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Memories of the Fire of '48 by Herbert Standing and Wilmer Tjossem On a January evening in 1948, at about 7:00 p.m., the Penn com-munity was shaken by a thun-derous blast at the "Nagler House," opposite the southwest corner of the campus. The house had been blown apart, and the flames were already beginning to leap up from the center of the ruins. Two of the Penn faculty had rooms there, including Cecilia Sheppard, Professor of Religion and Philosophy. When the Penn people reached the scene of the explosion, there was much confusion as to the status of those who had been in the house at the time of the blast. The community later learned that the gas company had been called earlier in the day to re-pair a suspected gas leak. The company workers had been there, but had evidently not dealt adequately with the prob-lem. When the residents of the house smelled gas that evening, Ernest Weed, Superintendent of Build-ings and Grounds at the College, had been called to come over and investigate. At the time of the explosion, Ern-est Weed had been at the top of the stairs. His hands were se-verely burned. The sixteen year old daughter of the family who lived in the house was the most seriously burned. Although she was able to escape from the ru-ins, she died a few hours later. It soon became apparent that the only person left in the house was Cecilia Shepherd. She was trapped in a corner of the base-ment underneath the first floor which was held up by the outer foundation. This floor was tilting toward the center of the house where the explosion had blown away the center floor supports. The explosion had lifted the house from its foundation so that there was a fairly large crawl space just above where Cecilia was trapped. However, there seemed to be no way to get to her. Quickly, someone brought an ax, and Richard Sten-house began chopping away at the floor. The fire in the center of the ru-ins became hotter and hotter. Soon Dick Stenhouse and Her-bert Standing were the only ones remaining in the crawl space. The crowd outside could see the firemen down at the fire hydrant on the corner pulling on their rubber boots. All that Her-bert could do was to yell for water and thus reassure Cecilia that attempts were still being made to save her from the on-rushing fire. Just in time, the stream from the firehose began to play upon the students in the crawl space, and the fire was quenched so that Cecilia could be released from her entrapment. Neither Dick Stenhouse nor Her-bert Standing was injured in any way, except to become thor-oughly drenched. Herbert accom-panied Cecilia in the car to the Mahaska County Hospital where he was kept overnight. Al-though Cecilia had multiple burns and was hospitalized longer, she suffered much more from the long term effects of the emotional trauma of the fire. On the next afternoon, the Col-lege community had a workday to help clear up the debris of what had once been the Nagler house. Several months later, two Penn students, Dick and Herbert, were honored by the State of Iowa for heroism. 24 The Great Penn Reunion
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Title | Bulletin, Reunion Extra - #115, page 24 |
Identifier | Bulletin-reunion-extra - 024_page 24 |
Language | English |
Rights | http://www.wmpenn.edu/Library/about.html |
Transcription | Memories of the Fire of '48 by Herbert Standing and Wilmer Tjossem On a January evening in 1948, at about 7:00 p.m., the Penn com-munity was shaken by a thun-derous blast at the "Nagler House," opposite the southwest corner of the campus. The house had been blown apart, and the flames were already beginning to leap up from the center of the ruins. Two of the Penn faculty had rooms there, including Cecilia Sheppard, Professor of Religion and Philosophy. When the Penn people reached the scene of the explosion, there was much confusion as to the status of those who had been in the house at the time of the blast. The community later learned that the gas company had been called earlier in the day to re-pair a suspected gas leak. The company workers had been there, but had evidently not dealt adequately with the prob-lem. When the residents of the house smelled gas that evening, Ernest Weed, Superintendent of Build-ings and Grounds at the College, had been called to come over and investigate. At the time of the explosion, Ern-est Weed had been at the top of the stairs. His hands were se-verely burned. The sixteen year old daughter of the family who lived in the house was the most seriously burned. Although she was able to escape from the ru-ins, she died a few hours later. It soon became apparent that the only person left in the house was Cecilia Shepherd. She was trapped in a corner of the base-ment underneath the first floor which was held up by the outer foundation. This floor was tilting toward the center of the house where the explosion had blown away the center floor supports. The explosion had lifted the house from its foundation so that there was a fairly large crawl space just above where Cecilia was trapped. However, there seemed to be no way to get to her. Quickly, someone brought an ax, and Richard Sten-house began chopping away at the floor. The fire in the center of the ru-ins became hotter and hotter. Soon Dick Stenhouse and Her-bert Standing were the only ones remaining in the crawl space. The crowd outside could see the firemen down at the fire hydrant on the corner pulling on their rubber boots. All that Her-bert could do was to yell for water and thus reassure Cecilia that attempts were still being made to save her from the on-rushing fire. Just in time, the stream from the firehose began to play upon the students in the crawl space, and the fire was quenched so that Cecilia could be released from her entrapment. Neither Dick Stenhouse nor Her-bert Standing was injured in any way, except to become thor-oughly drenched. Herbert accom-panied Cecilia in the car to the Mahaska County Hospital where he was kept overnight. Al-though Cecilia had multiple burns and was hospitalized longer, she suffered much more from the long term effects of the emotional trauma of the fire. On the next afternoon, the Col-lege community had a workday to help clear up the debris of what had once been the Nagler house. Several months later, two Penn students, Dick and Herbert, were honored by the State of Iowa for heroism. 24 The Great Penn Reunion |
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