The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1916-12-15

Clio suffered anoIner ueoei"N' ~
Monday. when the Willis Block, one OF
the large business structures in the wi
laee. and a land mark for many years.
was wholly destroyed. Just how the
fire originated will probably never DC
known hut It was discovered in rooms
in the southwest corner in the second
story. occupied by John Marnien ano
family. Geo. Benjamin. agent OF the
Michigan Railway Company discovered
smoke issuing from the upper portion o.
the building at about nine O'Clock IN tns
morning and at once Informed u T.
Taylor, cashier of the bank. who has
acted as an agent for the building The
members of the Marnien family nae
left their rooms for the day and locked
them, but Mr.. Taylor broke in the
door to one of the bed rooms, whence
smoke was issuing, and found the bee
on fire while embers were even ther
dropping from the ceiling.
The alarm was at once given but the
fire spread through the upper portion
of the building with such rapidity that
the tenants in that portion were soor
forced out by the dense smoke and
were able to save but a small portion
of their belongings. The village fire
department responded to the alarm
promptly and soon had line of hose
laid to the building, but the hose was
rendered useless for twenty minutes OF
more when it was found that the valves
to the pump of the fire engine had
frozen and these had TO be thawed with
hot water secured from neighboring
residences before water Sould be puIAp-
ed from the pond and forced into the
main. The fire progressed rapidly any
way and this unfortunate occurrence
gave 1t further start so that the
building seemed doomed from the first.
1t should be understood that water had
not been allowed to freeze in the en-
gine but the frost in the valves had
stuck them fast.
When Fire Chief .Cummins realized
that bis own apparatus was likely to be
out of commission, he a. once telephoned
the Flint department anu TIE latter re-
sponded so promptly that within So
minutes oi the time they received the
call they were IN Clio and were throw
ing water on the tra About ten mir
utes before Il, .l.,ai OF the Flint
company the valves 70 the local engi"e
thawed oat aaG tgI streams Of water
were playing o. the fire. After the
arrival Of the Flint ire fighters the To-
cal engine was used to pump water into
the mains while the big engine was at
tacbed to a bydrant and supplied two
leads OF hose to the fire. The Flint en-
gine was too large for the Clio engine,
however, and was hampered in it's
operation because pressure in the main
could not be maintained. but the Flint
boys did splendid, courageous work,
everything considered, and are entitled
to the thanks Of the citizens Of Clio
The local fire boys. likewise, did fine
work and are equally entitled to thanks.
The freezing of the engine was unfor-
tunate but the boys did every thing in
their power to.stsy the progress of the
flames.
The fire ate its way rapidly and pro-
gressively through the building. Tie
Michigan Ry. Company's Office and
freight warehouse were first consumed,
next came Daly's restaurant and then
Sturdevant's barber shop and The Mes
senger office. Citizens turned to the
work of salvage with the greatest
loyalty and vim and kept down the
losses in the lower part of the building
materially. A part of the equipment
in the interurban ticket office was
saved and the same was true of Daly's
restaurant. Charles Sturdevant saved
nearly all of the fixtures in his barber
shop and his loss is slight A great
part of the equipment of The Messenger
Office consisted of very heavy machines
and it was here, it seems to us, our
friends and fellow citizens, did their
most heroic work as salvers. In the
beginning when the editor saw the rap
id progress the fire was making his
heart sank because il did not seem pos
sible that any Of the presses or the pa
per cutter could be saved nor, indeed.
much of the other equipment and big
loss seemed sure. The doors were not
wide enough to let the best job press
through, and it weighed ton, but at
that moment help arrived, from every