Dudley Hall Fire Inflicts Damages Of $750 on HDC

A fire in the Dudley Hall basement scorched some sets of the Harvard Dramatic Club, causing an estimated $750 worth of damage, and held up WHRB's broadcasting for three hours early yesterday morning. But neither the H.D.C.'s performances nor "Deathwatch" whose the H.D.C.'s nor "Death Watch" whose sets were being prepared by the Club, will have to be cancelled because of the blaze.

The fire, which set off the building's sprinkler system, was discovered at 4:20 a.m. by operating engineers Ralph Stetson and David Craige of the Buildings and Grounds Department. Two Cambridge deputy fire chiefs who arrived on the scene ascribed the probable cause of the blaze to "disposal of cigarettes."

The firemen noted that "furniture, clothing, flooring, and door-casing" were destroyed. One of the men remarked that "if it had not been for the sprinkler going off, probably the whole building would have gone." As usual, an entire engine company, consisting of three engines and two ladder trucks, was sent out.

The H.D.C.'s equipment had to be moved from Big Tree into Dudley recently to make way for the Alumni Archives. H.D.C. president David E. Green '58, who estimated the damage at $750, said that the major loss was a lighting board used by the Club's electricians. The Buildings and Grounds Department could give no estimate of the loss suffered by the University.

One of WHRB's transmission wires was short-circuited by the fire, along with the other electrical wiring in Dudley. But regular transmission to the entire College was reestablished by 1:20 p.m., according to Loren L. Wyss '58, president of WHRB.