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THE CLIO MESSENGER Volume IX. Nurobei 46 Clio, Michigan. Friday December IS, 1916 '1.0 I V Ye.ir in dva Co FIRE DESTROYS THE ENTIRE WILLIS RLOCK All of the Numerous Tenants Suffered Considerable Losss Structure Was One of the Largest in Clio and Wai Built by Randolph Willi in 1888 Clio suffered another destructive fire, Monday, when the WUHh Block, one of the large business structures in the vil lage, and land mark for many years, was wholly destroyed. Just how the fire erigioatad will probably never be known, but it wan discovered in rooms in the southwest corner in the second story, occupied by lofcn Marnien and side seemingly, business men, clergy men, mechanics, clerks, even the ladies among them, and the way the stuff commenced to go out door whr some thing wonderful; out of the doors, out of the windows, regardless of the chok ing smoke, the tyje, paper, cabinet?, and natures poured in a steady stream until everything moveable had been family. Geo. Benjamin, agent of the carried ,ut. The mon even tore a hole Michigan Railway Company awcov-reu m w unci wan u;K nvni w w amnu imnir from the upper portion of. , jvb nre.s through and saved it. the the building at about nine o'clock in the I other job press and the heavy paper mornine and at once informed C. E. cutter were also saved and the base of Taylor, cashier of the bank, who has the gasoline engine was broken from acted as an agent for the building The its fastenings and it was carried out, tnomhprn of the Marnien iamny nuu ; un twnn m vmv ui an ucovj u left their rooms for the day and locked them, but Mr. Taylor broke in the door to one of the bed rooms, whence smoke was issuing, and found the bd on fire while embers were even then dropping from the ceiling. The alarm was at once given but the fire spread through the upper portion of the building with such rapidity that the tenants in that portion were soon forced out by the dense smoke and were able to save but a small portion of their belongings. The village fire department responded to the alarm promptly and soon bad a line of hose laid to the building, bat the hose was rendered useless for twenty minutes or more when it was found that the valves to the pump of the fire engine had frozen and these had to be thawed with hot water secured from neighboring ieBideme? bfor water ( ould be pw ..p ed from the pond and forced into the main. The fire progressed rapidly any way and this unfortunate occurrence gave it a further start so that the building seemed doomed from the first. It should be understood that water hnd not been allowed to freeze In the en gine but ihe froat In the valves had stuck then: fast When Fire Chief .CummiM realized that, bis own apparat u was likely to be i -sion,!)'. i onca telephoned partnient and the latter re- ! .;.:: that within 86 out of o the Flint spond"(i mitv.u. -call they ing rat ut.es Del eons tnj thewc I it n were playing .re II the v .. reeaived the r li i i and were throw n the ,:r About tn ml - j ..w of the Flint l fo the local ei; i 8 - tre uns of water 1 Are. A ftor tli- arrival of the I bni re fighters the fo cal engine . pufttp watsr into the mains whila the big engine wan at tached to a hydrant and supplied two leads of hose to the fire. The Flint en gine was too large for the Clio engine, however, and was hampered in its operation because pressure in the main could not be maintained, but the Flint boys did splendid, courageous work, everything Considered, and aie entitled to the thanks f the citizens of Clio. The local tire boys, likewise, did fine work and are equally entitled to thanks. The freezing of the engine was unfor tunate but the boy? did everything in their power tosty the progress of the flames. The fire ate its way rapidly and pro gressively through the building. Tl e Michigan Ry. Company's office and freight warehouse were first consumed, next came Daly's resaaurant and then Sturdevant's barber shop and The Mes senger office. Citizens turned to the work of salvage with the greatest loyalty and vim and kept down the losses in the lower part of the buildirg materially. A part of the equipment in the interurban ticket office was saved and the same was true of Daly's restaurant. Charles Sturdevant saved nearly all of the fixtures in his barber shop and his loss is slight A great part of the equipment of The Messenger office consisted of very heavy machinee and it was here, it seems to us, our friends and fellow citizens, did their moat heroic work as salvers. In the beginning when the editor saw the rap id progress the fire