Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-11-01

kr0l :siid that 81 the i5remen III Char
Who came to their assistance. A brisk wind
was blowing, and it soon became evident
that without more effective appliances the adj
joining buildings were doomed, for the water
mains in the university we're being repaired,
and good head of water could not be obtain
led.
The rotunda of the university was on a high
spot The dome could be seen for miles
around There isa great variety in the arehl-
lecture of the various buildings, examples of
specimens from Rome, medieval Europe, and
American building seen. Jefferson planned
the university, and himself made the original
survey of the grounds. The rotunda he placed
in the middle of the campus. He modelled it
after the Pantheon at Rome. 1t was used for
library (the upper floor) and the lower
floors were divided into lecture rooms, 1t
was very large building, built OF brick.
The entrance, fronting the lawn, was adorned
with fine columns. The view from the porch
was fine Extending from the rear of the
rotunda and connected by passageway, was
large building in the upper floors of which
was an assembly hall, where the commence
ment exercises were held. Below this were a
number of lecture rooms, all large
Under the super vision Of Professor Echols,
the corps of students made strenuous endeav-
ors, by the use Of dynamite. to prevent the
spreading of the fire to the rotunda. So mas
sive was the structure, however, that the
dynamite had little impression, and Professor
Echols standing on the roof of the rotunda
building, threw large quantity of dynamite
to the roof of the annex. A crash followed,
and burning fragments of brick and tin were
thrown in every direction. On each side of
the portco were massive pillars of Italian
marble which were carved in Italy at great
cost for Mr., Jefferson, and these could not
be overthrown. By this time the fire had
gotten beyond all bounds and leaped from
the an mex to the rotunda. The firemen al
once directed their attention to this building.
| as in it was the magnificent library OF 5000
volumes, many of them extremely rare and
valuable, life size statue of Jefferson. and q
large number of magnificent portraits and
rare works of art The students in a body
heroically worked to save this valuable prop
erty. Among the portraits burned was thai
| of jefferson.
| The statue of jefferson which is very heavy
was dragged from the building by willing
hands and saved as was the bust of the late
Professor Minor, which was unveiled last
spring with imposing ceremonies. Much of
the valuable outfit of the department of phys
| les was saved.
The larger paItof the library's contents
were removed, books, paintings and statuary
From the department of physics much of TIN
valuable equipment was rescued and stored
in the museum nearby.
| When it was seen that the rOtunda was
doomed, efforts were directed to saving thu
professors houses. These were connected
with the rotunda by the sold Chapel" Thu
! latter building was blown up with dynamite
and the flames arrested. Just then the WING
changed. and clean sweep of the building
was averted The students worked will
much bravery and system, and it is due t.
their efforts that much valuable property wa
| saved.
All during the fire the big clock on tn
portico of the rotunda licked away and tollet
the hour, until, just as it was One, the fir
| reached it aud the roof collapsed, burying
| the old time piece beneath mass of debris.
| No approximate estimate can be placed upol
| the loss sustained by the destruction of books
papers etc. Though there were many valua
| bic articles removed from the library, and
hundreds of willing laborers toiled zealousl.
for hours in the suffocating atmosphere, TIN
bulk of the library of ffty-three Thousand
volumes was burned. 1t is thought that no
more than ten thousand volumes were saved
Most of these were taken from the floor of the
library, while the valuable Austin collec
tion, Lee papers, and many other rare and in
valuable books, that can never be replaced
were destroyed.
Miss Buckmaster was the heroine of the
day: for did she not follow the great SturgiS
| centre rush of the football team OF the Uni
veasity Of Virginia, into the library, ant
smash the glass of the book cases and carry
| the books out? That's what she did, until
was dangerous to do so longer.