Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-08-11
From the Daily of the 9Th inst. qa
nuR SEMl-ANNUAL,
A little Blaze Last Night.
Livery Stable Burned
A Little Coal Oil Lamp in, the
Hay Loft did the Dob.

A1as. hiSht usLWceu nine HnU fleE
,'clock, the livery barn belonging to
he estate of George Gillaspy, and q
carriage house belonging to Andy
Peck, canght fire, went up in smoke
and fell in ashes in a very few mo.
ncnts after the alarm was given.
This barn was on Second street, be-
tween Market and Court. and was
really an old settler, having been built
on the ruins of another, which went
very much the same way, in 1857.
This concern was used for some years
by the Western Stage Company. after
wards by Dan Abrahams, then Andy
Peck and Tor the last few months by
Nose Kooniz, as livery aud feed
stable. However it may have been
used and by whom, now makes but
little difference, as the business inter-
ests of the city are auch, and the de-
maad for desirable building lots so
great, that it will never be rebuilt in
tho shape of stable again.
1t sppears, that last night Koontz
had business in the hay loft, careless
ly carried with him a coal oil lamp
and paid no attention to it's condition.
He says that whoever lighted it,
had not properly fastened the
top and when he, got into the
hay loft, the top fell Off into the hay
which was almost instantly in blaze.
AS it happened, there was no wind
and the sparks assembled high in the
air, the ashes falling almost over the
ruins, go still was tho air.
The fire bell rang ont the alarm in
less than a minute from the time the
fire was discovered. and a portion OF
the company gathered at the engine
house and started with the engine fol-
the river, but when just opposite our
office, at the crossing on Market street.
the engine in striking the crossing
broke an axle and left it helpless in
the middle of the street, wreck fol-
the time being.
There has been an ugly hole in the
street at that place for several weeks
and to that fact may be attributed q
portion of the loss. When it was found
hat there was no immediate prospect
Of help from the engine, the Hook and
Ladder Company and the bucket
brigade went 10 work in earnest. AND
by hard and persistent labor succeed
ed in saving Pcck's barn.
Ii may be said, to show the heroisn
with which tho men worked, tina
Peck's carriage house joined his stabl
| and both were built Of boards ant
,afred roofing.
The stable was scorched some bu
| nothing was burned to amount L
anything.
Koontz says his loss outside of tn
barn is not definitely known. He hat
about 800 worth of hay and grail
destroyed besides some harness ant
jother traps the value of which he ha
no leans of knowing. No insurance
| rcchs 'oss on carriage house, ant
other truck "ared in il, will amour
70 about $500; iu.v insured. Henr
Gerlach who moved T. NJ, siha M n
es''nAles ms y soil 81 Coyan estimate
~. ..ss at about $25, not countin,
l.ome valuable records that appear II
be lost.
The wall of Mrs. Gerlach's bricl
building was damaged to Il certain
extent, the walls being cracked fror
the heat.
The buildings OF the opposite sid
of the street were blistered consider
ably but were not damaged wort
mentioning. 1t is proper for us t
say that the fire company borrowed
pair of trucks from two horse WACO
finally got the engine to tn
river and did good work j
putting out the fire after the build
ings wero pulled down. The boy
worked hard, and were mortifie
nearly to death at the unfortunate cir
cumstance that prevented them frol
assisting in saving their neighbor
property, and all ungenerous remark
applied to them were entirely unbe
coming.
The fire is over, people are sorr
that any one should lose property b
fire, or any other way for that matter
but they now expect to see, in shor
time, a fine block of brick building
spring up Phoenix like from the plac
lately occupied by those old insight
| sheds.
And now, right here, we wish t.
say, that the main thorougnfares 0
the city, if possible, should be kept il
decent repair 10 the exclusion of al
other work. Only day or two sine
we called attention to the mud hole
near this Office. but no heed was pail
to it. The result is that damage o
perhaps several hundred dollars j
done to the engine, our city endanger
ed by a disastrous confagration ant
all because little matter like repair
ing these mud holes was not ATTENDED
to as they should have been, withou
delay, at cost OF perhaps two dollars
4 THAMPS.
| Otiumwa is just now infested will
a villainons outfit OF lousy, lazy, laz
zaroni, who go from house TO hons
under the pretence of begging TO
something to eat, but really to spy on
| opportunities for stealing either b,
themselves, or their confederaies'
For the upper part of the city iii
force consists OF two able bodied mel
to wit: q white and black, and the
hunt in couples.
The white man called at house j