Suspicious Fire Sweeps Benton County Courthouse
A mid-day blaze in the treasurer's office leaves officials baffled, marking the second fire scare at the building in recent weeks.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The building used by Benton county as a court house almost went up in smoke today during the noon hour. The fire, the origin of which is a mystery, is thought to have started in the rear of the treasurer's office. Before being extinguished the flames ate their way thru the partition into the rear of the engineer's office and the ceiling under the sheriff's office was almost burned thru. Two streams of water were turned onto the blaze and altho the interiors of the treasurer's and engineer's offices were badly drenched, it is thought no serious damage was done to the records. Sheriff Duffy and Fire Chief Macey, after examining the charred walls, said they were at a loss to account for the fire. So far as they were able to determine the blaze started in a corner of the treasurer's office 20 feet from the stove and it could not have originated from electrical wiring, as there are no wires in this part of the building. The fire was first discovered by passersby a few minutes after the county offices had closed for the noon hour and so far as is known there was nobody in the building at the time. Since the fire scare several weeks ago when there was a near-blaze in the commissioners' room, Deputy Sheriff J. C. McClelland had been kept on duty as watchman at the court house. He resigned a few days ago and was relieved from duty this morning.
“The fire, the origin of which is a mystery, is thought to have started in the rear of the treasurer's office.”
Courthouse fires were a common hazard in the early 20th century, often resulting in the loss of vital public records. This incident occurred during a period of extreme administrative chaos in Benton County, where political infighting regarding the very existence of the courthouse was ongoing.
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