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Show olTstate house wreckedby fire The old State House, one of the M buildings erected in St. George, 1 completely wrecked by fire early ILday morning. -The blaze was covered shortly before 3 o'clock by Lorenzo Bringhurst, night watchman, rt turned in the alarm, and called Sheriff Brooks and Marshal Cottam, ho with several others who were Lused got the fire apparatus into action. The fire started in the attic in the northwest corner of the building build-ing and evidently had been burning (or some time before discovered. ma the fire broke through the roof the flames shot high in the air. There sas no wind. Pew delays were encountered by the fire fighters in getting the. apparatus hooked up and in a short time a good stream of- water was playing on the , hiv, , nninklv brought under -i - control. When the flames broke through the roof the whole attic was ablaze showing that the fire had been smouldering for some time before being be-ing discovered. Considerable difficulty was had by the firemen in preventing the blaze from reaching the roof of the News building, as flaming frieze board broke loose from the building repeatedly and 'ell on trhe roof of the News, and it was necessary to play the hose on this building to keep the fire from gaming a foothold. Had there been a wind at the time it is thought several buildings would have burned. The blaze was brought under control in a short time but water was kept playing on the building for nearly an hour before the fire was completely I extinguished. This water soaked up Jl the adobe walls to such an extent that at about six o'clock the rear half of the building collapsed, smashing through the roof and walls of the News build-ir.g build-ir.g and causing severe damage to building and equipment. The front half of the State House building was undamaged, and was left standing. To protect life and adjoining property this portion of the building was torn down Saturday forenoon. The State House was owned by W. J. Graham and was fully covered by insurance. The building was unoccupied unoccu-pied at the time. How the fire started has not been discovered, although the fact that the blaze originated in the attic leads to ae conclusion that some one had spent the night in the attic of the building as there was no debris which might cause internal combustion. Those who entered the building shortly after the fire was extinguished dys there were evidences that some cue had been in the place. A pool table had been moved under the trap dixir and a make shift ladder set up, '''aking access to the attic easy. Any-rae Any-rae in the attic for an illegal purpose would be comparatively safe, as there wre no cracks or entrances where a light could be seen from the outside. This is thought by the officers to be 2 solution of the origin of the fire. Several have expressed the opinion fiat steps should be taken at once to organize a volunteer fire department. he organization could be made self-wpporting self-wpporting and would afford a greater protection to the town in case of fire. |