The combination of a match and an open box of excelsior resulted at 8:20 pm Thursday, in a fire which could have menaced a North Market Street business block except for early arrival of firemen. The excelsior had been placed in the rear of 307 N. Market St. where it had been carried out during the cleaning of trash from the basement. Fire Chief Herman May expressed the belief someone passing in the alley had tossed a match into the excelsior, starting a fire which burned the wood frame of a window in the L.B. Price Mercantile Co. before it could be extinguished. Chief May pointed to the fire as an example for the need of extreme caution to prevent disastrous fires. He urged care in the handling of waste paper and other waste materials which might be the cause of a bad blaze.

(Extracted  from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at http://www.marionfire.us )