Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 March 1944 — Page 15

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iE ri : ¥ u » 5 : £ © IN ITALY, March 17 (By Wireless) —Ttallan trains Several weeks ago Sgt. Bill Maudlin, the

are running again, and they have some electric traihs out of Naples that are as modern as ours at home.

But no transportation here is back to prewar pro- .old baby.

Portions, and everything is packed with masses of : Sg + humanity. People ride on top of

the cars and hang all over the’ mothers in America wanting rubber pants for their

sides. ; : The funniest thing about this to me is that whenever a train approaches & tunnel it stops in order to let the hangers-on get off, ‘so they won't be raked off by the tunnel walls. One of the items on the Naples black market these days is American army C-ration. Where, the black market gets them I don't : know, but a can of C-ration 'meat-and-vegetable hash sells for 25 cents. An Italian housewife whom I know slightly bought three cans of C-ration hash the other day. But when she got home she discovered she had been hoodwinked, for -the cans were filled with sand. Some smart operator had simply gathered up a Patch of empty cans and lids, put sand in the cans, and then neatly crimped the lids back on.

: Soldiers Preferred

AT THE ENTRANCE to one air field which I visit occasionally, a ragged Italian woman sits on the ground seiling apples, hazelnuts and English walnuts to the soldiers, . These roadside merchants prefer not to sell to the Italians at all, because our soldiers willingly pay higher prices than the natives. But the other, day another Italian woman stopped in front of this vendor and gathered up an apronful of gpples. Then she started to pay for them. The vendor woinan unfortunately quoted her the soldier price. The prospective customer looked at her a moment, and then in a rage threw all the apples right in her face.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

THE 200 OR SO prisoners in Sheriff Petit’s jail are a privileged lot, indeed. While the rest of us had to go up to the federal building and file income tax returns, or face the consequences, the folks in Jail just ignored the deadline—and waited until the internal revenue department came to them. Through arrangements between Sheriff Otto Petit and Internal ' Revenue Collector Will H. Smith, the prisoners were granted . a day of grace, and yesterday four deputy collectors spent the day in jail, helping

prisoners prepare returns. . . ..

Ray Smith, sécretary to Governor Schricker, received a long distance call from a representative of the U. 8. maritime service in Wash- : _ington., The latter asked Ray to have the governor issue a proclamation calling for safety of workers in the shipyards. When Ray protested that we have only two or three relatively small shipyards, down on the Ohio river, the caller asked: YMBay, what state is this?” Told it was Indiana, he spologized: “Darn it, I told my secretary to call the governor of Maryland” . , . Pvt. Jack W. Clark, the former editor of the Hoosier Sentinel, postcards back that he has been shipped to Camp Crowder, Mo. « +» Carl Henschen, of The Times’ national advertising department, has reported at Ft. Harrison. Fun-in the City Room ; MANY AMUSING incidents occur in newspaper most of which never see the light of day. Here's one that happened right here in our own office Friday evening: City Editor Ed Heinke was working late at his desk when the phone rang. The voice on . the other end of the line sounded excited, “What time is it?" Patiently, Heinke looked at the clock. “About 6:30," hE said. “Well,” said the voice, “I overslept but I think I can make it by a little after * Puzzled, Heinke asked the caller if he didn't ve the wrong number, explaining that this was The “Yes, I know,” came the reply, “This is Harris, the new man on the copy desk. Tell (the news editor) that I overslept, but I'll

International Oi

NEW YORK, March 17.—In preparing to press President Roosevelt for information, members of the new Senate committee investigating oil matters say that vital facts about the Anglo-American postwar project in the Middle East are largely unknown outside the White House. Only now, and chiefly as a result of public revelations, they say, are cabinet members being brought up to date on decisions said to have been reached abroad. The dimensions of the proposition seem to expand all the time. For it develops that apparently much more is involved than a pipe line, costing 100-odd millions, across neutral Saudi Arabia. It involves governmental relationships with a dozen or so Arab sheiks, several British protectorates, a sultanate, two British-mandated territories and five rival countries in the Middle East. The United States undertakes to “construct and maintain” the pipe lines, according to our government’s written “principles of agreement” which members of the Senate committee are said to have unearthed. The undertaking, however, clearly does not acquire, or make accessible for Americans, any new oll rights or leases. It doees not pertain to America's oil reserves for the future. The senators are prepared to challenge President Roosevelt's recent statements to that effect. It obviously. is not a project related to winning the war since it will take perhaps a year and a half to complete it.

