The Farmer’s Produce Co., operated by Lloyd McMichael, was open for business in temporary quarters Monday morning after fire which broke out at 3 pm Saturday destroyed the entire retail stock of flour, feed and of the store located in the Dunston Building in the rear of the city hall. Estimates of damage totaling $9,950 were obtained by Fire Chief Ing as follows: Farmers Produce $5,000, Eaton and Ash $750, Hill Printing Co. $500, B.D. Ream $1,000, Kroger Co. $200, and Dunston Building $2,500. The blaze apparently originated in the toilet in the rear of the feed store where it is suspected someone may have dropped a cigarette. McMichael was out of the store at the time the fire was discovered, but he donned a fireman’s mask to enter the store room and rescue $1000 in cash which had placed in a sack on his desk preparatory to making his regular bank deposit before the fire broke out. Only a cloud of smoke was emerging from the feed store when firemen arrived and started inside the building with hose lines from a 400-gallon booster tank of water carried by the fire truck. They were met with a sudden gust of black smoke and flames, however, and abandoned the small hose to move the truck to a fire hydrant on East Main Street where the pumper was then connected. Two lines of hose were run, one into the feed store from the entrance back of the city hall and the other to the rear of the feed store through the Hill Printing Co. on East Main Street. The fire swept rapidly through the store of feed and flour, and looked as if it was going to destroy the building. But as Fire Chief Orlie Ing called the second fire truck out of the station and it took up its position at a hydrant on the Public Square, the firemen brought the blaze under control less than 30 minutes after it started. Aided by volunteers, including Randall Holcomb, former Mt. Vernon fireman who now lives in Marion and was visiting at the fire station, the firemen rapidly beat out the flames which were confined to the feed store. Holcomb manned the second truck with which he had remained at the station awaiting Chief Ing’s orders. One volunteer fireman, “Pee Wee” Norman, suffered a cut on one leg which required medical attention. The other firemen suffered minor cuts and blisters in the battle against the flames. The fire attracted hundreds of spectators at the height of Saturday’s shopping in the downtown section, and the crowd hampered the firemen in hooking up the hose. The fact that the fire occurred in the daytime, rather than at night, however, doubtless enabled the firemen to reach it in time to prevent a much greater loss. At the height of the fire, Lawrence Odum, owner of the Jewelry store in the adjacent Warder building carried his stock out of the building as a precaution. Odum’s store was burned out in the disastrous Goodall Hotel fire across the street last March. The Illinois Brokerage Store in the Warder building closed during the fire, but did not remove merchandise. The Farmer’s Produce Co. will temporarily handle its retail business from its wholesale warehouse at the corner of East Union and North Mechanic Streets.

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