The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-12-22

Nu0Io WtIt 10 Iuoh Nv "Oih ohN "
large crowd had gathered from town
to watch the fire no other people
were injured.
Jess Matthews was married man
who lives at Lsnyonville and he
leaves a wife and one child. He was
member in good standing in the A.
o. u. w. in which he carried $1,000
insurance, and slso of the Knights
and Ladies of Security, in which he
carried $1,000. He was crushed to death
instantly by the falling chimney but
the body was rescued before.the fire
had time to reach it. J. b. Schaub
is also a married man who has lived
at Lanyonville for about three months.
He leaves wife and three children,
but no insurance. His body was
found beside that of Matthews on tho
south side of the building, but he was
crushed from head to foot so complete
ly that he could only be identified by
his distracted wife, who recognized
his watch.
THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRE.
The fire caugh. 6 o'clock Thursday
morning from the regulator in the
north end of the machine kiln room
at the east side Of the plant. The
dry frame building burned like tin
der and before any organized eff rts
could be made to fight the flames the
entire interior of the huge building,
which measurers 200 by 300 feet, was
mass of flames. Two crowds of
men climbed with hose to the roof Of
the building. In the crowd at the
south end were Matthews. Schaub,
John Turner, Leo Adams and }. j..
Kennedy. The last three had reached
the roof and the others were on the
ladder when the huge chimney fell.
The chimney is POO feet high, made of
riYeted sheet metal and is lined with
brick The fire at the north end of
the building had heated the guy
cable on that side and it parted sud
denly, the chimney breaking about
sixty feet from the ground and fall
ing directly south. The men ON the
roof saw it !comng and. had barely
time to jump to one side, but the un-
fortunate ones on the ladder were
crushed blythe sudden avalanche of
iron and brick. A crowd was stand
ing on the track at the south end of
the building and the chimney fell
within few yards of their feet but
fortunately did not reach them. The
two bodies were rescued from be-
meath the chimney before the fire
reached them.
Panic seized the crowd and wild
reports Immediately flew from mouth
to mouth. Five-eeven-elght men
were in the ruins and thirty five
were missing. The morning shift
had changed about the time the
fire started or little earlier and the
excited foremen could not tell who
were at work or who had gone home,
Jim Ruble, night watch, a son of $
p. Ruble, who lives north of lola, was
reported missing up to 10 o'clock, but
it was then learned that he was at
his home.
LOSS ABOUT FIFTY THOUSAND
DOLLARS.
It's exceedingly difficult to esti-
mate the loss as the buildings were
not very expensive structures but
were filed with expensive machinery.
There were four large machine kilns
in the main building, nearly all OF
them nearly 200 feet long, each ma
chine estimated to be worth all the
way from $4,000 to $4,000. The
owners mad an idea that lire could
not destroy these materially, IN they
are always ubjected to a white heat
when i'm operation. The twisting
pipes aud the falling chimney, how
ever, made almost a total wreck of
the machines and it is question II
the salvage will amount to much.
The storage room, containing hum
dreds of dollars of repairs for the
factory was burned, also the engine
room, which contained two huge
Corliss engines, worth close to $1,000.
Several ore sheds were burned and
there are left long piles of steaming
jack exposed to the air, The most OF