Three Pipe Lines Projected

MEANTIME the oll already developed in fabufous quantities along the Persian gulf is on the seacoast and can be shipped by tanker, to any place fn the world. There are three projected pipe lines, not one. The first would run from the Iranian (Persian) oil flelds to Iran’s port of Abadan at the head of the Persian gulf. Although this particular line may cost $50,000,000, say the senators, its whole existence in the White House project has been largely overlooked in public descriptions.

My Day

NATAL, Brazil, Thursday.—On landing in Belem, there was & reception for the Brazilian officials who welcomed me and for some officers, nurses, Red Cross workers and U. 8. O. workers. The next morning there was a short press conference at which questions had to be interpreted and my answers translated! Afterward. I visited the naval air station where Lt. Cmdr. Congdon is in charge,. and then we left for Natal. Adm. Ingram is away on a mission, but Gen. Walsh and Adm. Read are not only taking good care of me, but are arranging full schedules so that I may see

as much as possible of what has’

been accomplished and as many of our men as I can. di a month ago. One is from Philadelphia, one is from Baltimore, and one is from Boston, - They dy popular in the hospital,

h on the

-in Ireland, England, Africa, Sicily and Italy, and

] By Henry J. Taylor

Cross girls have only joined the field -

are setting

army cartoonist, bought a pair of rubber panties in Naples and sent them home to Phoenix for his six-months-

His wife spread the word, for since then Bill has had about 20 requests from young

‘babies. Apparently this article is extinct back home. Bill is in a spot, and has had to declare rubber panties extinct over here, too.

Give to the Red Cross

SHERMAN MONTROSE is the boss of all civilian photographers over here. He works for NEA service and has covered the Solomons, the Aleutians and Italy, which makes him one of the most veteran of correspondents in this war. ; Monty has one piece of equipment which everybody would like to steal. It's a pure eider-down sleeping bag. It's just a thin envelope which you crawl into, and is so wonderfully warm you don’t need anything else except a shelter half to keep the rain off. Monty had it made back in the days when eiderdown was still available, -It cost $60. He packs it into a little drawstring bag, and carries it in his hand the way a woman carries a shopping bag. The Red Cross asked me the other day to speak on a trans-Atlantic broadcast in connection with its . $200,000,000 drive. But since public speaking is not. one of my most glittering talents, and since the whole program would probably collapse if I tried to make a speech about it, we compromised and I promised to write a few lines. 80 here they are. I've seen the Red Cross operate

I'm very much for it. Its task is tremendous and it does a great good. You won't be making any mistake if you fork over a little dough for the Red Cross, Why, even I am going to donate a mite,

get there as soon as. I can.” Heinke began to guess the truth. “What day do you think this is?” he asked. “Why, Saturday,” said Harris. “Relax; it's only 6:30 Friday evening, sald Heinke, Harris explained he went home in the afternoon, fell asleep, and -awoke at- 6:30 p. m., mistaking dusk for dawn. .. « Guess that pun in yésterday's column about the soldier who wrote home “I now am classified 4F-DR,” was too subtle. Quite a few have admitted they didn't get it, so we'll have to explain. The soldier used that as his way of saying he was “for FDR.” Simple isn't it! Or is it? Everybody Helped THERE'S NO SHORTAGE of accommodating folk in Indianapolis. Mrs. George Thompson wrote Inside Indianapolis seeking a copy of the Dec. 27 issue of Life magazine. She sought it for a Zionsville woman whose son, overseas, wrote home that his picture was in that issue. We mentioned this in Wednesday's column, We were surprised by the results. So were the Thompsons. Mr. Thompson, an executive at Marott's, tells us the calls started at 12:30 Wednesday noon. They came thick and fast—all from folks taking the trouble to try to help the mother of the service man by giving her a copy of the magazine. By 11 that night, the weary Thompsons had answered 284 phone calls, and there would have been more if they hadn't left the receiver off the hook part of the time. Eleven persons delivered magazines to the Thompson home. The calls started coming again at 7 a. m. yesterday. By 10 a. m., with 325 calls received, Mrs. Thompson gave up and phoned the supervisor of the Cherry exchange for help. The supervisor was weary, too. She was glad to shut off the calls, explaining the exchange had been flooded with backed up calls and it had been necessary to assign an extra operator just to handle calls for the Thompson home. One man called long distance. More than 50 persons, | unable to get in on the Thompson line, phoned old Inside. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson asked us to pass along their thanks to every one of you that tried to help out: And Inside thanks you, too. Incidentally, Mrs. Thompson is sending all 11 of the magazines she actually received to the service man’s mother, so she'll ‘have copies to send to her friends.

