The Newtown bee., 1890-06-06
FAIRFIELD.

mark, the Congregational church. For
the second time in its history, the Con-
gregational society has been deprived by
fire of place in which to worship: once
by hostile forces, now through causes
yet unknown. This latest fire, the most
destructive that has occurred i'm Fairfield
III many years, broke out about IL 80 on
the evening Of May %. in the chapel near
the church edifice and burned until both
buildings were entirely consumed. The
cause is unknown; probably it was of
incendiary origin. A gentleman who
was in the chapel, a short time before
the fire. says that there were no oil-satu-
rated rags or oily waste to cause spon-
taneous combustion, while all matches
were safely kept in tin box. There
seems no theory save that of incendiarism,
but the motive for that is a mystery
Edward Harral and William Burr, who
were among the first to arrive at the
chapel after it was discovered to be on
fire, saw nothing to afford a clue or even
arouse suspicion. They were quickly
followed by others, aroused by the peal
ing of the bell, the shouts of the rapidly
increasing crowd and the glare of the
flames. All the portable property in the
chapel was saved by willing helpers, as
the flames, at first, were confined to the
Oil room; but they soon spread and the
roof rell in about midnight. About the
same time, the roof of the church edifice
was well ablaze and, although efforts to
extinguish it were made, they were
unsuccessful. For some little time, the
flames made but little Roadway on the
church, fortunately for those who were
hard at work removing the contents of
the building; but, as soon as the roof
was burned through and a draft created,
the fire spread with rapidity. Fortunate
ly, also, there was little wind and the
| sparks and flames rose almost directly
into the air, causing little fear of danger
Harry Mills place, which stands between
the residence of Col Stevenson and the
| church, was fired by stray sparks, which
were quickly put out. Across the road
from the burning church stood the form
er Merwin house, now the st Marc hotel.
Extensive and expensive alterations, i'm
provements and additions" have been
made there during the Winter by George
| A. Wells, who is to occupy it this season.
On the building and the furniture, there
was almost no insurance. But so still
was the air and so perpendicular did the
heat ascend that the paint on the out
| side was hardly scorched. All this time,
a large force of volunteers had been at
work with breathless haste, carrying
from the church everything of value that
could be moved, the pews even being
pried up and carried out and the large
pipe organ dismantled and taken out in
sections. A telephone message to Bridge
port brought down Chief Beardslee with
steamer No. 3 and hose carriage, but
, they could do no good, as the flames
were confined to the church, which had
fallen in. The heat, even when the blaze
was at its height, was not great, for
the space between the outer and inner
walls of the church was filled with solid
brick masonry and this served not only
to retain the heat but to aid the building
to resist the flames. Had there been a
steamer, or even hose company with
plenty of water, the fire could doubtless
have been so subdued that the church
would have been damaged but little.
Now, the loss is from $40, 900 to s25, 900,
with insurance as follows: On the church
$4,000, on the chapel $1,000, on the par
lors $500, on the organ $1,000. The
Town hall was occupied for service, Sun
dap and Rev F. S. Child preached an ex.
, cellent sermon, referring in tones of sad.
ness to the great loss that had fallen up
ON the church and exhorting his hearers
| to be strong in the faith. Letters OF
sympathy were read from two sister
churches, Black Rock and Southport, the
latter offering the use of the church edi-
flee at such hour as might be convenient
A special meeting of the vestry of 81
Paul's Episcopal church has also beer
held and the bishop requested to allow
the church to be used by the Congrega.
tional people in the evening, when the
! EDtSSOJdlldHS liOEu uo StINlCc.
will be taken toward providing Temporal
rary places of worship and preliminary
steps for new church edifice at thu
/ special meeting of the Congregations
society which is called for Saturday, 18th
at 3 m, at the Town hall. It is though
by some that stone church will b.
built at once. Friday, after the ruin
had cooled sufficiently, Dea Morehoust
texhumed the box buried with the corner
stone. It was uninjured and contained ;
number of papers and documents, ser
mons, etc. The bell, which was broker
by the fall and softened by the heat, wa
Eagerly sought by relic hunters and man,
pounds taken away. 1t has been pro
/ posed to make soVenirs of the bell meta
and sell them, the proceeds to apply tt
the purchase of q new bell. The histor,
4 of the church shows that it was founded
in 1910, only 20 years after the Puritan
landed at Plymouth and it is, therefore
+ one of the oldest. The first primitiy,
church building, put up in 1910, was al
lowed to remain until 1879, when it wa
replaced by second and that in turf
was supplanted in 1747. This was burn
ed by the British in 1879 and the build
4 ing which arose from the ashes stood til
1919, when the structure just burned wa
built. The society has membership O
about 200 and is strong and wealthy.
After the disposition of routine bust
uess at the regular monthly meeting o
the selectmen. Monday morning, DIR Don
aldson presented the following petition
and spoke earnestly in support of the i'm
provement. Selectman Hawkins asket