Mat Elwood

M. ELWOOD LOSES LIFE IN FIRE WHICH DESTROYED HOTEL AND TWO OTHER BUILDINGS
A fire which started in the Nicolett Hotel at Willow Lakes early last Friday morning resulted in the death of M. Elwood, who was stopping at the hotel and the serious injury of L. Miller, a traveling man who jumped from a window in his night clothes and escaped after being badly burned.
The blaze soon spread to the general store owned by Joseph Floor and destroyed most of the stock. An empty building adjoining it was also burned down.
Willow Lakes has no fire protection, but a bucket brigade was soon in action and by heroic action the citizens succeeded in saving the real estate office only a few feet away, and thus saved the other business houses in the block.
A telephone message was received in Vienna about 4 o'clock in the morning asking for help to fight the fire and 18 men from town went over in autos to render assistance, but by the time they arrived the fire was under control.
The property loss is estimated at about $20,000. The hotel building was in a dilapidated condition and would not have been a great loss had it not been for the loss of life. Mat Elwood, the man who lost his life, was a laboring who had been working around Willow Lakes since harvest.