Line No. 2 would run from Abadan across Iraq (Mesopotamia), Saudi Arabia, Trans-Jordan, Palestine and Egypt. Line No. 3 would parallel the present pipe line from Kirkuk in Eastern Iraq to the Mediterranean port of Haifa, Palestine. Two and possibly three refineries would be built, one an enlargement of the present refinery at Haifa, although Britain's Haifa refinery has been running at only 65 per cent of capacity during the war. Even, the estimate of 400000 tons of American wartime steel for this enterprise is said to be low. Competent engineers say it will require 500,000 tons, countless ships and an untold number of skilled workmen, As for the financing, the senators say the entire project may be supplied under lend-lease, or at least would involve a loan to Britain to facilitate her own part, including her ownership in the refineries and pipe lines. Federal Economic Administrator Leo Crowley will be questioned to determine any instructions he may have received on this point.

None to Be Shipped to U. S.

AS. TO export markets, the proposal apparently involves the formation of what would amount to a cartel between the United States government, Great Britain and the U. 8. 8. R. When expressing what participation Russia would expect in the export markets, it is understood that the Soviet Union suggested that its share be about 400,000 barrels daily. Before the war Russia's entire production inside Russia amounted to less than 250,000,000 barrels a year. Through lend-lease, however, the United States has given Russia 12 complete refineries in the past two years. The government marketing understanding would provide that none of this oil be shipped to the United States. It would be used exclusively for a European price-and-territory government partnership in Europe's postwar oil—an Anglo-American-Russian cartel. There is little doubt that some members of the Senate committee will insist that the project should be stopped on that point alone. South Americans fear the Middle East plan would~ shut off their important oil exports to Europe. If this eventuality arose from ordinary developments by American companies in the Middle East the South American government could not feel alarmed.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

After a night's sleep, we started out fairly early and visited the naval air base, the hospital, and various other installations around the camp. At 11 o'clock we took off for Natal. This is a country of magnificent distances and as _yet communications are not highly developed, so each state is like a little country in jtself, Senhora. Salgado Filho, the wife of the minister of aviation for Brazil, was sent by Madame Vargas from Rio to be with me here, and with her came Senhora Lia Souza E Silva Do Amaral, who heads the Brazillan Legion for Assistance, and Senhorita Dedei “Aranha, the daughter of the minister of foreign affairs, who is a member of this same organization. At dinner, both these young women told me how remarkably well our men, from the young flying officers down to the sailors of our fiavy, behaved. They stressed particularly the fact that in Brazil itis the

custom for a woman to speak first, showing that she| is willing to be addressed. Our boys have observed|

that custom meticulously, but when the women greeted them |

By Ernie Py]

e Indianapolis

Up until 1874 only three fires gave the department any trouble—Kingan’'s.pork

‘house (1865), Morrison's

Opera House (1870) and the Woodburn-Sarven Wheel Co. (1873), a ghastly affair because of the falling

of a wall. It resulted in the

death of Chief Fire Engineer Daniel Glazier, the first catastrophe of its kind in the history of Indianap-

.olis, “(Prior to 1890 fire

fighters were known as “engineers”). In the course of the next 17 years Indianapolis had some

ur Tow

honeys in the way of fires includ-

‘ing the one on the sub-zero night

of Jan. 13, 1888, when, for a while, it looked like the end of ‘he wholesale district in 5. Meridian st. In all that time, however, no fireman to my knowledge lost his life. And then came March 17, 1890, just 54 years ago today. On that day, in the BowenMerrill fire, 12 firemen sacrificed their lives, all in the line of duty. Counting the 16 who were seriously “injured, the appalling list represented one-third of the entire Indianapolis fire department which, at that time, consisted of 86 men. It was even worse than that. Including those who came out of the disaster with nothing more than a limp, it reduced our fire force to about one-half of what it was. _ The Bowen-Merrill fire started in the basement of their establishment, a four-story building located on the north side of Washington st. on ground now covered by the westerly part of Wasson's store. The fire was discovered around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. At any rate, at 3:08 p. m. somebody had the-foresight to pull fire alarm box 45, the one

located at the corner of Meridian -

and Washington sts. Horses Set Record

Because of its strategic location in the heart of the retail district, box 45 was one of the few and, for all I know, maybe the only

