The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-07
water which was played on the three

water which was played on the three
floors above.
ried on Rice hall and its contents to-
tails $4,000, divided as follows: On
the building, $4,000; on the museum,
$1,000; on the furniture, $4,000.
ing will cover the loss sustained there,
but doubt If the insurance carried on
the museum and on the furniture will
cover the loss sustained by the col
lege. 1t will be patent to any one that
the rough handling of museum ex-
hibits or samples and of furniture, in
cidental to a fire, would greatly dam
age them, even If all sof the samples
and the furniture were carried out
was at the fire soon after 1t started
and I saw dozens of chairs and, cases
of museum samples broken and we'll
nigh ruined. kltt
1.-THE walls of the building are pretty
well intact yet, being damaged, SO far
as we know, only from the fourth floor
up In reconstructing the building
we shall modernize 1t. For instance,
we will not replace the shingle1 roof
that we had prior to the fire, but we
will put on modern roof of tile or
slate. We will also put in modern FIX
lures on the inside. We VIII replace
the geological, biological and the de-
partment of natural history in the re-
habilitated building. 1t may take
years of toll and considerable expense
to make the museums as complete and
as valuable as they were prior to Fri
days fire. but Washburn directors and
teachers are noted for their grit-they
never give up the ship
'In this connection, / wish to say
that the pupils at Washburn are typi-
cal Kansans. They fought the fire like
heroes until the fire department ar
rived and then many of them, under
the orders of the chief. of course, were
invaluable. They boldly and unhesi-
tatingly risked their lives in saving
valuables in the building. They crop
ed their way through the fire and
smoke time after time and carried out
the chemical and natural history Ii
braries. They did the same with the
specimen cases and with all of the val
liable furniture and musical instru-
ments. The young women also acted
grandly and nobly during the conf1a-
grafton.
1.-THE fire of Friday was the first Of
any Importance that has visited Wash
burn in the past Is years. In 1892, 1
think it was, there was a disastrous
fire in the main building of the college.
I remember it so well because the boys
had joke at the expense of Prof NC
Vicar who was then connected with
Washburn. The professor was more
than six feet tall and correspondingly
ponderous around the body. He was
never known 1t was said, to go faster
than a slow walk until that fire, when
owing to the excitement to the nre,
1t was SAID, IndL he lTOItC0 ii5
ly. The pupils put out that fire with
buckets before the fire department got
there. It was said that the damage
would not have been as heavy as IL was
except that the boys were so astonish-
ed and elated to see Prof. McVicar trot
that they forgot to fight the nre Tor
several minutes
In reply to a question Mr.. Greenwood
said that the fire would not seriously
handicap the college this year. The
chemistry department will be ready for
use Monday, he said. This department
occupies all of the first moor. Inc ue-
partment of natural history and the
museum samples will find temporary
home in the observatory and classes
that formerly recited in Rice Hall will
he heard. probably for the remainder
of the year, in other at building SaEn gsov.n
a,sas+ro,,s as n did. 1t was said, if the
department had been able to have got
ten a good pressure when it first ar
rived. The poor pressure was due to
the fact that 1t was necessary to use
200 feet of hose