Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1894-11-16
UNFORTUNATE AUTHORS.
4 Valuable Manuscripts That HIVE
Been Burned

Been burned.
think, says a Washington Postwrit-
err, the number of authors who have
suffered loss by fire of manuscripts up-
on which years of hard labor had been
spent is quite remarkable enough
least to be needed as warning ant,
cause those who are engaged in valua-
BILE literary labors to deposit their work
in tire-proof safes and vaults. remem-
Der, years ago, while living in Burling-
ton, VT, daily passing the small brick
tire-proof library which the late George
P. Marsh. so long our minister to Italy,
had built in the yard which surrounded
his house. There, in this detached
building, he kept his literary treasures
and rare books. If his dwelling, which
was of wood, had been destroyed by
FIRE, his books and MSS. would at least
he safe.
In February, 1885, there was fire in
this city which destroyed the residence
of Senator Benton, the father of Mrs.
Fremont Says Mrs. Fremont: Both
houses of congress adjourned immedi-
ately on hearing OF the fire, and a vast
throng surrounded the doomed house.
A son of AIR. Frank Key, of the Star
Spangled Banner, plunged into the
smoke and fire to save for the senator
the portrait of his wife. He made a
mistake, and saved instead portrait Of
Senator Benton in his younger day
The library his own and his fathers
with the great folos of English state
trials. from which he began to read law
and history With his mother, was the
keenest-felt loss. Many precious pri-
waite papers were burned, and nearly
half the manuscript of the second vol
ume of the Thirty Years View. =
Even the memoirs of the Life of
| John Charles Fremont" which are now
going through the press, had a narrow
escape from fire. When Gov. and Mrs.
Fremont left for Arizona in 1873 the
boxes containing the steel plates and
wood blocks were placed in Morrells
..fire-proof warehouse, which was de-
stroyed BY fire in 1881. The Fremonts
lost much that was stored in the ware
house choice books, pictures, and 9th
er treasured things but the materials
for the Memoirs . happily, for greater
security, had been placed in the safes
| below the pavement, where the great
/ fire passed over them and left them
| completely unframed.
saw this fire, which took place in
the night. The Fourth avenue street
car stables in New York took fire and
were destroyed. The Motreli storage
warehouse stood on the opposite side of
the street, q very ordinary brick struet-
ure, with no outside blinds. Inside it
was filed with combustible material in
the shape of household goods of every
kind, tanks filled with clothing, and all
the household treasures held dear by a
hundred families. Of course the great
tongues of fire from the stable shot into
the unprotected windows of this hum
bug proof building. and it crum-
bled away like a house of cards. Short
" afterward l met at the New York
hotel the widow and daughter of Gen.
Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame.
They were deeply lamenting the loss of
all their treasures, which were also
stored in this sham '.fre-proof'' build
ing. The world viii never know how
much that was precious and valuable
turned to ashes IN that fire