Shortly after 10 o'clock a.m. on last Tuesday, Rev. L. F. Abernethy heard a noise similar to that caused by the falling of some object in one of the upstairs rooms at the M. E. parsonage and upon going upstairs to investigate he discovered almost all of the rooms to be filled with smoke and the clothing in a closet not far from one of the flues in the house to be on fire. He at once turned in the alarm, and in a short time the fire company and a large crowd of people had assembled. The work of locating the origin of the fire and of extinguishing the flames was a little difficult and required some daring work through the suffocating smoke on the part of the fire fighters. An exceedingly strong wind was blowing from the north at the time, but luckily the entrance to the rooms were so tightly closed that very little air could get in. This fact prevented the rapid spreading of the fire and no doubt saved the entire building, as well as the church nearby, from being totally destroyed. Considerable water was applied in extinguishing the fire, and as a result nearly all parts of the house were flooded, thus making necessary the replastering and repairing of nearly all the rooms. The furniture and most of the other contents of the lower rooms were removed to the church with very little loss, bur quite a quantity of clothing which was in the upstairs rooms was either destroyed or damaged by the fire and water. The loss to the building and to its contents is covered by insurance. The parsonage will be put in good shape again as soon as possible. The origin of the fire is not certain, but it is supposed that one of the stops in the flue was shaken loose by the strong wind, thus allowing some sparks to reach the nearby wood or some other material. At the time the fire was discovered, Mrs. Abernethy's aged father was asleep in a bed upstairs and not far away from the fire. He was rescued without injury resulting. While the parsonage is being repaired, Rev. and Mrs. Abernethy are staying with Mr. and Mrs. Victor J. Allderdice.
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