From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for June 20, 1916:

• “A fire which started in the French Meat Market at Lecompton about 1:30 o’clock this morning immediately spread over the block, and before it could be put out, burned seven buildings to the ground. It is estimated that the total damage is between $25,000 and $30,000. The meat market and Mikesell’s barber shop were entirely destroyed, as was the big double building of the Mercantile Company. The greater portion of August Hildenbrand’s general store, including a cream station and a warehouse, were consumed by the flames. After much effort on the part of fire fighters, practically everything in the post office and the office of Dr. C. C. Kerr was saved. At eight o’clock this morning the cause of the fire had not been determined…. Every building between Lee’s hardware store and Hartup’s shoe shop was burned to the ground, and at eight o’clock this morning large quantities of flour and canned goods were still burning slowly. It has been impossible to save them. The Lee hardware store was slightly damaged by heat from the burning buildings, but the shoe shop escaped the flames…. The buildings were all frame structures, and the fire was a burning fury within five minutes after it had started. During the early stages of the conflagration the entire block seemed doomed…. Lecompton’s fire equipment consists of a hand chemical apparatus and a hose cart. Citizens of the town operate it, and the fire company is purely volunteer. Every effort was made by the fire fighters to quiet the flames, but the fire had gained the start on them. Farmers from several miles around drove in madly with their entire families; and the men worked while the women watched and did what they could to assist them…. A call to the Lawrence fire department was made at 2:05 this morning, but was unanswered. There is no city water supply at Lecompton, and the sending of a hose cart to a town without fire plugs or water pressure would be useless. The chemical apparatus which the Lawrence company operates has such a small capacity that it would have availed nothing in a fire the size of that last night.”
• “Instead of the big sham battle which was to have been staged at Baldwin on July Fourth, the boys of Company H may get to participate in a real battle on the Mexican border. In that case, there probably won’t be much celebrating to it…. Coach Herman Olcott is doing a little worrying of his own these days in regard to the Mexican situation. He is liable to lose four of his promising candidates for next year’s Varsity squad. Rook Woodward, George Hart, Walter Shinn, and Ed Foster are the students who may have to go to the Mexican border.”
• “Some years ago a fair-faced, red-headed little chap carried papers for the Journal-World. He was clear-cut and bright and it was easy to see that he was a real boy. Later he was a soldier and a crack shot and then promotions came and now at thirty-four years of age, he is a captain in the regular army, perhaps the youngest captain in all of Uncle Sam’s soldiers. Although a soldier for fifteen years he came so near finishing his work at K. U. that his subsequent work has entitled him to his A. B., which he will probably secure some time when he is not too busy. There is a Mrs. Joe Topham, at Fort Russell, Cheyenne, Wyoming, a girl of four and a boy of one, who anxiously await the news from Captain Topham, who is ‘Somewhere in Mexico.’ There is also a very proud mother in Lawrence, who has watched the advancement of her boy, and who feels that in his success she is amply repaid for all that she has done for him.”