Charles Edwin Gilbert was in his new quarters in late July or early August of 1881 -- just as he was stricken with typhoid fever. As he was recovering enough to get back to work, he suffered a severe financial blow.

Fire broke out in the T.S. Horn Saloon, located mid-way in a block of buildings on South First, and spread both directions. The bucket brigade, volunteers who were the town's first firefighters, proved no match for the blaze. Two hours later the whole block, a major portion of Abilene's business district, had been consumed. One of the victims: The Reporter plant and all Gilbert's files, his equipment and the makings of a special illustrated edition on Abilene.

As soon as the fire had burned itself out, Gilbert caught the train to Baird where, with facilities borrowed from The Baird Clarendon, he published the first "extra" in Reporter-News history. The extra, a single sheet of paper dated Aug. 27, 1881, proclaimed in its headline, "Great Fire in Abilene -- One-Fourth of Town Lain in Ashes -- Loss over $20,000."

Gilbert predicted that Abilene would "Phoenix-like, rise from the ashes a finer city." He demonstrated his faith in the town by continuing publication, with borrowed equipment, and by hiring carpenters to erect a two-story building in the fourth block of Pine Street as a home and a newspaper office.

First copies of The Reporter were lost in the fire. Other early files dropped from sight. Gilbert recalled later he sold his files when he left Abilene to a Methodist minister named Shuttles who was supposed to place them in the Southwestern University library. The school has no record of the old papers.

A few scattered issues of Gilbert's Reporter have been located through the years. From these, from memories of early pioneers, from private and public documents, the story of early Abilene has been pieced together.

During his five years in Abilene, Gilbert set examples for later publishers and editors. He was interested in many facets of local life, from the bucket brigade, which was not very effective, to the buffalo-bone business, which was flourishing. He was a charter member of the First Methodist Church and Sunday School superintendent for a time. He hauled around a visiting missionary, rounding up Baptists to organize the First Baptist Church.

His consuming editorial interest was the progress of Abilene and its countryside. He published special editions, put out directories and publicity pieces, produced an Illustrated Weekly, promoted and helped stage Abilene's first fair.

No man to dodge a fight, Gilbert involved himself and his paper in civic disputes. In one instance, he set a precedent none of his successors has yet followed. He was engaged in a very public duel on Pine Street.

(Abridged from Katharyn Duff's April 19, 1981 "The Story of a Prairie Newspaper" You can buy this book online from credit card-secured site shopARN.com.)