Untitled Document

FIRES

In June, 1865, the residence of Dr. J. V. Frazier took fire from a defective flue, and was burned to the ground ; loss, $1,500.

In 1866 the drug store of E. S. Fugate took fire, burning the northwest corner of the building, and destroying his books and papers ; loss, about $800. Owing to the timely assistance of the citizens, the building was saved from entire destruction.

In 1878 the residence of B. N. Peck took fire, and, with almost its entire contents, totally destroyed. The dwelling was insured, and Mr. Peck received the entire amount.

EPISODES

In February, 1881, the postoffice was entered, and stamps and registered letters, amounting to $100, taken. The perpetrator was never captured.

July 3, 1875, a large crowd assembled at Viola for the purpose of celebrating the Fourth, that day coining on Sunday. During the afternoon a crowd of miners got into a melee with the police, and a general row ensued, in which some bravery and a great deal of cowardice was manifested. Titus Snyder, Samuel Park, and one or two others having been authorized to act as policemen, contended for a time with a howling mob of infuriated drunkards, and, although severely handled, they succeeded in leveling half a dozen of the ruffians to the earth, after which quiet was restored.

In the fall of 1876 George Parrot, a traveling salesman stopping at the village hotel, committed suicide by taking morphine.

On the night of November 17, 1878, a burglar named Lothringer tried to effect an entrance into the dry goods store of H. B. Frazier & Co. George Goding, a brother of one of the firm, was sleeping in the store at the time, and was suddenly awakened by the cracking of glass in the rear end of the building. He seized his revolver and crept quietly back until he felt the cold air coming through the hole that had been made in the glass in the panel door. The head and shoulders of the burglar soon appeared, and he was in the act of crawling in, when Goding fired, the ball taking effect in his breast. He turned and ran across the street, where he fell and was captured. He was afterward sent to the state prison.

History of Mercer and Henderson County

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Illinois Ancestors