The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-12-17

valuable city records and transferred
them to the store of Kruse Brothers
across the street. He has q fire-proof
vault, but he did not wish to have the
records locked up i'm place where
they would be hard 10 reach, In case
the city hall itself should burn down
It was thought for a time that this
might happen.
The crowd that gathered on Front
street in front Of the fire was soon
driven back by the intensity of the
heat, as the windows on that side OF
the building crashed into bits and the
flames shot forth. Tie authorities
deemed the situation dangerous fer
those who were nearest, and the
street was roped of for some distance
both north and south of the burning
building.
On one of these ropes q policeman
found a black plush cape, wIich evil
IDENTIFY had been hung there by some
lady and forgotten. The cape was TAX
en- 10 the station to await the arrival
Of the owner.
Brandrup g. Nettleton, proprietors
of the Mankato Commercial college,
early today caused to be passed around
hand bills with the following notice
"All students of the Mankato Com
mercial college please meet us at the
Y. NJ. c. A. at any time today.
w. II. Anderson, one Of the volun
teer firemen, was struck in the head
by falling glass, while working around
the building about t:45 this morn
ing. The glass made cut several in
ches long. Mr.. Anderson sought the
services of physician, and after his
wound was dressed. he went back to
resume his fight against the fire.
Front Wall Fell With Crash.
Shortly before one o'clock this aft
ernoon, the front wall of the college
building fell with a crash. Fortu-
nately the street had been roped of
and nobody was in a position of dan
ger. A large piece of stone few
against the front window of the Cen
trail Billiard parlor, of which John
Canellos is proprietor, and smashed
II. The building Is owned by s. A,
Swanson. Smoke and water did a
little damage to the building.
The clothes parlor i'm the basement
under the billiard parlor was badly
flooded. This establishment Is owned
by Roy Ferguson. He succeeded in
getting a great deal of his goods out
II appears from what information
could be cleaned about losses and I'm
surance that the total of all the losses
was i'm the neighborhood of sos, OOC
and that the insurance went some
where about $4,000.
Probably these figures will be
somewhat modified when the full facts
are known. When the wall came
down this afternoon, it broke the
shade of one of the new street lamps
and broke off an old street lamp. II
also smashed bicycle belonging to
Ralph Hughes.
Valuable Violin Is Lost.
What the losses were to the stu
dents who left their books and other
probably never be known. The en-
tire college orchestra lost their instru-
ments. The greatest loss was that Of
George Crone, whose violin, worth
$500. was destroyed. II was purchased
by his great grandfather in Germany
one hundred and twenty years
ago. A member of Minneapo-
lis Symphony orchestra offered
Mr.. Crone $500 for the violin
The college orchestra members who
thus lost their instruments consisted
of the following: Albert Gruenfelder
George Crone. George Bardy. Glenn
Dixie, Henry Seifert, Oscar Anderson
Miss Lundquist and Nicholas Schroe.
der. The orchestra was practicing las
night for literary entertainment Il
be given tomorrow evening. Il was the
intention of the orchestra to practice
tonight.
The property that was destroyed
in the Unique theatre consisted of 40C
seats. piano, a moving picture ma
chine, a ticket selling machine and {
screen. During the fire, Clarence Pond
the operator, got inside in an effort Il
get the films. There were nine reels
valued at 40 cents a foot. They con.
tanned the program that was TO bt
given tonight, but heat and smok,
drove him back. II is stated that thu
loss has been covered by insurance.
NJ. C. c. Leased Other Quarters.
II has been learned that the Com.
mercial college has leased Yeomar
and Richards halls and will use boil
hereafter for the class work. The
short hand department will be in Yeo'
man hall.
Many different agents in the cit,
had a hand in taking care of the in
surance OF the real estate and chattel!
that were wholly or partially lost
Theodore Williams, E. NJ. Zuel, Wad
dell & Baker, ID. G. willard and II
b. Perrin had insurance on the build
ing that was destroyed. ID. l.. Ros'
was agent for the insurance on the
furniture and fixtures of the college
The damage that was done TO tn,
Saulpaugh hotel building and equip
ment and to the Perkins clothing
store was almost entirely by smok,
and water.
F.. C.. Esterly and Charles r. Butts
of Minneapolis were In the city thi:
morning making estimates for Wad'
dell & Baker.
Councilman Robert Lamm was thu
first of the city solons to arrive on the
scene this morning. He immediatel,
called up City Engineer Blomquist
Acting City Clerk John A. johnson
and City Treasurer Jay Nicholson, ant
with them made preparation to save
all of the city's valuable records. Ar
rangements were made to place all o.
the records I'm the Free Press Office