BOYS' SCHOOL BURNS; 200 SAVED BY DRILL

Cadets March Out of New York Military Academy Near Cornwall in Night Clothes.

BIG BUILDING DESTROYED

Was Once Hotel and Fire Spread So Rapidly Almost Nothing Was Saved - School Soon to Reopen.

Special to the New York Times.

CORNWALL-ON-THE-HUDSON, Jan. 10. - The main building of the New York Military Academy, a preparatory school near here, was burned this morning, and nearly 200 young cadets were compelled to heave the building, to face the mountain winds, the majority wearing only their night garments. The building is ruined, and less than a dozen of the cadets saved anything at all. The loss is estimated from $125,000 to $150,000, and is partly covered by insurance.

Cadet William Olin Sibert, a son of Col. Sibert of the United States Army, one of the Chief Engineers in charge of the Panama Canal, first saw the fire, at 2:30 A. M.

Young Sibert, whose room was just above the main entrance, was awakened by the smell of burning, and when he opended the door into the hallway he was almost driven back by the rush of smoke from below. However, he ran through the halls, shouting "Fire!" while knocking on the doors of the rooms. The building was an old one, and Major M. F. Davis, U. S. A., the Commandant, had time and again impressed upon the cadets the importance of the fire drill, and not a cadet, Mr. Davis said this afternoon, forgot his instruction, 'and the military way in which they left the building, which within ten minutes was a mass of flames, would have done credit to the West Pointers.'

Cadet Major Percival and Cadet Captains Doughty, Hess, and Duffy took command, each taking a floor in the order named. Cadet Travis, the bugler, sounded the call to arms, and the boy officers directed the exit of the cadets. There was no time to dress, and more than fifty were barefooted and clad only in their pajamas when the [sic] reached the campus. Others had managed to get into shoes, some had socks, and perhaps a score had overcoats. The dozen who saved anything at all were those who had rooms on the first floor.

William Barnes of Albany was one of the few who saved a good part of his property. As soon as a semblance of order was established following the fire young Barnes promptly divided his wardrobe with his less fortunate comrades. A dozen cadets, it was said this afternoon, were dressed in clothes belonging to the Albany youngster. Others as fortunate as Barnes were just as generous.

The destroyed building was until sixteen years ago a famous Hudson River hotel. It included besides the sleeping quarters of the cadets the library of over 5,000 volumes, the newly fitted up cadet gymnasium, and the living quarters of Col. Sebastian C. Jones, the Superintendent, and his family. Col. Jones, like the cadets, lost everything.

Among the cadets who suffered the loss of their effects were Seth Gerson Hess, John Henry and Sydney Goodwin Duffy, William Henry Fellows. Edward H. Nicoll, Jr., Curtis Albert Noble, Arnold Cornwell Pouch, and Richard Penn Smith, all of New York City. Most of these left for their homes this afternoon to replentish their wardrobes.

As soon as he had his boys all accounted for, this morning, Col. Lavis set about making preparations to reopen the school. Before noon he had leased a large hotel building a mile distant from the old campus and had ordered the dormitory equipment for the building. The school, he announced, will resume work within the next three days.

A new building, it is said, will be erected on the site of the old main structure.

The New York Times, New York, NY, 11 Jan 1910
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Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!