The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-22
THE WORK OF AN INCENDIARY.
REV. CHAs. II. sTRONG'S HANDSOME
HOME IN RUINS.

HUME IN hJANcs
BeauIieu's beautiful Residence. and
one of the HnndsOmest Along the
Coast DestrOyed-Maj. Hartrid}=c
spent More Than $4,000 on the
pIace-Mr. Strong Insured For On
~ Half the Value of the Property.
Evidences of IncendinriSm All Too
Appnrent-Mr. Pascal strong ana
Two Friends Narrowly Escape
with Their Lives.
What was but two days ago the hand
soonest suburban residence around Savan-
nah, the residence of Rev. Charles H.
Strong at BeauHeu, was yesterday mass
of smoking ruins and ashes
The residence upon which Maj. A. l..
Partridge had lavished thousands of dol
lars, noted not only for the beauty of the
site upon which it Stood and the atten-
ton given its outward structure, but as
well for its interior, no longer exists a
pleasing picture for the eye, delightful
spot for the visitor, but has passed in
smoke and ruins, and too evidently by the
hands of the fire buS-the incendiary. And
1
occupants, Mr.. Pascal Strong and Messrs.
WEI Chisholm and Swan Sullivan, who
were Mr.. Strong's guests.
The report of the destructive fire reach
ed the city by the first car, which came
in from Beaulieu, between and 10 o'clock
in the morning. The congregation was
Just gathering a St. Johns church, prep
aratory to the morning service, when the
news of his great loss was brought to Mr..
Strong. As great a shock as it was to
him. he stu went on with the service,
though it was too apparent to those who
knew him that some calamity was press
ing upon his mind. The sermon, however,
was omitted and the night service was of
course dispensed with. Mr.. Strong took
the 115 train for the scene of the home,
which had within two years become dear
to him, where he spent his summers, and
where he had placed most of his earthly
possessions.
Arriving upon the scene he found the
handsome three-story residence, with
its beautifully furnished interior,
its magnificent woodwork, rare woods
exquisitely carved, its tiled floors
and marble bathrooms and bright
blossoming conservatory, mass of
smouldering bricks and debris, with not
enough of the beams and rafters and
shingles left to indicate whether it was
built of wood or stone.
He soon learned the story of its I'M
timely destruction, what story there was
to learn. His son, Mr.. Pascal Strong, has
been living there for some months, ana
for some time Mr.. VIII Chisholm has been
with him SATURDAY. Mr. CHS
holm came into the city on bust
ness, and he and Mr.. Sullivan went
out on the last car Saturday night They
arrived at Sandfiy station about midnight,
and had TO walk over to Beaulieu. Mr..
Strong had retired about 10 o'clock, but
the back door was left open, and he was
awakened when his friends came in about
2 o'clock in the morning. The three of
them retired in the same room, front
room on the third floor leaving the room
door and their windows open, as II was
rather a warm night.
About o'clock Mr.. Strong was
awakened by the sitting smoke,
and it was a moment before he
could realize what had happened. Obey
ing his first impulse he hurriedly shut
the door through which the smoke was
coming in volumes. He then aroused his
companions, after much difficulty, as II
seemed they had become partially as
phyxiated by the dense smoke which had
already entered the ROOM The avenue of
escape through the door was shut off, as
the flames were already coming into the
upper hail. and in the heavy clouds of
smoke it was impossible for them to get
out that way. They hardly knew what
to do, until looking out the front win
dow which was nearly fifty feet from he
ground, Mr.. Sullivan saw the bent limb of
a tree about five feet away. He jumped
for it, in spite of the effort to stop him,
as it was not known what he intended
doing, but in a moment the others saw
and followed his example Even while
they were climbing down the heat was SO
intense as to make it almost unbearable.
When they reached the lower part of the
limb one at a time they had to drop about
twenty feet TO the ground, and jump
quickly to get out of the way Of the
scorching flames.
Mr.. Strong and his friends made hur-
ried survey of the house. and could only
get in through the back door They were
successful in opening the front door, but
had only a minute or two during which
they could remain in the house, as more
than half of il was then in flames They
succeeded in saving only one or two pieces
of furniture, a handsomely carved teak
wood sofa from India, an ebony table, the
oil painting of Mrs. Strong's mother and
one or two other things of small value.
Mr.. Strong and Mr.. Chisholm had their
entire WardrODeS IN tneir room, ana IN
making their escape had little time to
save any of them. All of them came out
in their uightshrts, but managed to save
a couple of pairs of trousers, and two
or three shirts. Shoes, hats and other
apparel were greatly in demand, and It
took some skirmishing to get the neces-
sary clothing together. But that was
not thought of until the fire had pro-
crossed so far that it was impossible to
do anything further. The flames leaped
fifty feet into the air above the tall three
story dwelling, and the country was lit
up for miles around.
Several negroes living near came to
the aid Of the young gentlemen. who were
doing all they could, and their attention
was devoted to the surrounding property
when they saw it was impossible to save
anything else in the house. Three small
two-room dwellings right nearby the
house were burned almost along with il,
and the dairy. which stood but few feet
Off was soon demolished also. They man
aged 10 save several outlying buildings
such as the terrapin crawls and a small
two-room house to the east, but nothing