The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1919-03-13
FIRE DESTROYS
N. VESTS BARN
TEN HEAD OF CATTLE AND SIX
HORSES BURNED
Carriages, Harness and Other Equip
ment Also Destroyed, the Loss
Being Nearly $4,000

Last Tuesday morning, between
the hours of 800 and 400 o'clock,
the fine gambrel roof barn on the
farm of Manasseh West, northwest of
town, was destroyed by fire. With
the barn and silo went eight head of
valuable milch cows and one calf and
six head of horses. The origin of the
fire is hrouded in mystery. No
member of the family had been in or
about the barn since about eight or
nine o'clock the preceding evening,
when Mrs. West and her young son,
Lorn, returned home from Clio and
put up the horse they had used. At
this time the blanket and robe that
was in the buggy were put in the
granary that adjoins the barn, and
in looking the granary over, the
morning following the fire, these ar
ticles were found to be missing.
Mrs. West is sure about this matter,
as she saw the boy put the things in
the granary, and the incident fur
nishes the basis of the only theory
that has suggested itself to the men,
bers of the family regarding the or
igin of the fire. 1t seems possible
that some marauder was pilfering
around the premises and in lighting
matches to see where things were set
fire to the straw or other highly in
fiammable matterwith which the barn
was filled. No suspicion is directed
against anyone in particular, and this
is but theory of how the fire may
have been started. Mrs. West dis
covered the fire on arising, as is her
custom, to look after the fire in the
furnace at about 100 o'clock in the
morning. At this time the barn was
completely wrapped in flames, so that
the rooms of the dwelling, which is
just across the road, were thoroughly
lighted up, and all of the live stock
was dead in the stalls. 1t appears
that E. S. Tomkinson, who lives near
by, saw the fire as soon or sooner
than Mrss--West, as he arrived on the
scene about as soon as the members
of the West family, his attention
having been called to the fire by the
bright light which shone through the
windows of his residence. The two
elder boys and the eldest daughter
of Mr.. and Mrs. West were in Flint,
where the boys are working in one of
the factories and the young lady is
attending school, and while many
neighbors were soon on hand, nothing
could be done to quell the roaring
cataract of flame. That the fire
started after 1900 o'clock is made
certain by the fact that Elson West,
son of Mr.. and Mrs. Harry West,
in company with Clifford French,
passed the premises at about that
hour, at which time everything ap-
peared to be all right. Beside the
live stock above mentioned, there
was destroyed IA tons of hay, 8 tons
of straw, 2 sets of double harness,
sets single harness, 1 carriage, bug
gy, 1 new lumber wagon and fiat
rack and considerable quantity of
ensilage. The insurance on the barn
and contents was but $1,750, sum
totally insufficient to rebuild the
barn, to say nothing OF its contents.
And so, Mr.. Westwill lose through the
fire from $4,000 to $4,000, and but
for the timely arrival Of assistance,
whereby the granary was saved, the
loss would have been considerably in
creased. Fire seems to have follow
ed Mr. and Mrs. West like malignant
fury, as about fourteen years ago a
large barn was destroyed on their
farm, after having been struck by
lightning, and six years thereafter
their home was destroyed by another
conflagration. In view Of these cir
cumstances they will be the objects
of especial sympathy in this latest
loss which has afflicted them. Mr..
Mrs. West have not as yet fully made
up their minds just what they intend