one to bring out every piece of apparatus on the first alarm. Legend. has it that the firehorses realized - the importance of the run and pricked up their ears the moment they heard the firebells strike nine times (with an interval after the first four strokes). Otherwise it wouldn't be possible to explain the documented fact that the fastest record runs were those in answer to box 45. On the occasion of the Bowen-Merrill fire, the horses turned in a perfect performance arriving, indeed, before there was any evidence of a big fire. The only signs to be seen were little wisps of smoke leisurely curling their way through the iron gratings of the sidewalk. From the point of view of a spectacle, it was no more exciting than worms rising after a summer's rain. : As a matter of fact, it was all of two hours before the ‘spectators on Washington st. saw any signs of a blaze. Up until then the only evidence of fire was a huge cloud of smoke which, occasionally, achieved a certain picturesqueness because of the strange patterns it formed against the high and latticed scaffolding of the Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument, a memorial in the course of construction at the time. Those who didn't appreciate smoke patterns were frankly bored, to such a degree, indeed, that they left the scene, arriving home in plenty of time for supper. - At § ‘o'clock hell broke loose. At that precise moment angry flames leaped from the upper story windows. The appearance of fire vindicated those who all along had insisted that a four-

_ story building packed with books

and papers must eventually end in something more than smoke. Their triumph was short-lived. A stream of water poured in through the windows seemed to

subdue the flames. From Wash- °

ington st. it looked as if the fire had been licked. What the_spectators. didn’t know was that the cast Ron facade, which stood up boldly throughout the fire, acted as & screen hiding from view the dangerous shell behind it.

Roof Caves In

In the meantime a crew of firemen, variously estimated at from

- 20 to 25, had gone to the roof of

the Becker building, the one immediately west of the fire. Some were busy cutting holes through the brick wall of the Bowen-

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1944

PAGE 15

“March 17, 1 890"

‘By ANTON SCHERRER

Courtesy Lee Burns.

The Bowen-Merrill fire, March 17, 1890. The buildings shown are (left to right) Mack’s shoe store, George W. Sloan's drug store, the Becker building, the. Bowen-Merrill book store, H. P. Wasson's store, Arcade clothing store, Philadelphia store, Haerle’s store, the

“Bee-Hive” corner. The building on the other side of Meridian st. is the Yohn bleck. The high scaffolding in the back of Mack's shoe store) is that of the Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument, in the course of construction at the time.

the telephone headquarters. “Hello,” exclaimed the man on duty. “I guess the fire is out,” said Gresham. “Hell, no,” was the reply. “The roof fell in and killed 15 or 20 of - the boys.” The tragedy sent a wave of horror through the town. All that night and the following night, too, weeping women whose husbands couldn't be accounted for came to the scene of the fire. Strong-hearted men led them to the Merchants bank, located on the corner of what is now Ayres’ store. It was a sanctuary improvised for the purpose by the Frenzel brothers. There the women sat, nervously twisting their handkerchiefs, and waited— waited. Many were widows without knowing it.

8 Bodies Found

In the course of the next 20 _ hours, eight corpses were taken from the ruins. The bodies were carried across the alley to the

carriage shop of Victor Backus. It had been turned into a morgue. The rescuers worked three nights with the help of temporary arc lights installed by the Brush Electric firm which was trying hard to get a start in Indianapolis. Later four more bodies were found. Not until March 19, two whole days after the disaster, was it possible to count all the dead, and the least I can do today is to record their names: Thomas A. Black, John Burkhart, Andrew O. Cherry, George 8. Falkner, Ulysses G. Glazier, Albert Huffman, David O. R. Lowry, Espey Stomer, Anthony Voltz, ‘William L. Jones, George W. Glenn and Henry D. Woodruff, whose body was the last to be found. And lest we forget, there were the injured, too: Thomas Barrett, Fred Bloomer, George W. Diller, William A. Hinesley, Charles Jenkins, Elb R. Leach, William C. Long, Albert Meurer, Samuel Neall, Samuel Null, William C. Partee, Louis F. Rafert, William Reasner, Webb Robinson, William Tallentire and William McGinnis, who afterward died of his injuries. When the rescuers dug out Tom Barrett, embedded in debris up to his waist, they discovered a green ribbon on his coat. It had been pinned on by an Irish enthusiast the morning of St. Patrick’s day. . The Bowen-Merrill fire wasn't the first disaster to visit Indianapolis. In 1869, a powder mill blew up, killing an unknown number of men. In 1882, Pogues Run went on a rampage, taking a toll of 10. horror, the Bowen-Merrill fire appeared to be the worst of the lot, probably - because of the great number of survivors left without support. ° The first to realize our obligation to the living was Mayor Thomas I. Sullivan (Reginald’s father). On the night of the fire, he issued a proclamation in the course of which he said: “It is the duty and pleasure of our citizens to see to it that want is not added to the grief of those so bereaved.” The subscriptions the first day amounted to $1725 and grew as time went on. The fund finally totaled $52,207.38, most of which was invested in annuities. The - beneficiaries were nine widows, a

connecting fire

fireman's dependent mother and .

