Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-02-13
AsBURY's H
Details Of the Destruction of a Noted
College Building Of Indiana.

Greencastle (Feb. l0 Special to Indianapolis
J0urnal.l 49,
At 1915 O'clock this afternoon
shortly after the dismissal of the morn
ing classes, flames we're seen issuing
from the clock tower of the old coll
lege building. The alarm was sound
cd, citizens and students thronged the
campus, as the news passed from
mouth to mouth that the college was
burning. The fire department was
slow in getting to work. Class-rooms
and corridors were all ablaze, and be-
fore the first drop of water was thrown
the doom of the building was appa-
rent. A few desperate efforts were
made by the students to save the con-
tents Of the building. Mrs. Clarke's
gallery Of painting, a part of the class
room furniture, and the arms and
cannon of the military department
were thus rescued, but the building is
a mass of ruins. The college museum
is entirely destroyed, the flames occu-
plying it first. The high priced Whit
comb library, consisting of 5000 vol
qmes, was largely saved by the stu
dents.
Positive information is not obtain
able, but the insurance is thought to
be about $4,000. The building was
occupied by the preparatory depart
ment of AsbUry University, by the
college museum and art gallery. by
the armory Of the military department
Of the college, the A~delphian Literary
Society, the college reading room, the
WhitcOmb and literary society libra
rles, by the janitor's family and the
Japanese students. The last are rem
dered temporarily homeless.
The fire department won no laurels.
but the cadets, under Captain Vince
Ter, did noble work in saving property.
The origin of the fire is unknown. 1t
caught in the belfry attic where no
fire is used, and which is never en-
tered except by the j%anitor. Three
theories are suggested-that it caught
by a chimney spark, from spontaneous
combustion of trash that may have
accumulated there, or else from in
cendiarism. The walls Of the build
ing, thanks to their ld-fashioaed
solidity, have not fallen, but they are
more or less damaged, and the high
wind prevailing now endangers them.
The trees in the old campus are in
iured somewhat by the intense heat.
The college classes are not affected by
the fire. 1t touches only the prepare
tory department. Professor Demotts
has arranged for the old seminary
buildings adjoining the college for the
use OF the preparatory classes, and
%recitations will be begun there
without the loss of a single day.
The destruction OF the old college
building is the most serious disaster
in the history of Asbury University.
With it go associations and memories
sacred to over six hundred alumni of
the institution. 1t was for thirty
years the home of the college as well
as preparatory classes. As Prof. Nc
Nut says, 1T is old Asbury no longer:
but though the building is destroyed,
its record is indestructible." If
Methodism in Indiana has any sym
pathy for her university in this time
Of trial, let men of means now step
forward and put Asbury on a good
financial basis. The burned structure
will probably never be rebuilt in its
original form. This could not sup
ply the old associations for which AS
bury men have loved their alma
mater, and it is to be hoped that a
new and more suitable building will
rise from the ruins of the old.