The Norfolk weekly news. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1888-1900, 1899-06-22
LIVERY BARN BURNED
Courageous and Prompt Action
Saves Much Property.
w. o. HALL DOES 4 DARING FEAT
Rcscucsa Fin Horse From tho Fiery Eic-
m~ent-rwo Horses and u Colt Burn.
Ralph stevens Quite Badly Burned.
Good work of Fire Department.

Ralph stevens Quite Badly Burned.
Good work of Fire Department.
From Tuesday, Daily.
What threatened to be a most destruc.
tive blaze and undoubtedly would have
been but for the prompt action of the
fire de apartment, was started i'll the Ed
wegner livery barn between . and 10
o'clock last evening. As 1t was the rear
part of the barn is now n mass Of ruins
and several horses were destroyed, re.
sulting in n considerable loss to Mr..
Wegner and also the owner of the barn.
The cause of the fire was the ex-
plosion or breaking of n lantern carried
by Ralph Stevens, one of the employees
of the barn, while he was up in the hay
loft getting hay for the horses. With
the breaking of the lantern the burning
oil was quickly spread over the hay and
IL was almost instantly beyond the
power of any one person to prevent II
contlagration although MIR. Stevens on.
dehvored to do so. In this effort Stew.
ems wa quite severely burned, the blnz-
ing oil being communicated to his cloth
ing and person and his immediate dan.
ger took his entire attention. The
flames about his person were finally ex.
tinguished, but rs II result he carries
some painful burns about his face, hands
and arms. AS soon rs possible he was
put under the care of DR.. Mackay and
his suffering relieved.
In the meantime the fire in the barn
had gained considerable Roadway, wv
ing to the intlammable material IL
which it had its start, and by the time
the fire department arrived on the scene
1t was thought by many that the con-
tiagration could not be controlled until
the building and perhaps neighboring
structures were destroyed. But the
ability of the department to cope with
the fiery element was underestimated
and the three hose companies had not
long been playing on the blaze until it
was evident that ut least n portion of
the building would be saved. This is
the more noteworthy owing to the fact
that at the time of the fire the wind
was blowing "a considerable gale and
rapidly spreading the flames.
Soon after the fire started there
was enough help mt hand to a the
greater portion of the contents of the
barn. There were, however, two horses
aud , nD1t th,t u,,,,,nhnI tn thn l,nt
and were destroyed. Two cutters and
about six ton of hay were also included
in Mr.. Wegner's loss, the total amount
of which in money value was $3.50, which
was no covered by insurance.
The barn was owned by John Myers
OF Dixon, this state, whose loss will be
about 81, 800, on which there was insur-
ance for 81 900.
This is the second time MIR. Wegner
has been burned out in the past six
years but he is i'll no whit discouraged
and work was commenced this morning
to arrang stalls i'll the part of the barn
not destroyed and the wants of patrons
will be almost u~niuterruptedly attended
to, which is speaking much for Mr..
Wegner's enterprise in the face of de-
pressing circumstances
The heroic action of w. o. Hall i'll
rescuing the 1900 pound Percheon-Nor-
man stallion was the remarkable per-
Torrance of the occasion and won for
him words of praise from all who wit
messed the daring feat. At the time the
contiagration was well advanced, the
stall of the animal was surrounded by
flames and the roof of the building
threatened to fall in at any moment.
In the face of these dangers there were
few who cared to enter the structure,
but Mr. Halls well known admiration
for a handsome horse seemingly rendered
him oblivious to any sense of danger
and he courageously entered, cut the
rope that tied the animal and succeeded in
bringing him out from danger through
the flames that ragged about man and
horse.
Alexander Piller also distinguished
himself and it was to his intrepedity
that many of the animals owe their
lives.
TIiECnAv TNplCS.