22 orphans. Everybody helped. Eleven fire departments from

"Measured in terms of,

cities as far away as New York and Atlanta sent in their collections. Benjamin Harrison sent a wire from the White House. It was good for $200. A check for $1000 came from London. The English money was almost as impressive as the load of pennies brought in by the school children of Indianapolis. They emptied their savings banks and went without marbles, tops and kites the rest of that year.

Book Loss High

Not to be compared with the loss of life, but nonetheless tragic, were the books that couldn't be replaced. The reason so few Indianapolis lawyers own “Elliott's Supplement of 1889” (a volume supplementing the “Revised Statutes of 1881") is because the Bowen - Mefrill fire burned up what was left of the original edition. An edition of-Riley’s poems

+ suffered a similar fate. In 1889,

Longmans, Green & Co. published a collection of Riley's poems under the title of “Old Fashioned Roses,” the purpose of which was to acquaint the British with the Hoosier poet's work. Some 500 copies of this edition, beautifully printed by Spottiswoode & Co., New-Street Square, London, were reserved for the American market and carried the imprimatur of the Bowen-Merrill Co. About 200 copies were bought by thé Christmas shoppers of 1889. The rest of the edition (except for one copy I know) was destroyed by: the fire. The survivor was the copy Lee Burns picked up in the ruins. It looks none the worse for its experience. The destruction of the BowenMerrill building dealt our sentiments another hard blow. The site of the fire had been occupied by a bookstore for 40 years. It appeared to be designed for that purpose. C. B. Davis & Co, H. F. West & Co., West & Stewart, and Stewart & Bowen succeeded each other between 1850 and 1860. When more capital was poured into Stewart & Bowen, it became known as Bowen, Stewart & Co. In the course of the next dozen years the re-styled firm acquired a stock of books worth something like $80,000, all of which was destroyed in a fire on March 11, 1872. The burned-out bookshop opened for business on S. Meridian st. the next day. In the summer of that year Silas T. Bowen replaced the destroyed building on Washington st. with a brand new structure, replete with a cast iron facade and everything up-to-date in the way of architectural gadgets. Bowen, Stewart & Co. moved back to Washington st., into this new

- building which, by the way, was

the one destroyed on March 17, 1890.

Firms Merged

The Bowen-Merrill Co., organized in 1885, was the result of a consolidation of Bowen, Stewart & Co. and Merrill, Meigs & Co, a rival concern which up until then had been selling books (and wallpaper) on Washington st. in the - Blackford Block occupying the site now known as the Merchants Bank building. The consolidated store‘ took over the building of the Bowen, Stewart & Co. and went on perpetuating the great tradition of that institution. It was just that. In its day, Bowen, Stewart & Co. was the best bookstore west of Philadelphia (with the possible exception of Jansen, McClurg & Co. in

Chicago), an opinion entertained by Lee Burns and his like who know a bookstore when they see one. The reason Mr. Burns bobs

up--again-is because he was an-—

errand boy for the Bowen, Stewart people. After the consolidation he was a bookkeeper for the Bowen-Merrill people. He spent his mornings keeping their city accounts straight; in the afternoon he went to high school. He was on his way downtown from high school when somebody told him about the fire. It was the only time anybody ever saw_ Mr. Burns run, > In the course of the next five years (1885-90), the Bowen-Mer-rill Co. attained a stature even bigger than that of its predecessor, and carried a stock of books the like of which can't be seen in Indianapolis today. It embraced two enormous floors. The remaining three floors' were stocked with paper, including newsprint which was sold to county weeklies. All of which is explained by the fact that the Bowen-Merrill people didn't confine their business to Indianapolis. Their traveling men covered three or four states, supplying every drug store (even as far back as then) with stationery and school books. McClurg’'s, who ran a similar concern in Chicago, never came south of the Wabash river. They knew better. * On the day of the big fire (March 17, 1890) the Bowen-Mer-rill Co. had close to 50 people

