Complex sentence: News that Parsonsfield mysteriously burned down in 1853, allegedly due to arson by opponents of abolition, caused Cheney to advocate for the building of a new seminary in a more central part of Maine.
Split into simpler sentences: News that Parsonsfield mysteriously burned down in 1853, allegedly due to arson by opponents of abolition. The event caused Cheney to advocate for the building of a new seminary in a more central part of Maine.