Darrow School - Shaker Post Yearbook (New Lebanon, NY)

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1936 The Peg Board ashes, with sparks and burning cinders all through them, were sent by the wind Hying into this pile of combustible material, and most calamitous was the result? The building was 8o by 30 feet in size, and in the rooms above the store of wood the sisters did their tailoring, dressmaking etc.,3 and ,there a large number of them were gathered, engaged in their quiet occupations when the alarm was given. The consternation can be imagined. The flames leaped into the upper stories almost simultaneously with the alarm. There was no time to save even the smallest article. One sister was just going through that fascinating exercise, trying on a new dress, and a group about her were chirping about the bit to be let out in this place, the seam to be taken in in that place, and the garment was being smoothed about the happy maiden's form when the cry came, and she was compelled to rush away half nude. The whole building was almost immediately in Hames, and there was consumed with it all the paraphernalia of a woman's workshop, a thousand dollars worth of cotton and woolen cloth, stocking yarn, clothes, and six sewing machines, tables, furniture etc. There was not time to save even a spool of thread or a pair of scissors, but all the contents were utterly destroyed with the building! The Dwelling House About two rods east of the shops , stood the family dwelling house, with its dozens of busy inmates just at this time on the point of sitting down to dinner. The meal was spread on the tables, and the first dinner bell had rung when the fire-fiend struck the structure. It was one of the best buildings owned by the fraternity, 80 x 60 feet in size and four stories high, besides a roomy garret. 'It was covered with a slate roof, but that was not enough to save it, and in about half an hour from the time the shops were in a blaze, the dwelling house was a mass of fire. A small amount of bedding and clothing from the second story was saved, and that was all.5 As the roaring Hames mounted up through its stories and burst out of its many windows, it was an appall- ing sight. The people forgot that frost was biting them and the freezing gale that rushed down from the northwest, and stood terror-stricken, looking at the destruction that was going on. All the wearing apparel, the house-keeping utensils, food, crockery, furniture, were burned and melted in the awful heat. The building alone cost thirty thousand dollars, and among the provisions destroyed were loo bushels of potatoes, IO barrels of flour, 6 barrels of sugar, large stores of tea, butter and other groceries, zooo pounds of cheese, sauces, preserves and canned fruit. It was a scene to be remembered for a life-time. In the midst of all the terror there was a new alarm. One of the sisters was in a room in an upper story, cut off from escape! Elder Daniel Crossman gallantly rushed to the rescue. A ladder was obtained with all haste, and instantly raised, and Sister Harriet Goodwin was glad, for once in her life,'to trust herself to the brave elder's arms as she made the descent! We are sorry to hear that Mr. Crossman was afterwards quite seriously hurt by falling from a roof. Andrew Barrett had his collar bone broken by a fall at the same time, and Elder Daniel Boler' was badly burned and nearly lost his life from suffocation in trying to save property. Other Buildings Burned The huge dwelling house furnished clouds of cinders and sparks to start fires among other buildings in every direction, and the house occupied by the ministry very near the church edifice, was soon on fire.' That fell next, and the meeting house was only saved by the greatest exer- tions. lt was considerably damaged. While the efforts were being directed to the saving of these, 2. This was one explanation given at the time, but later it was definitely proved that the hrs was caused by an incendiary. The regu- lations were to empty ashes only in a iireproof building provided for the purpose. 3. Also basketwork. 4. After the fire Sister Sarah Bates said, I haven't even a thimble left. 5. This is a slight exaggeration. Some of the sisters' meeting dresses were rescued from the attic, but not much was saved. 6. She crawled down by herself. She had gone in to save the Covenant, a book in which membership in the society was recorded. 7. If it had not been for Dr. Broyer, a physician from Australia who was visiting here, he would have died. 8. The old Ministry House was a frame building. It stood on the site of the later Ministry House, now the residence of the Headmaster of the Lebanon School. It was used by the Ministry as a workshop. 55

