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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1912)
Published Weekly by the Students' Association of the Agricultural and Mechanical Colleg-e of Texas. VOLUME XIX COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, MAY 31, 1912 NUMBER 29 MAIN BUILDING BURNS Early Monday Morning Fire Entirely Devastates $100,000 Structure. Most of the Exchange and Athletic Store Goods Saved. Offi cial Records, Including the “Ram” Book Preserved. LIBRARY A TOTAL LOSS. A. and M. Cadets Prove Themselves Valiant Fire Heroes and Stubbornly Fight the Flames Until Clear That All Was Lost. Captain Holiday’s Third Visit. He and Lieut R. C. Burleson To Be Military Judges During Com mencement—New Command ant Will Be Visitor. Capt. T. W. Holliday and Lieut. R. C. Burleson, both of whom are officers of the Third Field Artillery, are to be the ones who will say which company of the regiment and which individual of each company is the winner at the commencement contests. This is the third year that Capt. Holliday has | been assigned this duty. Lieut. Burleson is a brother to Ca det Burleson of Company M. He went to school at A. & M. in 1902, but left for West Point before he was grad uated. He lacked so little of graduat ing, however, that he was here on the 25th of this month for the purpose of taking examinations for his degree at this college. He will be back June 9 to assist Capt. Holliday in the award ing of the prizes. Lieut. Levi P. Brown, our new com mandant, who will make his debut here next fall, will also be on the campus during commenct-nent. This will be his first time at A. & M., and the campus is certainly in a ragged condition to receive visitors, especial ly prospective residents, as he is des tined to he. He will, though, get an insight to the adverse conditions which, in a large measure, it will be come his duty to overcome. These officers will be the guests of Capt. and Mrs. Fenton during their stay here. For the eighth time this year fire call sounded, the fire starting in the Main Building at 2:15 a. m. Monday. The underclassmen were all sleeping soundly, and were with difficulty aroused. Many of the Senior class, having examinations scheduled for the next day, were studying late. The lire was first discovered by Cadets G. W. Ashford and W. G. Church, who, hear ing the crackling of flames, looked up frdni their books and saw the reflec tion of the fire in the windows of the distant Chemical Building. They im mediately turned in the alarm. The hose and ladder companies appeared promptly on the scene. Hose lines called from the work of fire-fighting and put to rescuing the official records and other valuable property. On ac count of the flames, none of the mov able property of the third and fourth floors could be saved, but practically everything on the two lower floors was saved. The records of the secretary’s office, those of students now in the school, those of the treasurer’s, the dean’s, the president’s and the com mandant’s offices were saved, as well as the furniture and the Long Horns contained in the Press Club room, the stock of the Athletic Store and nine- tenths of that of the Exchange Store. On the third and fourth floors was Corner-Stone Laying At A. & M. College. On Monday, June 3, Masons of Bryan and College to Lay Corner-stone of Harvey Mitchell Hall. MAIN BUILDING A. AND M. COLLEGE BURNING. Monday, June 3, there is to be a ceremony incident to the laying of the corner-stone of Harvey Mitchell Hall at. A. & M. College. This, hail is the new dormitory that is being erected at the college, and which will be ready for occupancy at the opening of the next session. The building is to be named in honor of Col. Harvey Mitchell, who was one of the most active men in behalf of locat ing A. & M. College in Brazos county. His work was recognized as being the pivotal activity that brought the col lege to this county and at the request of the people of Brazos county' the hoard of directors named the building for him. The ceremonies incident to laying the corner-stone will be conducted by the Masonic order. In this movement Gen. H. B. Stoddard of Bryan, one of the highest ranking Masons in the world, has been active. The arrange ments for the corner-stone laying are now being made.—Bryan Eagle. First Fish—Fire! Fire! Fire! Second Fish—Where is the fire? First Fish—Didn’t you see those nig gers running up to second floor of Legett with those fire extinguishers? Second Fish—Oh! you fool. Those were not fire extinguishers. They are hug sprayers. were promptly laid from every avail able fire plug and carried up the stairs to the third floor. The fire started at about the middle of the building on the fourth floor and was a raging mass of flames by the time the hose reached the top, having eaten its way over half the fourth floor and nearly down to the third floor. Although the pressure was heavy, and the quantity of water suf ficient, the fire had gained such head way' that it could not be checked, but on the contrary^ gained headway, spread all over the top floor and readily' burned its way down to the bottom floor. When it was certain that the build ing could not be saved, everymne was lost all the furniture of the section rooms, of the Austin Literary Society, and the property of the United States government kept in the armory, which was valued at about $5000, and con sisted of 300 rifles and the field equip ment used by the corps of cadets on their practice marches. This property, as is required by the War Department was completely insured. Except for the building, the heaviest money loss is in the library of the col lege. In the early days of the institu tion extreme care was exercised in the purchase of the books for the library and some very valuable publications (Continued on page 2.) Corps Presents Perrin a Gold Watch. At. a meeting of the corps in chapel last Saturday night a gold watch, suit ably engraved, was presented to Cadet Harvey Perrin of San Antonio. The watch is a present from the student body to Perrin for his untiring efforts in recovering the body of Cadet Hun ter, who was droyvned on the hike. The presentation was made by Presi dent Milner, who paid many compli ments to Perris for his heroism and perseverance in the work he did. In Bull Ticks. Flip Eason—That’s soYter like I command. “Parade rest, front!” the