A Kitchen Fire on the Hill — and a Town Saves the House
Capt. Willoughby's kitchen burned with $800 in utensils and stores, but quick-acting citizens kept the blaze from taking the main building.
Last Friday evening, about 6 o'clock, a fire broke out in the house of Capt. Willoughby, on the hill, consuming the kitchen part together with cooking utensils, causing a loss of $800. It had its origin through the carelessness of the Chinese cook. To the promptness and energy of the citizens may be attributed the preservation of the main building and the comparatively small loss sustained by the proprietor.
“To the promptness and energy of the citizens may be attributed the preservation of the main building.”
In a wooden town without a professional fire department, a neighbor's quick response was the difference between a kitchen fire and a lost block. The paper's rush to blame the Chinese cook also shows how easily domestic workers became scapegoats for accidents that could just as readily have started with a stove or chimney.
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