Court House Burns, January 5, 1913 *************************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by Scott Fitzgerald - scottfitzgerald@tyler.net East Texas Genealogical Society, President 27 July 2005 *************************************************************************** From Palestine Daily Visitor, Monday, January 5, 1913: "Court House Burns; Immense Conflagration. Blaze Starts About 1:00 or 2:00 O'clock–Building is Complete Loss–Most of Records Saved–Caught From Wires in Cupalo. ------------- Between 1:00 and 2:00 o'clock this morning the court house was discovered on Fire. It had caught in the cupalo and was burning fiercely when first seen. It undoubtedly caught from the wires of the arc light. Chief Kersh says the firemen were called by some one knocking of the door–supposedly an I. & G. N. caller who shouted to him that the court house was on fire. Instantly he and his men responded and when they reached the scene of the fire they found that the Water Works Co. had not been notified. One of the men ran to the jail and turned in a call for extra pressure. Mr. Branagan says he heard the fire bell and sprang to the telephone asking central, "Where is the fire?" and the reply came, "There is no fire!" He went back to bed and presently saw the light on the sky, and again went to the phone, this time being told the court house was no [sic] fire. No one before had notified central. But with this delay in getting extra pressure the fire had made big headway. And even after the pressure was put on Chief Kersh says it was inadequate, only two hydrants available from two inch pipes. But the firemen did heroic work principally in carrying out books, most of the valuable ones being recovered–court records, etc. The criminal docket, we understand, was lost. The entire upper stories of the building are destroyed. Att'y J. J. Stirckland, county attorney, lost his splendid library and the furnishings of his office. No insurance. Mr. W. G. Sammons, county surveyer, lost all the belongings of his office and a fine new set of instruments. No insurance. District court room entirely destroyed. Supt. of public schools, Mrs. Saddler, office entirely destroyed. The county clerk's, county judge's and treasurer's offices are all fire proof but are badly damaged by water. Records are all safe. The tax assessor's and collector's offices were broken into and all of the books recovered. Messrs. Joe Davis, Will Simmons, Amos McGee, Att'y J. E. Rose and others going through the window, while a host of assistants outside caught the books carried them to the Old Town Drug Store. On the outside, Miss Irene Goodrich, clerk for the tax collector, and her mother, Mrs. M. A. Goodrich, were the heroines of the book rescuing party. The tax collector and assessor offices, and the county judge's office are temporarily in Mrs. Gammage's building next the jail. Mr. Frank Morris lost his new abstract recording instrument worth $500. The court house was insured for $35,000–its full value. The fire department did splendid work remaining on duty from about 2:00 till 9:00 o'clock a. m. Everybody almost in the old town was out, many remaining till morning, on the scene. Mr. Virgel DuBose working in his office to save books was so overcome that he fainted. The whole city was illuminated bright as day." A copy of the above was found in the vertical files of the Palestine Public Library in the Special Collections room. Also copied with this article was the following: "THE DAILY VISITOR DEMING & GIBSON, Publishers MRS. ROSE F. DEMING, EDITOR ------------------------------------------------- Entered in the Palestine, Texas Postoffice as Second-Class Matter ------------------------------------------------- Published Every Afternoon Ex- cept Sunday. 50c Per Month ------------------------------------------------- THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE CITY --------------------------------------------------"