Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1898 — BOYS’ SCHOOL AFIRE. [ARTICLE]

BOYS’ SCHOOL AFIRE.

WISCONSIN INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTION IS SCORCHED. Fierce Flames Cause SIOO,OOO Damage at Waukeslia-No Lives Are Lost Bradstreet’s Reports Favorable Features in Distribution of Trade. Large Loss of Public Property. At Waukesha, Wis., fire which broke out in the Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys between 6 and 7 o’clock the other night was practically under control at 9:30, though some parts of the structure were still burning. The loss is estimated at SIOO,OOO. The fire is said to have started in the attic above the knitting works, from some unknown cause. The shoe and knitting factories and laundry were burned to the ground and several other departments were partly burned. There were 350 boys and between thirty-five and forty employes in the institution at the time, but all were marshaled out in safety. Several of the boys ran away, but none is believed to have been injured in the fire. Chief Foley of the Milwaukee fire department, with twelve men, one engine and 1,000 feet of hose, went on a special train and did splendid work in subduing the flames. Had it not been for the timely arrival of assistance from Milwaukee the institution would probably have been-completely destroyed.

Bradstreet’a Report on Business. Bradstreet’s weekly trade review says: “The favorable features of the week in distributive trade havo been the reports coming, with few exceptions, from oil parts of the West and Northwest, and marred only by the cheek to business and shipments caused by heavy rains and high water in the Ohio valley. The unsettled condition of our relations with Spain is credited with exercising some effect upon immediate demands and upon future undertakings in the eastern portion of the country. But the two industries, cotton and woolen, most complaining, are those in which, conditions other than foreign complications have for some time past been working toward depression. Flour and corn exports are larger this week, but those of wheat are smaller. The total exports of wheat, including flour, aggregate 3,899,318 bushels, against 3,679,056 bushels last week. Corn exports aggregate 4,490,000 bushels, againsit 3,941,874 bushels last week.”

Fatal Minnesota Fire. The house of Edward Hausman, at Kent, Minn., was burned, and Mr. Hansman, his wife and five children perished jn the flames. The fire occurred about 3 o’clock in the morning. Mr. Hansman went home about 2 o’clock, and s»on after the fire was discovered. It was too late to render any assistance, as the family was suffocated. The bodies were recovered, burned almost beyond recognition. Mr. Hansman was a saloonkeeper at Kent and had extensive land interests at Wyndmere, N. D.