was making his heart sank because K did not seem pos sible that any of the presses or the pa per cut inr could be saved nor, indeed, much of the other equipment and a big loss seemed sure. The doors were not wide enough to let the best job press through, and it weighed a ton, but at that moment help arrived, from every terial except the large cylinder, weigh ing four or five tons, and the men had half a mind to tackle that. The work of salvage in The Messenger office was simply magnificent and we can scarcely find words adequate to express our ap preciation of it. The fire burned itself out in about an hour and a half in which time the big building was reduced to a mass of smoking and blackened brick. The wind was blowing from the northeast, which was favorable to the business section of the village, and while fire was carried to the roof of the hay sheds and elevator of F. M. Houghton & Co., on several different occasions, it was readily extinguished. O. Forbush and Glenn Williams, who o u; the two stores just east of the Willis block, moved the most of their e nd " Gained considerable damage - irough the necessarily hurried mannei i;: which the work was doDO. f the t 'nraMts in the second story of the t lildlng the Marnien family lost everything hui the clothes they wore and, d no Irtiurance. The Maltbys had t . if household good all packed preparatory to moving to Flint and all they laved wai I small amount of c it: J bedding. They had al lows i insurance policy to expire a fv ! - previous to the fire. It If said r&at kihn Mallory also loet everal hun h td Wars' Worth of ho i ehold goo.ls with no . isurttice, l to The Messer er plant is tlUn ited hy the owner at $1500.00, : . by insurance. Tin large cyl- .(!' . eta, "-tailed ai a Cost of $1000, it best country newspaper press in thi 'ounty, if a total loss and there A Lfl '..:siderah!e dun :ige to ma 'hinery. l e, furniture and fixtures an 1 1 . stock. This : . and that on the bail ling bad not been adjusted at thv : i four going to press. SVi lis block bad a rather tmtor tOhate history, We are told that its txt . WfJ commenced by a Mrs. Bardie, Who became financially em bar seed 'oce the project wa-- com pleted, and thereupon enlisted the aid Of Randolph Willis, then u prosperous farmer of Thetford. The building was complete . ! at for many yeara it failed to be i tying Invaetment, and Mr. Willi-", g 'ing from stage to stage of financial Jtaaster, lost even his nominal claim t: the property and finally died in the county house. The last was not the only fire in which the budding had been icorcbed. There had been two or three - in which considerable loses were lUttaincd by the owner and ten nants. ltis.aid that at one peiiod of his ownership Mr. Willis borrowed some money from a certain insurance com pany, which in order to render itself secure, made it a part of the contract that Willis was to buy his insurance of them at a charge of seven per cent and for several years thereafter he paid $700 per year for $10,000 of insurance which he carried on the building. This is said to have been one of the principal causes of his failure. The owner of the building at the time of its destruction was C. B. Dibble, of Flint, who carried $2,500 in insurance and estimates his loss at S",00O. Mr. Dibble is confident of the future of Clio, however, and is already laying plans looking to the erection of some modern business buildings on the site. While the fire entailed considerable losses, it might very easil v have b?en much worrit . If the fire had occurred in the night time and in severely cold weather, it is doubtful if anything could have bean saved. And then, too, if there bad chanced to be a strong wind from the west or southwest the whole business section and a consider able portion of the residential section would have been in grave danger. it is interesting to ote that on Mon day, January 21, 1884, a destructive fire swept the same spot occupied by the Willis Block. At that time the only fire apparatus in town was a hand fire engine and the buildings were all of frame construction. The result was the entire south eide of Vienna St. from the Willis Block site to the old Curry residence, now occupied by L. B. Fuller wad destroyed, the Ioas totalling $35. 