The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-20
Heron Street House Again Destroyed. INSURED FOR $22,60O City Officials Act Promptly to Continue School. Council Will Meet Today to Con- firm Provisions for Temporary Accommodation for 3s5
 Children Who Are
 Affected by Loss.

~@~<SS>e VI ss~1~' The new Heron Street School building was completely destroyed by a fire whicn was discovered at 6 o'clock yesterday morning, and 3s5 Montgomery school cniis dren are temporarily without house oi It was definitely announced yesterday afternoon by Alderman Gaston Guntcr, Chairman of the Committee on SCHOOLS of the City Council that the pupils Of ,e the I school will lose but two days from then books. He said a temporary building VIII be secured and the school will be con tinued until the building is reconstructed. He added that the city would probably build a school house on the same site as soon as the Insurance was adjusted Fate seems against this school. It was a thre story structure and stood on a hill in West Montgomery, said to be the highest point in the city On December {. 1901, fire destroyed the building: The structure was re-erectGd tn time Tor tne children to occupy 1t at the beginning or
 the 1902-O2 session. Not two months after the opening Of the school for the 190S-A session. fire again visited the schoolhouse,
 with results more disastrous than on US first visit.
 Alarm System Was Defective.
 And had it not been for an unfortunate occurrence, a mere slip of machinery ua. avoldable in the entirety, the result or yesterdays fire might have been not so severe. At 5:30 c clock yesterday morning Mao s ar Sf fire taon po% f4 lns Park. Both the Scott Street and the Madison Avenue fremen responded. When they reached the scene of the sup
 posed fire, however, it proved to be
 Just as the firemen returned to their respective stations,--it was exactly 6:05 o'clock-an alarm was sent in from Box ga. corner of Hanrick and Heron Streets.
 If this alarm had registered properly
 there would have been no delay and a portion of the Heron Street School build ing might have been saved. But the elec- tric alarm system was defective and the
 number registered at the Madison Avenue Station was 113 which box is at the corr ner of Union and High Streets: The ftremen went hurrying across to the east
 building was ablaze in the western part of town.
 The mistake was not discovered until
 the firemen had returned to the headquar- ters station.
 The Five Points Company, nearest the scene of the fire, responded promptly, and when Fire Chief Browder and his
 men reached Heron Street, Fire Captain Bernard and his men from the Five Points Station had been working on the fire thirty-five minutes. Two streams were playing on the blaze, but the fire was well under way, and the thirty-five minutes lost proved disastrous to the ill- l terests of the city.
 The fire continued to burn until after o'clock, but until late yesterday af.er- noon the woodwork of the newly-erected building was still smoking.
 Insured for $22, 500. The building was practically a Notal | loss. The building, furniture and fixtures were destroyed. The bare outside vsl s
 alone remained. The total cost oS ' e building and furnishings, when it was erected a little over a year ago, was $3O,O00 The old walls, which were used, were valued at about 5000. Twenty-one
 total of $22.60O It is said that the walls 1 of the building not destroyed by yes.er- days fire will be useless.
 fire was Alderman Gunter. Chairman of 1 the Council Committee on Schools. and practically at the head of the school sys-
 tenn of Montgomery. Alderman Gunter
 house, shortly after the origin of the fire, from a window of his bedroom on Clayton Street. The school house was just in the rear of his residence. He at once hurried to the fire. Mayor Thomas H. Carr and c. l.. Floyd, Superintendent of the pub
 lie school system, were also early or. the scene.
 These three officials immediately busted
 themselves. meeting of the Council Committee on Schools, composed of AL derr1en Gunter. P. Kohn and A. G. EOTDS5, WdS CdllGQ dL NIlG COuUCil OHHItl~
 Der at Il o'clock. It was decided at this l meeting to ask the Council to have a spe- cial meeting today at 12 o'clock to con- firm whatever arrangements were made
 tions for the pupils. A meeting of the Council was accordingly called. For Temperory Accommodation. At 3 o'clock Mayor Carr, Superintendent
 of the School Committee. again met at the City Hall by appointment and visited the
 ruins of the Heron Street School house.
 All of the afternoon was devoted to ar ranging plans for temporary accommo- dation of the pupils thrown out of school by the fire. Late in the afternoon Alder
 man Gunter made the positive statement
 that provision would be made for tre pupils by Monday morning. and that they
 would lose but two days from their studies
 He said two plans had been discussed
 Tiali properly. formerly occupied by the school of Professor John Savage, and utilize that for as many of the child
 as 1t would accommodate. Another plan
 that was discussed, he said, was to re.
 move the forty students of the Boys High School from the old Billing property. on Clayton Street. to some hall down
 town and use the Billing house for as many of the Heron Street school chil-
 dren as it would accommodate.
 Beth A'dernan Gunter and Surerintend- ent Floyd declared that accommodations
 
 the opening hour of school
 Tn the old Hammer HaIl school build ing, there are number of desks and blackboards which can be used by the children.
 Fire Chief Browdef said that the fire evidently originated in the furnace room in the basement of the building and was caused by a defective fiue. The building was heated by hot air.
 Janitor Streety. a negro, says that he was not present when the nte orlginated. When he arrived to go to work. he s,vs the flames were pouring out of the win dows of the three floors of the str1ct"re His story ia not given cYedence however. Miss Virginia Hereford. principal of the school. said last night that the janitor was usually on duty at 30 o'clock.
 All of yesterday the ruins were watched by dozens of little eyes. Maybe there was a suggestive twinkle in some of those eyes but most of them were busily en- ----------- .--------~--