The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-01-26
REBUILD PoWNAL CHURCH
Baptist Society viii Replace struc.
ture Destroyed by Fire.

Baptist Society viii Replace Strue-
ture Destroyed by Fire.
1t was unanimously voted at a
meeting yesterday (Tuesday) of the
Pownal Baptist church, which was at
tended by between 80 and 40 mem
bers that the church which was total
ly destroyed by fire a week ago with
the store Of A. G. Parker & Son,
should be rebuilt A committee con-
sisting of the trustees, the official
board and two or three other men,
bers of the church was appointed to
solicit funds for the erection Of new
building.
The plan for this was presented at
the meeting by Rev. II. Garfield
Mohl, pastor of the church and was
unanimously accepted, as was the Of
fer Of the Methodist Brethren for the
free use II their edifice for Sunday
afternoon services until such time as
the Baptist church is in a position
to have an edifice of its own. The
church and parsonage were free from
debt and this makes 1t possible to
proceed at once without embarrass-
ment to the erection Of new struc-
ture.
The insurance on the church
amounted to $4,000 and this has been
paid in full, as was all other insur-
ance held on the Parker store and
On the Parker home and the contents
Of both store and home. The con-
.ents Of the store were entirely de-
'5troyed, but the furniture In the
house was only slightly damaged by
removal.
Arthur G. Parker was in the city
this morning for the first time since
he fire and said that the insurance
companies had been very pleasing to
he insured In their adjustments Of
losses caused by the fire, and that
ne post Office inspector, e. F. Sharpe
4 Pittsfeld, who was in Pownal Sat
lrday for the purpose of inspecting
he loss on the post Office which was
ocated in Parker's store, expressed
himself as well satisfied with condi-
tons under the circumstances.
Mr.. Parker, the postmaster, denies
that 1t was impossible to purchase
stamps in Pownal on the day of the
ire or that scarcely any mail was
destroyed. He said this morning
hat he always made 1t practice to
remove the stamps from the post Of
fee at night and place them in his
house. He said that the only things
saleable at the post Office which could
not be obtained that day were
stamped envelopes and postal cards.
There was one valuable registered
letter which was also removed from
he post Office when the store was
closed the night OF the fire, and
which was taken TO his hime as is
always the case with registered mail
He denies that the gasoline system
If lighting, used in the store, was In
any way responsible for the fire
This is known as the Fool system, "
and is so arranged that no matter
what the emergency It does not ex,
plode. In this particular instance
when workmen were digging through
he ruins they found that the safety
valve on the tank In the cellar had
worked and that the tank had not
exploded, the contents being released
into the yard as is planned under a
certain degree of heat.
Seven workmen are engaged in dig
ging over the ruins and recovering
anything of value. AS told In The
Herald on the day of the fire, the
safe was removed from the ruins
It was not opened until the next day
ample time being allowed for 1t to
cool of and only one small bundle
Of papers which were done up in a
sheepskin were found to be damaged
The sheepskin, under the heat, had
formed a substance not unlike glue
and this made II difficult to deciphel
the papers, or to separate them, but
they were not damaged by fire.
Yesterday afternoon the workmer
uncovered the remains of sheep
skin coat worn by Mr.. Parker wher
on long driving trips and in one
pocket of which had been left s4.9I
in change In a pocketbook. The
heat had destroyed the pocketbool
but the coins were intact and i'm
printed clearly on the lining OF the
pocket were reproductions OF the
faces of the coins, such Of them al
touched the lining.
In the ruins also we're found the
post office keys which open the mai
pouches.
Mr.. Parker says that he will oper
Immediately a small store almos
across the street in which the firm
OF A. G.. Parker &. Son will continue
to do business, although not for Z
time on the scale that II has beer
conducted in recent years. They
will handle for the time being gro
ceries, school SUPPLIES and othel
small articles with the expectation o.
charging In the immediate FUTURE
North Adams Herald.