The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1921-01-01
MAIN DORMTTORY OF BEN
NETT COLLEGE IS DESTROY
ED BY FIRE.
Loss Placed at $4,000
Explosion Made
Fire Fighting Difficult.

Greensboro. N. c.. Dec. 3O.--Only the
four walls OF Carolina hail, build
ing used for chapel and dormitory
space at Bennett college. are stand
ing to indicate that such building
ever existed on the campus. This IA
so as result Of a fire OF unknow.n
the. building and, continued its devas-
tatlng course until the building had
peen completely gutted. President
brank Trigg estimates the damage nj
ABOUT $4,000. with about $4,000 in
This building, four-story structure.
one or the principal dormitories OF
tniS institution, continued to burn un-
" ~ ls mad been burned from attic to
basement, in spite of the fact that the
Iour ilre companies of the city kept
tWo streams OF water flowing on the
burning building.
A few minutes before 10 O'clock in
me morning some students outside the
nulIdlng. noticed smoke coming from
tne WINDOWS OF the fourth story. Pres
ldent Trigg, who was on the second
aioor loot making his usual round OF In
and made an attempt to notify the de-
partment by telephone.
In statement issued by the coll
reg .ege Ell II was announced that for some
reason II was impossible to secure any
response from Cne operator, that uulte
few minutes were used In the ~.
tempt, and that fully 25 minutes had
eFFesnspired between the time the first
effort was made to secure the fire de-
partment and the time when the com
panies arrived on the grounds The
IRE had by this time gained much
st,ny nteaaway' IT was stated, and the two
able to make any telling effect
IN addition to the loss of the build
ing sWh1eh could possibly be restored
tor I SfO,OVO. all the .furnishings-bed
dressers. washstands. tables and
chairs-were either consumed by the
iianes or made useless by water and
neat, according to the college author
1s,es' ran @ O1 the seats, chairs, piano. or
san ana other furnishings of the
chapel, which was on the ground floor
only the piano and organ were saved
The loss of furnishings. ii is estImat-
eu: VIII amount to fully $4,000.
rived. there was some Kind Of an ex-
ploslon on one of the upper floors
Whlch; according to members of the
i,pe bpildfnFp fGeparttment, tIne shook the entire
and wrecked the ceiling and plaster.
ing some of the firemen were inside
the building when the explosion oc-
CURED, and one was blown is or 20
was seriously hurts Chief Tayior and
Asslstant Chief Shaw were among
those in the building, and their costs
- anu nnlr were. singed by the explosion,
ment. no Nopeit-
What. caused the explosion. as welI
as what caused the fire, was a great
mystery, and remains n mystery. Some
people thought that it was due per
maps 20 collection of gases; Others
that it might have been dynamite. But
NOBODY could explain. -
IL was stated that after the expIo-
sion it was considered both difficult
ana dangerous to attempt to fight the
IRE from the inside.
there were so or 75 students room
iing In the building, according to Pres
iuent Trigg, although only a few OF
them were In the building when the
IRE broke out. In the attempt to save
their personal affects, several OF the
boys remained in the building longer
than it was safe for them to remain.
ana they got out by jumping from
the second story windows only n Few
scratches did they receive.
President Trigg stated that half Of
me students and several of the teach-
ers living in the building lost eyery-
thing save the clothes they were
Wearins and the books they had with
them in class.
A. and T. College and the Lutheran