Fire Chief Cash and his assistant were called out of their warm beds at 1 o’clock this morning to fight one of the worst fires that Marion has experienced for a long time. With the thermometer below zero and the fire already burning fiercely the chief saw that he had a tremendous task on his hands.
Morris Nudleman, the tailor in the one store building adjoining was awakened about 1 o’clock by the crackling of wood and saw smoke issuing from the adjoining building. He immediately aroused his family and they began moving out their belongings. At the same time night policeman discovered the blaze and got the fire department out. All of Mr. Nudleman’s belongings were carried out into the street and later moved into temporary quarters around the corner on W. Union St.
The fire fighters were crippled by lack of assistance. Fire Chief Cash asked some of the people standing around to come in and help fight the blaze, but only two responded. He even offered to hire help and could get no response. The chief reports that there were several hundred watching the fire and that only five volunteered. That made a total of ten men to fight one of the worst fires that Marion has experienced recently. Had there been a brisk wind or other large buildings adjoining, there is no telling what would have been the fire damage.
Marion needs some kind of law giving the fire chief authority to deputize the many hundreds that stand around and watch but do no more than get in the way. Those that fought the blaze were Chief Harry Cash, Assistant Chief R.A. Cash, Willie Fisher, Arthur Thompson, Elbert Garrison, Jimmy King, George Fietsam, Tom Mitchell, J.C. Adams and R.W. Adams. The chief was especially thankful for the services of the Adams brothers. They are traveling salesmen for the Fairbanks Gold Dust Company and were merely staying overnight here. One of them lives in Kansas City and the other in St. Louis. Their father is assistant chief of the department in St. Louis and they saw the immediate danger. When the chief asked for volunteers these men came out of the crowd and got right into the work. The chief said that if he had not had their help he doesn’t know what he would have done.
The fire boys were also very thankful to Mrs. W.L. Fisher. They fought steadily from one o’clock til almost four when she brought over a big pot of steaming coffee. They then worked in relays while different ones got a cup of steaming stimulant. The shoe shining parlor which occupied the front room of the burned building was a complete loss as none of the property was saved.
The south wall partially fell in while the fire was raging and it will be necessary to tear down the north wall. The wall is bowed away out and should be torn down at once. The building is owned by Charles Lowe who is now in New Orleans and is said to be valued at $7,000. It was insured for $4,500 but the amount of insurance on the contents is not known.
The building was formerly used by the I.O.O.F. as their meeting place but has been used lately as a lodging house. It was not known this morning for certain whether anyone was in the building at the time the fire started or not.
Charles Parks has been rooming there but was not there last night.
The fire was discovered at 1 o’clock last night and was still smoldering at noon today. The fire boys threw a vast amount of water on the fire and they report excellent pressure for the first part of the fire. They had several streams of water playing on the fire. This is the worst fire Marion has had since last July when Bainbridge’s jewelry store burned. The cold weather with the fire last night made it one of the most difficult ever experienced here.
(Extracted from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at http://www.marionfire.us/ )