevent them being drowned, but evidently the relentless fury of the fire drove them pell-mell into the pit, to struggle with eacli other and die, some bv drowning and others by fire and suffocation. None escaped. Thirty-two bodies were found there ; they were in every imaginable position, but the contortions of their limbs and the agonized expressions of their faces told the awful tale. All the houses along the roads down to Sturgeon Bay were reduced to ashes, and in them, or near by, were the blackened corpses of the ill-fated residents. Twelve only are as yet known to have escaped. These ran to the lake, and plunged to their necks in the water.