It seemed impossible to put it out and it proved to be the most disastrous fire that ever occurred in a country town.

There were seven or eight buildings destroyed, together with all the machinery for making clocks, which was very costly and extensive.

There were somewhere between fifty and seventy-five thousand brass movements in the works, a large number of them finished, and worth one dollar apiece.

The loss was about fifty thousand dollars and the insurance only ten thousand.

This was another dark day for me.