The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-06-21

Christ Anderson, the engineer, stat
ed that he saw nothing that would
indicate fire when he left the build
ing before supper. The Omaha train
due here at eight o'clock, had just
passed, when Waterman Murphy
saw smoke coming from the top of
the elevator building. 1t was then
that he gave the alarm to the switch
crew.
Mr.. WooIner On Ground.
S. J. Woolner. who had leased the
building. arrived in the city Wednes-
day and was on the ground last
evening. He said that as far as he
knew, he would not rebuild, as he
said the city offered very poor in
ducements in the way of fire protec
ton. If the city had paid more at
tention toward securing bigger
paratus instead of doing so much
paving, the industries and factories
would be more willing to locate
here. The firemen fought well I'M
der the direction of Fire Chief Illus
dorff, and did everything possible to
save the buildings, but they were
handicapped in not having enough
pressure, or better apparatus. He
said that it was wonder that no
one was hurt when the partitions
crashed to the ground.
The Dukes addition hose company
was not to be Outdone in reaching
the scene quickly enough, after the
second alarm had been given, and
when the fire boys pulled out the
hose cart and apparatus, they hitch
ed onto the back of street car
that happened to be near the place
at the time, and rode to the scene
in fine STYLE getting there as quick
ly as any of the other companies
from other sections of the city. The
fire department of North Mankato
was called to help in the fight
Men Out of Employment.
William e. Gottliebe, resident
manager, stated that fifteen men
were employed, and these will now
The malt house had a mailing ca
pacity of 100000 bushels of barley
year, and the burning of this
building will considerably shut off
the local market for barley
Improvements to the extent of
$1,000 or $4,000 have been made re-
Gently, after the present managers
had leased the building last October
from J. w. Lusk, who is the trustee
for the bond holders. Mr. Lusk is
also president of the National Ger
man American bank at st. Paul.
Mr.. Gottliebe stated that had
there not been heavy rains during
the day and also during the fire,
everything around the building would
have burned. The gas plant, the
packing plant, Mayer Brothers ma
chine foundry, and all the frame
residences around the building, would
probably have gone. Because of the
rain and the favorable wind, no
more serious damage was done than
that to the malt house.
Chief of Police Donahue expected
! a large number of complaints this
morning, that houses had been enter
ed and robbed last night, as he said
that hundreds of people all over the
city, carelessly left their homes to
see the fire. And he was surprised
that no such complaints had been
made.
Loss on buIldln9, ETC.
The insurance on the machinery
and building amounts to $4,000,
which goes to j. W. Lusk, the trus-
tee, and $37,5O0 on the grain, which
insurance goes to S. J. Woolner.
The estimate of the grain in the
building is over 10000 bushels of
malt and barley.
Mr.. Woolner stated that the loss
of this grain and malt will make
it impossible for him to fulfill the
contracts at once, but he will try
! to carry out these through other
| houses.
! The Mayer brothers machine COM
pany have a lien of $1,000 on the
malt house for machinery they put
in the building.
History of the Plant.
| The malt house has rather in
teresting history. In 1892, Oscar and
Herman Bierbauer, brothers, organ
| lied under the style of Mankato Malt
and Grain company, for the manu-
! facture of malt, for making soft
drinks, maltine, malt extracts, break
/ fast foods, beer, etc. They doubled
the capacity of their works on Rock
street in 1894 and stock company
was organized in 1903, with Oscar
Bierbauer as president and secretary,
Mic Peterson, vice president and
Susie Peterson, secretary. 1t was or
ganized with capital stock of
100000.
When the plant was built it was
constructed on the floor plan, but
this proved inefficient as it could
not be operated in warm weather,
as the temperature could not be