working in the bookstore. There

is a record, too, of the last customers to get out. Their autographed names were collected by Lee Burns and recorded in a water-soaked, plush-covered album rescued from the ruins. Included in the collection are the names of William A. Elvin (a Merrill-Meigs man -in charge of the business office); Will M. Cronyn (chief bookkeeper); John J. Curtis (head of paper department); = Frank Freligh , (law books); Charlie Kryter who subscribes himself as “One of the Finest” (law books); Wesley Schilling (salesman); Patrick Griffin (drayman who also looked after the furnace); J. H. Wilson (wholesale); W, C. Bobbs (head of law book department and an original Merrill-Meigs man); Lige Fox (law books); Rollin Kautz (retail books); John Baird (paper); C. M. Meck (a salesman with the outstanding tenor of the establishment); Alardus Slinger (errand boy, also known as “the cherub”). .

Others Named

Mr. Burns also picked up the names of Lew J. Keck (law books), who later became associated with Tom Hay and Harry Hearsey in the bicycle business (made a pile of money); Charles D. Meigs (an authority on Sunday School literature); Lynn Morrison (traveling salesman): C. J. Dollarhide (“the human reference catalog”), whose amazing memory has never been equalled (let alone excelled) by anyone selling books in Yhdianapolis; W. E. Burris (traveling salesman, wholesale); Carl Lester (paper); H. M. Johnson (ditto); William Slight (drayman); Walter Evans (head of retail stationery); Robert Dearman (stock clerk, wholesale) and a bevy of sales and cash girls who answered to the names of Tillie Jameson, Kate Hay, Mary Youart, Sarah Ferguson, Bertha Jameson, Helen Irwin and Martha Maxwell. As

for the last customer to leave the.

burning building, he was Samuel Pickens, the lawyer who died a few weeks ago at the age of 93. That leaves the two bosses to be

1819. He was a precocious baby.

rear (at the far ‘left

and natural science at the McLean Female Seminary. The following year (1855) he received the appointment of the first super-

intendent of the Indianapolis

public schools with instruction to visit and spend a day in each school every month, and to meet the teachers every Saturday for review. His contract called for about one-third of his time. What time was left was spent in the bookstore he and his friend, William Stewart, had opened in 1854 —the one known as Stewart & Bowen. Whatever you do, don't confuse it with Bowen, Stewart & Co., which was the result of a new partnership formed shortly after Mr. Stewart’s death in 1860. This time the partners were Mr. Bowen, Mr. Stewart's widow, Charles G. Stewart (a son), A. D. Clark and D. G. Eaton. The fact that Silas T. Bowen played such an important part in the cultural life of Indianapolis, to say nothing of its educational system, has led some impatient people to wonder why no schoolhouse bears his name,

The Other Boss

. As for the other boss, the penultimate part of the BowenMerrill Co., he was Samuel Merrill Jr., whose family name ornaments an Indianapolis school. Unless you've already guessed it, Samuel Merrill Jr, was the son of Samuel Merrill Sr, who was the first state treasurer of Indiana. It was while acting as such that he was authorized to move the state funds and other state property from Corydon to the new capital at Indianapolis. For moving the state library, he was allowed as expense money the sum of $9.50. After that Samuel Merrill Sr. was a contributor to every phase of civilization in Indianapolis including the fathering of a son in 1831 and the opening of a bookshop in 1850. The son carried the name of Samuel Jr.; the bookshop that of Hood & Merrill. Within a year, Father Merrill was the sole owner of the bookshop, It achieved fame almost from the start because of the republication of “Blackford's Law Reports,” the earlier volumes of which had gone out of print, Following Father Merrill's death in 1855, the book (and publishing) business was continued by his son, Samuel, and a son-in-law, Charles W. Moores. It was succeeded by the firm of Merrill, Meigs & Co., who not only continued the publication of law books but also started the printing of Sunday school literature and temperance tracts, thus cove ering the subject of sin from its beginning to its end. The big fire on March 17, 1890 (loss $125,000; insurance $70,000) didn’t put. the Boweén-Merrill people out of business. While®the ruins were still hot, they moved to Maryland st., in the block between Meridian and Illinois sts, at which place they conducted a monster fire sale. For the next 10 weeks, until the close of school, all the kids of Indianapolis—at any rate, all those living on the South Side—wrote their composi= tions on water-soaked paper, the edges of which were charred. The compositions looked exactly as if they were wearing mourning bands which accounts for the lugubrious subjects submitted in the spring of 1890.