Blaze and Glory
William Boulton ’00
The year 1899-1900 started uneventfully enough but ended in a Blaze (the Main House fire) and Glory (the successful graduation of our class – 20 strong out of a total enrollment of 94 boys).
At six o’clock on the morning of Good Friday, April 13, the entire school was aroused by a tremendous commotion, yells of fire, and howls of excitement. I never saw it turn out so fast. The old Main House, of frame construction, had caught fire and fairly exploded, erupting as it did so boys, masters, maids, clothing, chinaware, bedding, furniture, and decorations from every door and window.
A letter from Sewell Thomas ’02 describes the fire itself more humorously:
“This building took fire about 6 AM one morning and it burned to the ground. [My roommate] Fritz had the happy thought of throwing his bureau drawers out the window, together with hastily gathered bundles of clothing. Then we dashed for freedom down the stairs. In a heroic mood I grabbed our wash stand water pitcher, with a vague idea of helping to subdue the fire. It was well underway, however, and I saw the futility of my effort, so I started to heave the pitcher into the fire. It slipped and almost conked “Old Alex,” as we called Mr. Fussell. He was busily engaged in shepherding all of us out of the building.
“I rescued most of my things and took them to the Lothrop [dorm] and then returned to see the fire. Some of the furniture pieces from the ground were successfully removed and about the time the walls collapsed the Putnam Fire Department’s one engine came dashing up with the horses blowing wildly, after covering the distance from Putnam in about 35 minutes flat.”