000.00. Among the losers were A D. Rundlett, store and residence, J. B. Garland A Co., N. W. Mann. D. fl. Parks and son and Cirdon Jones, all the latter being business places, while several families who occupied apart ments over these stores lost everything. Farmers living at distances up to six miles from town were awakened by the big glow occasioned by the con flagration. Mr. Garland was an uncle of Mrs. Wm. Zimmer to whom we are indebted for a copy of The Clio Star, giving the story of the fire. and spiritual betterment. E. G. Hack ney, gave a paper on primary laws. Several pleasing tableaus and dialogues were given by members of Burton Grange. The following officers were elected for the ensuing two years: Master Lynus Wolcott. Overseer Wm. E. Bill. Lecturer O. M. Field. Steward S G. Merrick. Chaplain Theda Hicks. Treasurer W. W. Billings. Ass't Steward D. W, Richards. Secretary -W. H. Keddy. Gate keeper B. Eaton. Ceres Mrs. Ida Langworthy. Pomona Mrs E. W. Brewer. Flora Mrs. Bertha Gage. Lady Ass't Steward Mrs. D. W. Richards. The next meeting will be with Good rich Grange, Jan. 12. 1917. A Kindly Note M. P. Church Notes L. O. L. Officers Clio L O. L., No. 308, at its annual meeting, Monday evening, elected the following officers to serve during the ensuing year: Worthy Master, Fred Sturdevant: Deputy Master, Isaac Ach eson; Financial Secretary, Lester Pick ering; Foreman of Committee, Robert Scott; Recording Secretary, John San dersfield; Treasurer, John Wirth; Chap lain, Ed. Hyman; Director of Cere monies, Glen Henderson, Inside Tyler, Elmer Yaster: F irst Committeeman, O. Stoolmaker; Second Committeeman, I. Acheson; Third Committeeman, T. Porth; Trustees, E. L. Powers, Isaac Fields, Glen Williams. The lodge is in a very thriving condition and has a large membership. L. O. T. M. M. Officers Services will be held as usual Sundu. morning and evening. Sunday School nt the close of the mon ng service. Christian Endeavor at G:00 The put In: is very cordially invited lo attend. The monthly social for the benefit of the Boys' Band, helJ at the home ol Mrs. Rob't Daly, Wednesday evening, was attended by about 125 people and was a very enjoyable affair throughout Games of various kinds were indulged i'i and a splendid supper was served from the lunch boxes which were fur nished by the ladies. Col. E L. Pow ers conducted the sale of the boxes and by the exercise of his usual persuasive ness got top prices for all of them, the sale netting something over $17 00 for the band. It was extremely heartening in the midst of the perplexities of the m -rut nt to receive a note like the follow ing from our good friend, Rev, Fr. Ihos. l.uby: Dec. 12, '16. "My Dear Mr. Reed: Please forward me at once our b lj f r the printing, etc., which your es tablishment has against us. Under the ci curnstances I regret we do not owe you more. Whilst the fire at Clio must have Uied you considerable monetary lo . 1, nevertheless, feel the words of t ' -oet are applicable to your char acter: 4 He's truly valiant that canwitely suffer The worst that man can breathe; And make his wrongs his outsides, To wear them like his raiment carelessly; And ne'er prefer his injuries to heart, To bring it into danger.' Sincerely yours. Thos. Luby his Geneaee Murderer Paroled Sheriffs Appointees Elect Acheson Delegate Clio Hive. L. O. T. M. M annual election of officers. Tuesday af ternoon, the officers chosen beim va follows: 1 dst Commander, Lena Chap pell; Commander, Frances Bingham; Lieutenant. Lavina Dybad: Finance Keeper, Martha Bower; Record Keeper. Bessie Walker; Mistress-at-Arms, Mary Powers; Sergeant, Ella West; Sentinel. Martha Waite; Picket, Mabel Cable; In stalling Offl -er, Emily Cong le ton; Grc it Mistress-at-Arms, Mary Doyle. The new officers will be installed at the January meeting at which time a p"t luck BUpper will Uii served and each member wiii be permitted to invite one guest. The Milk Dealers' Protective Asso ciation held another meeting at Grange Hall, Wednesday afternoon, and elected I. R. Acheson to represent then, at a meeting of milk producers to be held in Detroit next Monday it is expected a price wiii held JU i mi,k PrtdtiCLd for the Detroit market and possibly for the local market well; that Ls, a price which will c.'