From the Wray Rattler
Part of article transcribed by Lee Zion.

================================
May 18, 1908 Fire

WRAY BADLY SCORCHED!
Worst Fire in Her History
Ten Business Buildings Destroyed
Entire Business Section Threatened
lack of Wind Most Fortunate
Loss Totals Nearly $50,000

  ...us and Wray is .... houses nearly a ... on Chief street.  The
fire started about one o'clock in .. morning and was first discovered
by Dick Mason, who gave the alarm at once and soon the streets were
alive with people.  Bucket brigades were organized, pumps were manned,
hose attached to private water plants, and everything else done that
was possible under the circumstances, but to no avail so far as the
block of buildings extending from Shumaker's drug store north to Kiowa
street was concerned, although the fire was confined to that space,
but only by hard work and continued effort for over three hours.

  The fire started in the rear end of the frame building owned by J.L.
Shumaker, which up to a short time ago was occupied by him as a drug
store.  Some three or four months ago he moved into the brick building
just south and the old building at the time of the fire was occupied
by Mrs. C.E. Coffin with her millinery store, and by W.W. Kentner, the
jeweler.  It had gained such headway when discovered that it was
impossible to save much of the contents of the first few buildings.

  Nothing could be saved from Mrs. Coffin's or Mr. Kentner's stock.
L.C. Blust saved nothing except his books and some papers.  The meat
market got out most of the meats and provisions but lost the fixtures.
The Sisson Clothing Co.'s building collapsed as the fire reached it,
the south wall falling over on Patton's meat market, burying that
building.  Several people were on the roof of the one-story part of
the Sisson building when the wall fell, and had a narrow escape from
being hurled into the flames.  And nothing was saved from the Sisson
brick save the books and their handsome new cash register.  The
Crescent Hotel saved a part of their goods.  Dr. Barr saved several
show cases and their contents, but lost the balance of his stock,
while J.O. Graham, who occupied part of the Barr store, saved almost
everything.  The Bank of Wray rolled their safe out on the sidewalk
and thus kept it out of the fire.  They saved nearly everything.
Klugh & McGinnis got out their office fixtures except the safes.  The
Yuma County Real Estate Co. saved all their furniture and fixtures,
even to the maps on the wall, while the Commercial Hotel people were
able to get nearly all of their goods out.

  Seeing that the west side down to Kiowa was doomed, the attention of
the people was given principally to saving the post office block and
the buildings on the east side of the street.  The men formed a bucket
brigade from the mill race, while the women and girls formed another
and returned the empty buckets to the race.  The splendid work of
these lines, and of the men who manned the pumps in the rear of the
buildings and also those who worked on the roofs, saved the east side
of the street.  The Blust Bakery and Wm. Pyle's store were the most
difficult ones to save there, because of being frame structures, but
nearly every plate glass window on the east side was broken by the
intense heat.

  In the early part of the fire the hardest fight made on the west
side was the saving of the brick building of J.L. Shumaker.  When help
arrived the back windows and the stairway leading to the club room
were blazing, but a hose was attached to the water supply at the store
and that, together with a line of hose from W.D. McGinnis' residence
connected with the reservoir on the hill, and mighty hard work, saved
that corner, which was occupied by the drug store and Webster & Mason.

  The people of Wray are certainly workers at a time like this, and
only a very few are reported as refusing to take a hand to help save
the town from destruction.  Such people, no matter who they are,
haven't the good of the town at heart, and don't deserve future
support in a business way or otherwise.

  The women have been highly complimented by everybody.  The men
dressed and left their homes in a hurry, and later, at the fire, ran
across their wives and daughters as busy as themselves.  Coffee,
crackers, bananas, and candy were passed along the line to the
workers, and as many expressed themselves, it was the best they had
tasted for an age.  Necessity makes even the humblest fare taste like
a plate at a three dollar banquet.  The losses and the amounts of
insurance, so far as we have been able to gather, are about as
follows:

  Mrs. C.E. Coffin, loss $2,500.  Insurance $1,500.
  W.W. Kentner, loss $500.  Insurance $400.
  L.C. Blust, building and stock, $5,000.  No insurance.
  J.L. Shumaker, building, $1,500.  No insurance.
  J.L. Shumaker, brick building, damage, $200.  Covered by insurance. 
He also had $5,000 on drug stock but suffered no loss on that.
  Sisson Clothing Co., building and stock loss $20,000.  Insurance
$14,000.
  Harvey Speirs, loss $1,200.  Insurance $1,000.
  Dr. Barr, building and drug stock, loss $3,000.  Insurance, $1,000
on stock and $500 on building.
  Oliver Graham says his loss is not over $15.
  J.J. Grigsby lost Crescent hotel building and three office
buildings.  Says his loss is $2,500 to $3,000.  No insurance.
  W.C. Grigsby, Commercial hotel building, $1,000 loss.  No insurance.
  Yuma County Abstract and Real Estate Co., loss about $100.  No
insurance.
  C.A. Patton, City Meat Market, on building and stock, loss from
$2,500 to $2,800.  Insurance $700.  Thought he had $500 on building,
but the policy had run out April 3.
  Klugh & McGinnis, office fixtures, loss $500.  No insurance.
  Mrs. W.J. Gibbs, furniture, loss $250.  No insurance.
  Other losses are damage by fire across the street and otherwise:
  Wray Telephone Co., instruments, wire, etc., loss $200.  No
insurance.
  C.D. Pickett, damage to brick building and electric light fixtures,
loss from $800 to $1000.  Partly covered by insurance.
  W.D. McGinnis, plate glass in C.F. Hendrie's hardware store, $300.
No insurance.
  C.T. Grant, glass, etc., $230.  Covered by insurance.
  Rattler office, glass, etc., $150.  Covered by insurance.
  Webster & Mason, stock, $100.  Covered by insurance.

SPARKS FROM THE FIRE

  All the boys of the graduating class of the Yuma county high school
lost their graduating suits, except Arley Evans.  Some of the band
boys also lost their suits and some of them their instruments.  These
were all in the Sisson building.

  During the fire the F.D. Johnson lumber yard a block away caught
fire several times, but was extinguished.  Shingles and burning brands
as large as one's hand fell two and three blocks away, and but for
careful watching would have started fires in numerous places.  The
fact that the night was comparatively still, with scarcely any breeze
stirring, is the only reason that there are any of the nearby
buildings left.

  C.A. Patton, although burned out of his shop, had one rented and was
doing business by 5:00 o'clock the morning of the fire.  He
immediately ordered new fixtures, and on Wednesday night they came and
were installed, and Thursday ...