Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1909 — A Straw Stack Fired In Southwest Carpenter. [ARTICLE]

A Straw Stack Fired In Southwest Carpenter.

Quite an exciting time was experienced for awhile .over in the southwest part of Carpenter township last Thursday morning, occasioned by the electrical storm the night before. When Edward Bellows arose that morning, he discovered that a straw stack, threshed the day before, had been fired by lightning near the center and was smoking pretty lively. He used the phone hurriedly, and shortly had about fifty neighboring men on the scene and two large water tanks. The men formed a bucket brigade, and after three or four hours hard work, succeeded in extinguishing the fire and saving half the straw. A large barn stood close to the burning stack, and if the fire had not been gotten under control, the barn and contents would surely have burned, along with other buildings in the immediate vicinity. Some of the neighborhood women came and supplied the fire fighters with coffee and bread, as the work had been done- before the men had eaten breakfast. After the fire was put out, the men sat under the trees and "melted” six gallons of ice cream, which had mysteriously made its appearance during the excitement.