Fire: Floppery is Burned Out
About 3:30 o'clock Monday morning The "Floppery," a scantily-framed, tar-paper-lined shack lying about 75 feet east from the offices of the Lusk Development and Improvement Co., was completely wiped out by fire. The shack had been constructed for the use of employees of the Development Co. during the busy building season on the north side and afterward rented to G.S. Salter, a University of Nebraska man, who had come with the rush bent on making his fortune from the Lusk oil fields. The renter had installed 25 or 30 beds in the windbreak, and and for a time had enjoyed a profitable business, renting the beds at a low price, compared with other Lusk lodging.
But "the best laid plans of mice and men"---etc,. On Monday in the hours of the breaking morning, from some unknown source a fire broke out, and in less time than it takes to write the story, the combustible tar paper and well seasoned flooring and frame work were a blaze of glory, and a man's business had gone up in smoke. The company, who have but recently completed a more commodious hostelry--the Bungalow--could not see their way clearly to re-building the Floppery and Mr. Salter departed on the noon train for points in New Mexico, taking with him the best of feeling toward Lusk and its population.
At the time of the blaze there was a westerly wind blowing or in all probability the Development company's offices would have shared a like fate. The shell blazed up and was gone before an alarm could be turned into the fire department.