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, ' VOLU1VIE I FALLS 'I'Y , NEBRASKA , FRIDAY , JANUARY 29 , 1904. , NUMBER 4
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I , 0" The German . Hall .
I
Destroyed by Fire
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.
The German hall was practic-
r any destroyed by fire shortly af-
! \ , . ter noon last Sunday. A reher-
'
I' sal for an entertainment to be
given in the near future , was to
have been held in the afternoon ,
and in order that the haIl should
. - be properly heated , the janitor
" built a fire in the furnace and then
. . . , - left the building. At the time of
I' , ' . his departure everything was in
good shape. A short time later
the fire was discovered and reports
. of what happened from that time
, on , arc very conflicting. When
the fire was first discovered , the
' interior of the bar-room was an
, : : ; ablaze and those who have most
carefully looked into the causes
; of the fire , are inclined to believe
that an overheated register set
J .
; . . fire to the floor. Some of those
who arrived first at the scene op-
, cned an outside door and thus
! h\ i . created a draftcausin ' the flames
, ' to spread very rapidly and soon
: J , . - _ _ _ - , . . . : .the-interiorof-the entire han was
> > '
r A - : . ablaze. The fire alarm was
' .t r : : .
: , : sOltnded and although the thermometer -
. mometer registered in the neigh-
. ,
horhood of zero a big crowd turn-
" cd out. The fire department responded -
, , " , . sponded very promptly , but the
' < history of this fire is one long
I ' i. ' ' . . . ' . . w chapter of tr ubles. A line of
I : ; hose , vas laid from the hydrant
. ' at Third and Lane streets but no
: \.t' \ - sooner had the water been turned
.
on than the hose burst and the
, 'I : , water had to be shut off. Another -
\ , ; : er hose cart was brought and an-
I' " ' > . other connection made only hJ be
'
'
J
r\ d : < ' . - followed by the . same results.
, ; ) i- : ' ; ' . . I There was practIcally no water
i- . . : i. - : supply and it became apparent
t2' : " ' , ; , that the- building was doomed.
"
I , . By' ' this time the fire had gained
! " , . ' J " . . " such headway that it was possible -
. \ ' . \ - hIe only to remove a small part of
" . "
L , . ' . the scenery and furniture through
. ; ; . .1 ; , _ , : the stage entrance. Although
-
t ! y . . handicapped by lack of water the
I" f : "j . , . fire boys worked bra vel ) ' . Where
, 't < ever water touched their rubber
- , coats it froze instantly. Will
. . Goldner , who was helping to
f : handle a nozzle sustained a badly
I ' cut wrist from shattered window
' . . ! glass , and Fred Noah had his
\ ; ( forehead badly cut in the same
manner. Soon the flames broke
through the roof , the timbers col-
; lapsed , the chimney fell in and
# . there was nothing left standing
, ' 1 but the bare brick walls. The
crowd then dispersed , many car-
' ' rying with them frozen ears as
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- , "
"
mementos of the German hall fire.
Building perts have examined -
ed the ruins and declare the outer
walls arc still sound and this be-
ing the case the twelve-hundred
dollars insurance win be enough
to rebuild the han and after a
settlement has been made with
the insurance company steps will
be taken in this direction.
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The history of the German hall
covers a period of over a quarter
of a century. In 1878 a number
of the German residents of Fans
Cite ; organized a social club to be
known as the Deutsche Gessel-
schaft , and having purchased < ; lots
on Morton street between Third
and Fourth , they erected a small
one-story building 20x30 feet in
dimensions and this was the nu-
cleus around which grew the
more spacious hall that was destroyed -
stroyed by fire on last Sunday. F.
Giese was the first president of
the Deutsche Gesselschaft and
among the charter members were
1\1r. Bertram , Wm. Mast , George
Gerhardt , John King , Fred Fischer -
er , C. Huber , Fred Weber , 1\-1.
Gehling , E. Rau , F. Lange , P.
H. Jussen , J. O. Wirth and \Vm.
Hoppe. When their first hall
was finished it was here tat they
met for social recreation. Here
at all times the mother tongue
was spoken ; here the tender associations -
sociations of the Fatherland were
recalled , old ties made stronger
and the organization became in
reality a Gesselschaft , or brother-
hood. Others of our German citizenship -
izenship sought admission , and
were received and the society
grew and flourished until the hall
became too small and an addition
20x30 feet was built. : Mr. Ber-
bam and 1\lr. Lange were the
members of the building committee -
tee and the cost of construction
was $1375. li or a few years this
building proved an adequate home
and then an increase in the mem-
bership and a desire to increase
the scope of its social features ,
rendered still another enlarging
of the building necessary. The
new addition was 30x30 feet and
was provided with a portable
stage and a dancing floor. On
this little stage was wrought the
first beginning cf the German
hall theatricals which served to
develop so much real ability and
to produce a whole array of ama-
teur actors. In those days it was
"
necessary to remove the portable
stage before dancing could be indulged -
'dulged in-a process that proved
.
