The log cabin Democrat., 1912-02-22
OVER 300 PUPILS
 ESCAPE UNHURT LOSS SEVERAL THOUSAND INTERIOR BADLY DAMAGED SESSION DISMISSED FOR
 THE WEEK.

A fire which would have undoubt- edly caused the total destruction of the new S40,000 public school build ing and entailed loss, including the furniture, of approximately S5O.0OO. was extinguished after a hard fight shortly after l o'clock this afternoon
 But for the fact that full pressure was on the water mains and the fire fighters were able to run lines of hose and pour streams of water on the seat of the fire, the entire building would now be in ashes and no session of school could be held for probably a year. AS it was, there was no or ganization to take charge of the fire fighting apparatus, and great con- fusion existed among the big crowd who were endeavoring to assist, but the main result was accomplished and the building saved.
 The fire was discovered ten minutes after the school had resumed it's af- ternoon session. Five hundred and fifty pupils were in the building, and the teaching force, with splendid presence of mind, directed then to gather up their books and march out of the building.
 Naturally excited by smoke and the cries of fire, some of the pupils broke from the lines, but the discipline was fine. There was no semblance of a panic and not pupil received the slightest injury. The fact that the building was provided with outward swinging. doors prevented any danger from this source.
 The fire originated in the boiler room under the stage of the auditor ium, which is in the north wing of the building. In few minutes flames were pouring out of the base ment windows and the blaze had eat en it's way through the floor of the stage and was creeping up between the plastered partition walls. The entire building was filled with smoke, which was pouring in great volumes out of the ventilators.
 With remarkable quickness, consid- ering the fact that the city has no or ganized fire department, the three reels of hose recently purchased by the council were brought to the scene and lines attached to the hydrants at the northeast and southeast corners of the campus. Within five min- utes the progress of the blaze was checked and in 20 minutes the fire was completely extingushed. It was most effective demonstration of the value of waterworks system, which actually saved property of value ex- ceeding half the cost of the entire sys- tenn.
 The worst damage was to the fur niture of the school. Scores of men and boys, seeing the dense smoke pouring from the building and believ- ing there was no hope of saving it, began to tear out desks and seats and throw them out of the building. Practically every volume in the li- brary on the second floor was thrown out on the ground and almost ruined. The seats in the auditorium were badly damaged by the fire and water.
 The total damage could not be es- timated this afternoon, but will doubtless run to several thousand dol lars. The stage is practically totally destroyed and all of the floors, walls and ceilings in the north wing are seriously damaged
 The origin of the fire is not def initely known. The blaze evidently started at point just west of the furnace in the boiler room basement. Jan;tor R. S. Purifoy said he was in