.itrged jy members ol Sherifi' elect John S. Chestnut an nounced his appointments on Monday. SntTirT Chestnut retains only one of the present fore so that there will be an entirely new outfit around the sheriff's office after January 1 The new sheriff hen -elected as his under sheriff Albert J off, the present captain of the pol ice fo-ce of Flint, who has had a large amount of experience in hunting crim inals. His appointments are as follows: Un der sherifi, Albert J. Suff; deputy sher iff's, Charles Raab and Charles W. Min t; turnkey, Don Burton; court officers and deputy sheriffs, Frank Butcher and Ferry Gale. Charles Raab and Charles W. Minto, v. bo tre to be new deputy sheriffs, are not strangers in either Flint or Gene see county. Mr. Raab served as a der; On Friday Gov. Ferris paroled SyV vester Daniels who was sent from thw county in Januaxy 1889 to Jackstr prison for life, iur the murder of Jerry White, who was an old resident Flushing, place. The murder was commi tted in Decem ber 1888 on the Mark Bacon farm in Montrose township and Mr. White body was hidden in a log heap whrc it was later discovered by Deputy Shei iff W. A. Garner. The body was brough' to this village where the inquest wa-t held before Justice Hunt- r of Montrose, who acted as coroner. The inquest waj conducted for the people by D. D. Ait kin, who was then the law partner uj Edward S. Lee, who was prosecuting attorney and Mr. Aitkin WM his assih tant and A. C. McCall, wb iied the paal. summer, was sheriff. The killing of White created a wide spread interest at the time and it seanaaM that there could be no doubt but thai Daniels committed the crime for which" he has served 28 years in ihe Jack so' prison. However during those years it has become the belief of some of thosi who were familiar with all the circum stances that others were implicated in the murder and that whi.e Daniels dbl not actually commit the crime he waj accessory to it. Card of Thanks The editor of The Messenger woul express his deepest thanks for tho hearty assistance accorded him during the fire by the citizens of Clio and tho members of the Clio Fire Department It is simply splendid and our sincere hope is that we can prove ourself a Su fficiently useful citizen to ustify the in terest and friendship thus exhiblte toward us. We are also deeply apprec iative of the many expression" of sym pathy made us since the fire. We would) tender our thanks esneciaiiy .. W. A A. i i. : .a! fliumrammr t, z.ix ? -- - uij oiivuu uiiuvr i mi mer rrienn juiiii neu lor the a b snenjstjou, FNJst fof Vacating the building he wa ji ri mermatt and Mr. Mum has beeu su- occupying at considerable In JO I eniencc pervisor from Flint township for the 1 to himself and giving us nortur- la-t three vearj. Mr Minto was also a ; ... f ,i . t candidate tor sheriff on the Republican I n U8mg, . licit, t at the primary electior last Respectfully and Gratefully yours. . ty uat. 1 C. r. Grange Officers VIENNA On I bUM .ay, Dec, 7, Vienna Cra: held itfl annual meeting, at which ti tho following otfi 'ers were elected serve during the ensuing year: Master 1 R, Field. ()vereer Florence Reed. Lecturer- Dora E. Chase. Steward Roasell Ronaailc Assistant Steward -Ernest Reed. Chaplain L D. Gillett. Treasurer Mr9. Howard. Secretary - A. M. Chase. Gate-keeper Harry Gage. Lady Asst. Steward Mrs. 1. R. Fit Ceres Mrs. I. D. Gillett. Pomona lira. Ella West. Flora Mrs. H. Gage. FARMERS FRIEND Farmers' Friend Grange met at the hall on Tuesday. Dec. 12. Dinner was j served and the following officers wen elected: Master C. M. Eckles. Overseer Lewis Geer. Lecturer- Mrs. O. M. Field. Sec. -Tre as. -O. M Field. Steward W. P. Richards. Chaplain Mrs. R. Nichols. Assistant Steward Arthur. Hobson. .Gate-keeper- Win. Hobson Ceres Mrs. John Hobson. Pomona-Mrs. J. Westfall. Flora Mrs. H. Green. Lady Ass't Steward Mrs. Lewis Geer. The next meeting will be at the hall, Tuesday, Jan. 9, for dinner and install ation of officers following. Genesee County Pomona Grange met with Burton Center Orange on Friday. Dec. 8. About one hundred twenty-five were present aud all had a very enjoy able time. State Lecturer. Mrs. Dora Stockman whs there and gave aiplen did report of the National Grange at Washington. Rev. C. E. Benson, of Davison, gave a fine talk on "Commun ity Metterment. " I he rural commun-1 ill ity should organize for social, financial n-; Scintci Claus Has visited our store and left an abun dance of goods which will make nicf Christmas Gifts. Here are a few to choose from A. sv 1 Lw Ladies' and Girls' Muis - Pur Sets Fancy Colars Fancy Scarf Pins Fancy Hair Pins Kid Gloves Fancy Handkerchiefs $5.00 to 18.00 5.00 to 20.00 .25 to .75 .25 to IM - .25tolu) 1.25, 1.50, 2.00 - .05 to .85 Fancy Handke: chiefs in box for .25 Children! i4 in boxes .10 and .15 All Wool Sweaters - 4.00 to 6.00 Skating Sets - - .50 to 1.50 Mens aqd Boys' Suits and Overcoats Fur Caps - - 2.50 to 5.00 Gloves - - - .50 to 3.50 Fur Neckwear - - .25, .50, .75 Silk Hosiery, Neckwear to match Umbrellas - - 1.00 to 3.50 Handkerchiefs in boxes - - .25 All Linen Handkerchiefs - - .25 Men's Initial - - .10 and. 15 Sweater Coats - - .75to00 Slippers for the whole family And many oil r good things to choose from Meeks & Wirth ?RY GOODS CLOTHING SHOES