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Show r FLAMES SWEEP LURID OIL TOWN VICE RIDDEN I MEXIA SCENE I OF BIG BLAZE I Loss in Property Estimated at From $500,000 to $2,000,000 j! i I HISTORY INTERESTING Much Easier to Get Drink ' ; Than Bath in Notorious i Boom Town FORT WORTH, Tex., Jan 14. , Mexla, the new boom oil town of Texas, was swept with fire tonight. j i The flames starting in a building of H j flimsy construction in the business Mm I district, spread with such lightning H I I rapidity, that for a time It seemed as 1 I though tho entiro city was doomed to destruction. Eight brick buildings in the heart ' of tho clt ware totally destroyed, as well as other buildings of shell-lik construction, before the fire was un-i un-i der control. The loss was estimated at from H - SCOO.uO'j t.. j.u i) 1 1 mju. While the flumes raod the city was J i , cut off from the outside world lor 1 ever v. ire was burned out. j i The Texas Rangers, sent into the I y city on a proclamation of martial law. to suppress lawlessness, saved the mm i uuj i "iicu on nit- lire Bren ino pushed back crowds of sightseers H which surged against the barriers. Wm Then with dynamite they began t Mm level tho "tlnderboxes" in such a man- Ml ner as to stop or control the spread of the flames. 11 Fire apparatus was summoned from Lw. Corslcana and other nearby towns, but Mm the lack of water handicapped their MM assistance. iH The fire after blazing fiercely for 'Mm several hours, died down almost an quickly ait It hud blazed forth. 11 There was no loss of life as far Mt could be ascertained. M (Not The following descriptive M mattei of Blexla, the boom town, was M furnished prior to the fire ) I MEXIA. Texas. Jan. 14. fBy The Associated Press.) Overnight a M tented city arose. From an apparently JH sleepy little town of 3,000 population In M October 1921, where old settlers farm- M 1 t-.l f or a living and eked out a bar- H their 1 mib, whi re Uu M rode cow horses to "town" and hitched them to a hitching post and w here ev-en ev-en the Town Hajl bell had not tolled M for years because of the cohwebe ami bird nests to a bustling city of 30.-000 30.-000 people, and all in a few months. this is the recent repont of Mexia, an old time Texas town, which is feeling the effects of one of the numerous oil developments In the Southwest. M Tl town la now under martial law H because of the lawlessness prevail M ing in .'he community which grew fast-er fast-er than Us law machinery to control M The population now consists of an assortment of oil field followers and MM thoust ndt i and women ing employnient. leaving an old tb-,j Mm for the new, coming on trains from all parts of the United Fiates. or in Mm rui ks ack," souk- Ml bringing their assortment of house- Mm hold goods and camping outfits and MM finding from ten to a hundred nu n jH for every" Job, and no place available for spending the night ROOM RENT HIGH. Consequently because of the exhor-bttant exhor-bttant prices charged for a room, If one wero lucky enough to secure one hundreds of men. favored by tho long-COntlnued long-COntlnued mild winter aro sleeping on the gncss along railroad tracks, publit park lug places and, In fact, any where thoy could. Overnight a bod in a ten' marked "A place to flop" soared from 30 cents a nisht to $3. A night in a crude plank structure where one didn t ' know his bod-fellow or the hundreds j of others In the single room cost $5. Prices charged the few w ho were lucky enough to get In one of the few prh-at lings vary, but all were high enough to satisfy the most fastldloti? millionaire Out men are glad to get uru ni aiij " " ii niv.i vvu... not find shelter except that provided by nature. Rail traffic jumped hundreds of per cent. There aro two trunk lines. th Houston & Texas Central and tho Trinity Trin-ity and Brazos Valley leading throuk-l here and passenger traffic Is vers heavy while feljcht trains are frequently fre-quently seen running three abreast, so heavy Is tho demand for oil machinery. Ono road Is said to have spent $600,-000 $600,-000 in enlarging Its facilities. The water situation Is altogethet what could ho desirod Tho water woj j procurred from u spring a short Mb- tanco from town, and although good water, it was nearly as high in prici j as gasoline Some oil men however . one along an.i drilled an oil well right j side bj sid with the Bprlng, "tapping j tho water supply so badly that latelj i It has been entirely stopped. Water wagons have been requisitioned and although al-though they are busy all day and J night hauling water to hornet, re j taurants and Improvised "bunking houses, they are not sufficient to coi-er coi-er the field. VERY UNSANITARY, Consequently the town has been dft-clared dft-clared 'very unsanitary" by cltiseud in heated arguments at the meeting (Continued en Iage Two.) j M WW VICE RIDDEN MEXIA SCENE OF BIG BLAZE j (Continued from Page One) of th:- cit council, which Is making every effort to remedy the situation Mayor Riddle Informed the Irate cit- L, III na that this "COUld not be done o - fch. night Getting a bath here Is quite an experience ex-perience If indeed not a t.tU. Tho old paring 'If you want to do something some-thing big wash nn elephant." certainly cer-tainly has found parallel In Mexla. This luxury may be found, outside tho jfl woodland creeks, only In a downtown barber shop. The bath house Is a stall In a wooden floored, plankod-ln enclosure. en-closure. Just plain pine planks are p. Uj slippery, but the proprietors of the house have found that II Is not neces- t-' sary to maintain first aid kits because 1 the board floors are warped enough to ' allow the bather a foothold "Cleanliness, "Cleanli-ness, after all. is next to godliness. ' I ; but a oath in .Mexia ls next to lrn- m possible. i But as for oil. There are a solid j six miles of new derricks drillers out- ij fits, tents, wooden buildings and peo- j pie where once there was the open IA prairie. A survey of all local lumber I men shows that building completed or contracted for since Oct 1, totals between be-tween $3,500,000 and $6,000,000- Gambllng and drinking halls filled with dancing girls were open every nlghf, and one could buy openly "red" and "corn" whisky at GO cents a drink. The Winter Gaiden is the most flour- inning of these Hero it is said fortunes for-tunes have been lost overnight at the dice and roulette tables |