The Fire at Huntsville, Ala.
Further information has been received since our last issue concerning the burning of the main building of the Oakwood School at Huntsville, Ala. From a circular letter dated October 12, sent out by the Business Manager, Brother O. R. Staines, we take the following paragraphs:— It is with sadness that we tell you of the great loss that came to our institution and to our family last night. At seven o’clock, just as we assembled in the chapel of our Study Hall, which is our main school building, one of our students noticed a light shining from the basement windows. We found the basement already in flames, it evidently having started from the furnace in some unknown way. Every one got out safely. For a time we attempted to fight the fire as best we could, but soon saw it was of no avail, as in less than five minutes the building, from top to bottom, was a mass of seething flames. About this time we learned to our sorrow that one of our older boys, Will Willingham, had, against the earnest entreaties of other of our boys, gone to his room for some things, and that he was now missing. For any one to enter the building then meant certain death, and after the building had fallen in, and the woodwork was practically all consumed, his charred remains could be seen lying in the ruins. A new student, John Green, who had just arrived during the afternoon, was asleep on the third floor. One of our boys went up the fire escape and awoke him, and got him out in his underclothes. In his excitement he jumped from the second floor, but is not seriously injured. Prof. F. W. Halladay and family and all our boys have absolutely nothing left but the clothes on their backs. The work of the fire demon was so rapid that nothing but our typewriter and one chair were gotten out. The building and contents are a total loss, and were insured for two thousand dollars. We believe the insurance companies will pay this in full; but it is only a small part of the loss. The basement of this building contained our newly equipped bath-rooms, our broom-making machinery, our carpenter’s tools, carpet loom, and about forty tons of coal. The first floor was taken up with our chapel, recitation rooms, and stenographer’s office. Here were our files, addresses, and office supplies. Professor Halladay’s family lived on the second floor, and the rest of this floor and the third were our boys’ dormitories. The board of trustees of the institution met at Huntsville last week, and definite plans for the future have doubtless been made. We hope these plans will be reported through the REVIEW at an early date.