Several hundred University students were roused out of bed after midnight last night by a four-alarm fire on Western Avenue, which seemed from all but the Freshman Dormitories to be on Soldiers Field. Starting at 11.45 o'clock, the conflagration, which nearly consumed the J. D. McPhee Company's Stairway and Cabinet factory and woodsheds, quickly gained headway. More than 2000 people witnessed the conflagration.

As no watchman was employed on the premises, there was no way of determining the cause, although it is thought to have originated in an electrical short circuit. The first engines arrived at midnight, and in rapid succession more came in from firehouses in Brighton in response to the third and fourth alarms.

The flames rose highest in the southern part of the plant, where they ate their way into the heart of a large storage lumber yard. Some of the 12-foot piles were soaked with paint and varnish, so that firemen were still hosing the embers at 2 o'clock.

Because of the machinery destroyed and the value of the stock of pine boards, the loss was estimated at about $100,000. When the blaze was under control, a Salvation Army truck distributed coffee and sandwiches to the firemen.