Courthouse Fire 1906

Before

After

1906 was a bad year for fire. Scranton, New Jersey suffered a half million dollar office block fire, the Seattle Grand Opera House burned down, a large section of Dawson, Minnesota was razed, and the Businessmen's Exposition, the first of its kind, in Kansas City, Kansas was destroyed on its final day. Closer to home, following the great San Francisco earthquake on April 19th, the city burned for four days, causing huge swathes of devastation. Madera, too, had its own problem with fire as the headline of the Madera Mercury for Saturday, December 29th indicates below

Court House Burned
Beautiful Granite Structure Completely Gutted

At 4:30 in the afternoon, a plume of dense smoke was seen pouring from the tower of the courthouse. The first on the scene discovered a fire under the judge's bench in the Superior Court room, which was extinguished by means of a small hosepipe. Unfortunately, by that time, the fire had spread into the tower. The blaze was so intense that the local firemen were unable to cope, and in a short time the tower toppled and crashed through the roof, endangering the brave firefighters working on the upper floor. One man, J. Augustine, was overcome by smoke and collapsed, but he was removed to safety and revived. The Madera Mercury article closes with the remark: "at this writing the fire still rages".

Plague of Arson

Sadly, the fire was not an accident, but the result of arson. Besides the incendiary device found under the judge's bench, a box of books in the basement had also been set alight. The destruction of the courthouse must be set against a backdrop of deliberate fire-setting that had been reported in the Mercury for over a month. On November 24th, the Rosenthal-Kutner Warehouse was burned to the ground, resulting in huge losses for local farmers as it was filled with grain. The fire had been set under the building, and an unidentified man had been seen running away. The arsonist, J. A. Reinheardt, was eventually arrested after attempting to burn the east side school. On December 8th, a barn at the back of the Catholic Church was destroyed by fire, and an attempt was made to burn the Southern Hotel. T. S. Armstrong, a man bent on revenge, because he had been evicted from the hotel for non-payment of rent, was arrested. Fortunately, the fire was spotted and extinguished before it caused major damage. On December 22, another firebug torched two buildings on D Street. A tank house and a barn at the back of the Dworack Building was destroyed. The fire, that might have burned half the business section of Madera, was stopped from spreading by the valiant efforts of the volunteer firemen. The barn and the tank house belonged to the San Jose Safe Deposit Bank of Savings. Shortly after, an attempt was made to burn down Russ House, located on the west side of the railroad tracks, but only minor damage was sustained before it was put out. Earlier in the week, an unsuccessful attempt had been made to set fire to the Palace Cyclery, and another building at the back of C. A. Dworack's shop on D Street was set alight.

Source: Madera Mercury Daily and Weekly newspapers.