. . .
.1- orious ard unsatisfactory.
The constitution of the
Deutsche selschaft limited
membership tot se who could
read , write and speak ttt German
language. But others beg n to
earnestly desire to participate in
the pleasures which the brother-
hood afforded its members , and in
order that they might do so a
sort of auxilliary association was
organized. This new organization -
tion was known as the Anion
Saeng-erbund-a double quartet
of singers under tlw direction of
Prof. Peterson. The original
membership of the Arions was
Wm. Albach , L. P. Wirth , Sig-
mund Spaeth , Peter Kaiser , Robt.
F. T. Preusse , Ernest Bode , Irvin
Bode and A. Diesner. The plan
of entertainment adopted by the
Arions necessitated a larger build-
ing and so an addition 20x30 feet
with a wing 20x20 feet was con-
structed. What was the original
German hall became only the
stage in the new bui1ding. This
stage was fitted with scenery and ,
all the necessary paraphenalia. A
fine dancing floor was provided :
the building was heated by a fur-
nace , and was in short , complete
in every detail. The AriOl1S were
enabled to invite to these enter-
tainments , many whom the constitution - '
stitution of the Gesse1.haft : excluded -
cluded from the lull , and this together -
gether with the fact that the entertainments -
tertainments were always of a
high order of merit , made the
German hall a very popular place.
It vas this hall that has been
destroyed by fire and the many
-who have shared in its hospitality -
ity trust the indomitable courage
of both the Deutsche Gesselschaft
and the Arions will enable them
to surmount this loss and that
the German hall will be lebuilt.
LOCAL AND PERSONAL .
,
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J. S. Fuller of Verdon was in
town Tuesday.
Grant Shubert of Shubert was
in town Tuesday.
F. B. Huffman of Shubert was
in town on business Tuesday.
Mrs. Win Wigton came down
from Omaha Friday afternoon.
Lou Turner of Salem made a
business trip to tnis city Tues-
day .
On Monday and Tuesday the
public schools were in session
but part of the day owing to the
trouble in keeping the school
rooms properly warmed. -
.
. .
Rev. Elmer Ward Cole \vil1 \
close his work , as pastor of the
Christian church next Sunday.
Subject of morning sermon "Can
we Make Troubles Serve us , " and
the evening subject Moses Dis-
courag-emen " l ev. J. E , . 1-101-
ley succcssor to Rev. Cole , will
sing a solo both morning and
' eycning. The choir have pre-
pared ; special musical program
for'the vening service. You arc
given it most cordial invitation to
attend these services.
If you have been receiving
copies of The Tribune please remember -
member they arc simply sent as
sample copies for the purpose of .
introducing thc paper and no attempt -
tempt will be ii ade to charge yon
for them. They come as the
free gift of the pnblishers and
may be discontinued at any time.
The only way you can prevent
this.is to authorize us to place
your name on our list.
The ladies of the Presbyterian
Kensington society and theIr
friends will be entertained on
Thursday , February 4th at the
home of W. W. Lee - ins 'assisted
by Mesdames. Boncr atid Htrvey. ;
The- cold weather has put a
stop to work on the new mill , but
the building is almost entirely
enclosed and when work is resumed -
sumed its completion will only
be a matter of a short time.
The interior of Hargrave &
Ifargrave's clothing store is being
redecorated and otherwise im-
proved. When the workmen have
finished , it will be a pretty fine
looking place.
The toy merry-go-round on exhibition -
hibition in the window at Kaiser
& Harnacks is attracting much
attention. It was made by Sig-
mund Spaeth and shows much
ingenuity.
Frank Greenwald has had his
name added to the sick list. He
has been confined to his home the
greater part of this week.
A big force of men has been
at work cutting ice from the
Culp lake. It is good ice ' and
there is plenty of it.
Irs. Pat Gunn was called to
Chicago yesterday by a telegram
announcing the serious illness of
her father.
Hon. E. A. Tucker of Hum-
boldt was in the city Tuesday
attending district court.
J. H. McDowell came down
from Tecumseh and spent Sun-
day in this city.
W. S. 1vlettz , who has been ser-
iously ill , is improving
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W 1.n Y' 1. Y