150 Years 1887-1901 The Dalles THE DECADES OF HISTORY PART THREE OF THE DALLES CHRONICLE'S TEN-PART SERIES. April 27, 2007 Front page Part 2 WORK OF FIRE BUGS FIRE AT THE FAIR GROUNDS Another fire broke out in the stables at the south east corner of the fair grounds, on Saturday evening last, about 8 o'clock which resulted in the destruction of thirty-four speed stables, four of which had to be wrecked to save the fifteen that are left, and considerable harness, blankets, hay, clothing, etc., the property of the owners of the numerous horses that are in training for the coming fair. Three horses perished in the flames. One of these was the promising three year old trotter owned by McDonald Bros. of this city and valued at $500. Another was a spotted mare work about $75 and the third was the horse Smoke owned by Chas. Stone and valued at $150. The only persons near the fire at its commencement were A.J. Swift, Tom Strickland and E.L. Boynton. These gentlemen did everything in their power to save the horses which were confined in the stables and deserve very great credit for their work but they were all under the impression that Rexford was the last horse on the east else they might have been able to save them also. As there was no water it was only by hard work that the entire row of buildings and sheds on the south side of the grounds were saved. There is a very strong impression that this fire was the work of an incendiary and a man has been arrested who has by all accounts none too good a record to exempt him from the crime. All the property destroyed, amounting in value to perhaps $2500 was a total loss to the owners, excepting only an insurance of $600 on the building. THE CITIZENS' MEETING The impression that the city has been for the past few days almost completely in the hand of thieves and incendiaries has taken such a deep hold on our citizens that they called a mass meeting at ten o'clock for the purpose of devising means and ways of driving them out of town. Upwards of two hundred of the leading citizens responded and the meeting organized by appointing G.J. Farley chairman, and George P. Morgan secretary, Emil Schutz moved that a committee of five property owners be appointed to draught rules and make suggestions for future conduct in the present emergency. The following gentlemen were appointed to the committee: Emil Schutz, George Liebe, J.O. Mack, D.M. French. The name of Mayor Mays was afterwards added under protest who, however, consented to act in an advisory way. The committee submitted the following report. To Be Continued Incoming and Outgoing messages protected by Trend Micro PC-cillin program