[6-24-1964]
WADE - A barn containing farm equipment and 200 bushels of oats was destroyed by fire of unknown cause here Wednesday morning in the Dunntown section. Washburn fire chief Jasper Umphrey placed the total loss at between $8,000 and $10,000.
No one was hurt in the blaze.
Owner Leroy Dickinson Sr. was reported to have carried a small amount of insurance on the building and none on its contents, which included a planter, a rotor beater, three plows, a cultivator, hoes, a seed cutter and the oats. None of the contents were saved.
The barn was leveled by flames that started from an unknown source at about 9:40 a.m., firemen reported.
More than a dozen fighters from three trucks of the Washburn fire department fought to extinguish burning shingles on Dickinson's farm house about 30 feet from the barn, after the fire had spread. The house was not badly damaged, although heat from the barn broke out windows in the residence.
Dickinson's son, Leroy Jr., apparently was one of the first persons to notice the fire. Reports stated that he was working in a nearby field and saw the farm building enveloped in flames. Firemen remained on the scene until about 12:30 p.m.