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The Peg Board 1936 CHURCH FAMILY DWELLING HOUSE THE HERB HOUSE The central building in the left-hand picture and the building in the right-hand picture were both destroytd. the fire occurred within our town limits, for the fraternity is so well known here, and their quiet village so often visited by our people in the summer season, that they seem quite like our own citizens. Though eight miles away, and beyond a great mountain, the smoke of the conflagra- tion was plainly seen from our streets, and even before the news of the disaster reached us, people were watching the thick clouds roll up over the western range, and had concluded that a large fire, and probably a disastrous one, was raging in that vicinity. About one o'clock a telegram called for help, and the old Housatonic hand-engine, with a supply of hose, accompanied by a dozen or more firemen, was promptly forwarded, and notwith- standing the bad condition of the roads, Nash's four horses-drawing the engine, which was loaded on a sleigh-made the trip in about an hour. It was a terrible and sad scene that met the view of these helpers as they rushed down the steep mountain side to the stricken village. Hundreds of excited men were darting about, slipping over the ice and plunging through the snow, the Hames were rolling high from burning buildings, and huge masses, bunches of fire-they can hardly be called sparks -,were being blown great distances in the air by the strong bitter wind that swept over the unfortunate settlement? With a cheer they hurried down to give a helping hand, and they were received with a responsive cheer from the almost discouraged and worn-out workers who had been fighting the destroyer so valiant- ly but vainly. A hundred willing hands quickly get the little machine in a suitable place for operations, and in spite ofthe intense frost which soon lined the hose with ice, water was thrown freely and copiously and was of much service in preserving threatened structures. The Origin and Progress The fire occurred in what is known as the Church family, in the immediate vicinity of the Shaker place of worship, and it was first discovered in the building called the Sisters' Shop. Contrary to established rules some one had emptied, near the building, a lot of ashes fresh from the stoves. The lower story was almost filled with seasoned firewood, and there were apertures left in the arches where the doors were situated, for the air to enter and circulate for the purpose of seasoning the wood. This Scplains the beginning of the mischief. There were 75 cords of this wood on the lower or ground story, all sawed, split, and piled, and pretty thoroughly dried. The same amount was piled outside, the whole forming a formidable starting place for a fire. The hot 1. The thermometer stood at six below zero. 54

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The Peg Board 1936 the fire unobserved had lighted the combustibles in a barn about IO rods from the road, on the east side.' Instantly there was a rush in that direction, but the fire had got a hold that could not be loosened. Twenty tons of hay, a new wagon, tools of all sorts, two oxen, and a tool shed Ioo feet long were consumed by the fire in that locality. Clustered in the vicinity of the dwelling house and the sisters' workshop, were the ice house, gas house, and store house, which were all destroyed. The latter contained quite a large quantity of kerosene, flour, etc., but they were removed before fiames reached the building. On the east side of the road is the infirmary, with all the conveniences needed for a hospital, and valuable in its contents as well as the structure itself. This was scorched and blackened, but saved by our fire engine and the extinguisher from Tilden's works. Altogether there were eight buildings des- troyed, and the trustees estimate the total loss at flO0,000Qm and there is not a cent of insurance to recover. Items and Incidents In the midst of their distress the Shakers did not forget to be hospitable, and the people from Pittsfield, firemen and others, were most generously served with an abundance of substantial re- freshments. They speak in the highest terms of the Shaker kindness in this respect. The firemen returned to town about 9 P.M. and the engine was brought home on Sunday morning by Shaker teams. Of course there was the most distracting confusion in the village during the fire. Goods of all kinds were piled in the church, making a collection never before seen in a house of worship. The sisters lost all their clothing except what they wore, and one young woman was seen going about the church looking for a shoe to match the only one she had time to put on in her flight from the dwelling. The famous big barns of the society, where 200 tons of hay are stored, were in great danger, and it seemed at one time as though they could not be preserved, but the wind blew from them and thus they were saved. About Ioo people were made homeless by the fire, but the adjacent families kindly took them in, and they are still provided for by them. The question of rebuilding is yet to be decided. The Shakers, though wealthy in real estate are not supposed to have a large surplus of money, and the loss will be severely felt. Elder Evans is a confirmed spiritualist and believes in materialization and all that. The question is now asked why didn't the spirits tell him the great fire was about to happen? It was a perfect Chicago fire to the Shakers. Not exactly caused by a cow kicking over a lamp, but by a mule dumping hot ashes at a wood-house door.11 It took the daily papers till Monday to get an account of the catastrophe and then, such accounts as they had! Here is a sample which we clipt from the Boston Herald:- A fire at New Lebanon, N. H. about noon Saturday destroyed two dwelling-houses, two barns, and a shop belonging to the Church family of Shakers. An engine was sent from Housatonicf' One of the sisters, whose names we could not learn, was determined to secure a box in the upper story of the main building, which, at the time, was not safe to enter. The men had been driven out by the fire and smoke. But she felt courageous, and in she went followed by Wm. Fromly, who was seen coming out with the sister under one arm, and the box under the other, hav- ing passed through great fiame and smoke in so doing. That woman's life is due to Mr. Fromly.U While John Connor was engaged in getting out the cattle at the barn, which was burning fearfully at the time and when all but two were let loose, a man on the outside knocked in a window, which made a good draft, and Mr. Connor came near losing his life by the smoke and 9. This barn stood behind the Shaker school. 10. This estimate is too conservative. The loss was nearer 5200,000. Cf 2 11. . Note . 12. This was Sister Elizabeth Sidle, a deaf woman, who was going back after her things. 5 6