Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1912 — Ed Oliver’s Big Barn at Newland Burned. [ARTICLE]

Ed Oliver’s Big Barn at Newland Burned.

The big barn on the Ed Oliver farm at Newland, built less than a year ago, was destoryed by a fire that was first discovered about 9 a. m. Thursday, together with a couple of silos at the north end of the barn, each being about 16 feet in diameter, and holding about 100 tons of ensilage, 20 tons of hay, six sets of good harness, a manure spreader and some ten tons of cotton seed meal, costing approximately S3O per ton, and a few hogs were cremated along with the buildings. The barn was a large one, 50x80x 25 feet. Spontaneous combustion, resultant from some damp straw that had been rained on after recently being thrashed out, and then, while still damp, mowed away, is supposed to have been the cause of the conflagration, which from the start was uncontrollable by the men present, who confined their efforts to saving the neighboring buildings, some of which were badly scorched by the flames. The entire loss is possibly $6,000, with $2,500 insurance on the barn, which cost $3,750 to bulid, while the hay, cotton seed meal, silage, etc., were insured for a thousand dollars, and the harness, etc., were listed at S2OO, in the

Home Insurance Co., with R. D. Thompson. E. E. Grant, state agent for the Home Insurance Co., and R. D. Thompson, with whom Mr. Oliver was talking here in town when notified of the fire, accompanied him to the scene in his Buiek auto, covering the 12 miles in 28 minutes, and they adjusted the fire loss, allowing Mr. Oliver $3,800. It is understood Mr. Oliver will build another large modern barn on the site of this one as soon as possible. The old barn which the one just burned replaced, was also destroyed by fire last year.