The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-07-13

street. lney QaSt1ly CllMDeu Luo OUT
side stairway and broke in the door.
Dense clouds of smoke filled the
rooms and the fire appeared to be in
the room at the northwest corner OF
the building. Whether it started
there or in the room below and was
coming up the stairway there can not
be said The smoke was thick and
they were forced to beat a hasty re-
treat Nothing was taken out of the
| upper rooms.
Both the Bailey store and the Will
cox barber shop in the lower rooms
of the building were locked up. No
| fire of any kind had been in the
building for several days.
The whistle of the power house
gave the alarm and when the crowd
| of people at the park saw the huge
clouds of black smoke boiling up
! from the city there was general
rush. The program at the speakers
| stand was over and most of the
crowd was watching a ball game at
the east end of the park.
People Crowd the Streets.
Onto the square the people poured
in droves. Buggies, wagons, teams,
automobiles and people gathered
there in a great mass. The ther-
mOmeter at that time registered 1O8,
and the great heat from the burning
buildings made it almost unbearable
on the streets. A number of women
| tainted during the excitement. Pos
sibly dozen men were overcome by
i heat while at work. The doctors
offices were full and every physician
! in the city was busy. Davy Davis,
son of Charley Davis living west of
town, fell while carrying goods from
a building and received a broken
arm.
While brave men climbed to the
tops of buildings to fight the flames
hundreds began to carry goods from
the doomed structures. In this work
the town people were aided by those
from the country. Farmers fought
with the fire boys in an attempt to
check the flames and they worked
side by side with the town people,
in saving thousands of dollars worth
of merchandise. Truly, our visitors.
We're not shirkers and Princeton was,
greatly aided by them.
Fire Gets Good Start. ii
The park is quite a distance from
the square, and when the people ar
rived the Bailey building was burn
ing in all parts. The Mullinax build
ing, adjoining it on the west. quickly
caught and the work of the fire hight.
ers was turned to it. A number of
men quickly climed to the top of the
Buren building and with two lines of
hose, poured streams of water into
the Mullinax building. In a few
moments the fire began to show the
effect of the firemen's work and be-
gan to die down. Put just at this
time a cry of disappointment went
up from the men at the nozzles. The
supply of water was give out and the
firemen were left with empty hose
in their hands. The flames flared up
again, igniting the roof and windows
of the Buren building and the fire
fighters were forced to retreat
1t was then seen that the block
was doomed. All attention was turn
ed to the next block and an attempt
made to prevent the flames crossing
the street to it.
Try to Save Lindsey Block.
Long strips of carpet were secured
from the dry goods stores. These
were soaked with water and hung
down from the Lindsey building
Abe Trent was on hand with
wagon tank of water, and men used
this and hundreds of buckets carried
from nearby wells. The windows and
woodwork of the Lindsey building
were kept wet for a time but at last
the men were forced away by the
heat. Flames leaped across the
street and ignited the building.
1t was then thought to try and
check the flames by dynamiting the
building. Quantities of the explosive
were secured and the people were
away, but this work was CIV
en- up for fear of destroying the two
filled with valuables in the
building.
The three brick buildings in this
block were licked up by the greedy
flames and the Fuller lumber yard
adjoining them to the west was a
roaring furnace. The big frame
building was we'll stocked with lum-
Der and here the flames grew the
hottest. While a good breeze was
blowing from the south, the heat sew
eral times ignited the Don Cain build
ing on the west side of the square
across the street south of the lum-
Der yard. 1t was thought for a time
hat the west side was doomed Win
lows in the Cain building were shat
;ered by the heat and the wooden
castings were ablaze. Men from in
'ide the building, however, succeed
I'd in extinguishing these flames
The Eli Mullinax residence stood
ome seventy-five feet across street
o the west of the lumber yard, but
he distance and heroic work of
'ucket brigade failed to prevent the
lanes from crossing to it. The big
wo story frame building was quick
y destroyed. ,e~.a', ,J-..-
Bucket Brigade Checks Flames.
The Sheets opera house on west
vas next in line. Men climed to the
oof Of this building and poured hun
reds OF buckets of water over it.
Continued on Page 81