Marion County AlArchives News.....Hamilton Fire - Marion County Court House Fire April 7, 1887
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Veneta McKinney http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00016.html#0003775 April 16, 2010, 10:37 am

The Lamar News  - Pg 2 April 7, 1887
HAMILTON’S FIRE
[Special Correspondence to Age]
Hamilton, Ala., March 31 – Last night about 1:30 o’clock the court house at 
this place was discovered to be on fire.  It was completely enveloped in 
flames, and nothing could be done toward saving any of the records, papers, 
county library, etc., which were in the offices, and not in vaults or safes. 
The building was a wooden structure and cost about $4,000.  The county library 
was valued at about $1500, and is said to have been as good as nay in the 
state. The records are absolutely beyond replacing and dated back to the time 
the county was first established. There were also about one or two thousand 
dollars worth of blank records in the office of the probate judge. The tax 
assessment for the past year, and all the books and papers belonging to the 
tax assessor’s and collector’ offices were destroyed. In fact, everything was 
destroyed that belongs to the court house.
	Besides the great loss of the county, several individuals sustained 
considerable loss.  W. H. KEY, Esq. had about $75,000 in money in the office, 
which he had collected for various parties, all which he will have to restore 
from his own pocket. He also had several valuable law book burned and about 
$4,000 worth of notes that had been placed in his hands for collection.  About 
$2,500 worth of these notes belonging to Messrs. FRAZIER & GAST, merchants of 
this county, the others to different parties. MATTHEWS & GUYTON’S mercantile 
ledger, which was in Mr. Key’s hands, was also burned. A. J. STANFORD, Esq. 
lost about $100.00 worth of law books in the conflagration.
	It was only by Herculean efforts that the stores around the court 
house were saved, the resin being drawn from several of them by the heat.  The 
wind was very high, which rendered the fighting of the flames very difficult.  
It was feared at one time that the whole business portion of the town would be 
consumed, but luckily the wind shifted and the buildings were saved.  It was a 
grand and awful sight, and represented a lost to Marion County of at least 
$40,000 and is a severe burden to the already debt-burdened county.  At this 
writing it is impossible to estimate the loss, but it is believed that $40,000 
is a conservative estimate. Nothing is known as to how the fire originated.  
It may have been the act of an incendiary or it may have originated in some of 
the offices.



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