Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-02-19
8 DIE, Il HURT IN
PLATTEV|LLE FIRE
FLAMES AND EXPLOSION WRECK
ENTIRE BUSINESS BLOCK.
LOSS TO REACH $4,000.
CRUSHED BY FALLING WALL
Aany Victims Are Volunteers Who
Helped to Fight Blaze-city
of 5000 Had No Standing
Fire Department.

Platteville-A fire which for nearly
three hours threatened the CITY of
Platteville, Saturday, Feb. 8, resulted
in the death of eight persons, injury
to eleven, and the destruction of SIS.
900 worth of property.
Originating by spontaneous combus-
ton in the basement of the brick Fore
hand building, which covered an entire
block, it spread rapidly throughout the
three floors of the building, causing
three explosions, which wrecked the
structure and blew the south wall ano
corner out into the street.
By fierce I hting the fire was con.
dned to one block. Most of those killed
were volunteer fremen, some of whom
were members of the city's volunteer
ire brigade. Others had offered tnei.
help when the fire broke out, and still.
others We're school boys who were car
rying jewelry and other valuables out
OF the burning building when the wal
fell upon them.
The eleven persons injured were
also caught under the falling wall and
some of them were severely crushed
Nine were rushed to DR.. Wilson Gun.
ningham's hospital at Platteville.
where it was reported they would r.
cover with possibly one exception, thai
of Ray Edwards, a student, whose
body was badly crushed. They are
all of Platteville.
gas stove and several cans of gas
oline, which are known to have been
in the building at the time of the fire,
are believed to have caused the explo-
sion. According 70 James Dolan, for
mer assemblyman and a prominent
lawyer of Platteville, the cause of the
fire is believed to have been sponta-
neous combustion.
Volunteer firemen and school bows
began hustling the jewelry out of the
Vanderbilt jewelry store on the ground
floor of the building shortly after the
fire started When the explosions oc-
Cured they were caught beneath the
falling brick walls. Most of the killed
were found several feet from the
building, suggesting that they had
seen and tried to escape the falling
walls.
John Kopp, high school student,
was blown through window of the
first floor of the building, but was only
slightly injured.
Ernest Dickson, who was killed, had
learned Friday night of the death of
his mother in Kansas City. His
loft voar1fro For
Kansas City to return with the body
Fred Steinhoff and S. Austen Hale,
two of the killed were farmers living
near the edge of the city. They vol
unteered their services when they
learned of the fire.
The fire started shortly before
o'clock Saturday afternoon. 1t imme-
diately threatened nearby structures.
The heat was so intense that attend
ants in the telephone exchange across
the street were driven from their
posts, and no communication with the
city by telephone from outside was
possible for nearly two hours.
The Forehand building, to which the
fire was confined, is a complete wreck
1t was valued at $4,000 and the de
stroyed property with the building
was valued at approximately $4,000.
The building was recently renamed
the Realty building by c. A. Rafter,
who owned the block, one of the prin-
cipal buildings in Platteville. Rafter
owned the tobacco factory on the third
floor of the building. He was the only
one of the occupants of the apart
ments on the second floor to be killed
None of the other residents were in
the building at the time of the explo-
sions.
Searchers hunted through the smol-
dering ruins of the building with
flashlights almost all night Saturday
ana continued their search on Sunday
but no more bodies were recovered.
The block was in flames for nearly
four hours. Crowds of people from
Dubuque and other nearby cities mo-
tored to Platteville to watch the fire.
1t was necessary to call out Company
NJ of the state guard to keep the
crowd away from the blazing build
ing and to assist the volunteer fire
fighters in combining the destruction to
the one black.
The Palace of Sweets and the tele-
phone building, across the street,
were saved by having a continuous
stream of water played over them,
Plattevil1e, which is a city of 5000
has no standing fire department.
state normal school and school OF
mines are located here.