Matthews Hall Blaze Attracts 300 Yardlings

Three hundred Freshmen swarmed around Matthews Hall early last night as firemen doused a small blaze in a second-floor lavatory. Damage was slight.

The fire began when a cigarette ignited rubbish between the lavatory wall and the hall, Deputy Chief Charles O'Connor said. Someone had tossed the cigarette there earlier in the evening.

Cambridge firemen answered a phoned alarm at 8:33 o'clock, sending six engines and a rescue squad to the scene. A crew quickly chopped through the hall wall and extinguished the smouldering mass in short order.

Freshmen Gather to Watch

Meanwhile, Yardlings streamed from their dorms and crowded around the engines in front of North Matthews. Students pressing inside the dorm had to be cleared away several times to let the hoses and fire-fighters through.

Charles R. Beber '51, a resident of Matthews, was the first to notice the smoke in an upstairs lavatory. With two friends, Frank C. Parson '51 and Burton N. Bromson '51, he trained an extinguisher on the spot.

Seconds later, proctor Richard G. Leindienst '47 1L phoned in the alarm. Not knowing what to expect, the Department dispatched the major part of their equipment into the Yard. An "all-out" was sounded half an hour later.