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Collections >> The First Century of the First State University >>
Primary document
Title:
Joseph B. Lucas's Account of the Burning of the Belfry, August
11, 1856: Electronic Edition.
Author: Lucas, Joseph Blount
Funding from the University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill supported the electronic publication of this title.
Text transcribed by
Bari Helms
Images scanned by
Caitlin R. Donnelly
Text encoded by
Caitlin R. Donnelly
First Edition, 2007
Size of electronic edition: ca. 12K
Publisher: The University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2007
The electronic edition is a part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.
Languages used in the text:
English
Revision history:
2007-02-27, Caitlin R. Donnelly finished TEI/XML encoding.
Source(s):
Title of collection: University of North Carolina Papers (#40005),
University Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title of document: Joseph B. Lucas's Account of the Burning of the
Belfry, August 11, 1856
Author: Joseph B. Lucas
Description: 2 pages, 3 page images
Note:
Call number 40005 (University Archives, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Editorial practices
The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Originals are in the University Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved.
Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the text.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ".
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '.
All em dashes are encoded as —.
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions, see the section Editorial Practices.
The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Originals are in the University Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved.
Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the text.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ".
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '.
All em dashes are encoded as —.
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions, see the section Editorial Practices.
Page [1]
Chapel Hill, N.
C.
Aug 11th 1856.
I had retired to bed Saturday night, Aug 9th, much earlier than I usually do, and
had been sleeping for some time, when I was roused up by loud shoutings, ringing
of the bell, and throwing fire balls. The alarm of "fire", a by no means unusual
cry among the young men, was uttered two or three times, and, by some, jokingly
responded to. Finding matters becoming quiet, I paid no further attention and
again dosed off.
About One and a half o'clock, I suppose, I was suddenly startled from sleep, by
the cry of fire, and, looking thro' my window, I saw a small light, but supposed
it to
Page [2]
proceed from a candle or lamp in the West
building
. The cry had continued for a few moments only, when a bright
light flashed into my room. I immediately dressed with great dispatch, thinking
that the West
Building
was in flames, and with the intention of rendering every aid in
my power to its unhappy inmates, but soon discovered that it was the belfry,
wrapped in a broad sheet of flame.
Page [2]
. The cry had continued for a few moments only, when a bright
light flashed into my room. I immediately dressed with great dispatch, thinking
that the West
Building
was in flames, and with the intention of rendering every aid in
my power to its unhappy inmates, but soon discovered that it was the belfry,
wrapped in a broad sheet of flame.Considerable excitement had prevailed among the young men in regard to the
different elections, and there seemed to be large numbers of them in the Campus
both at the time when the balls were thrown, and during the burning of the
belfry.
Joseph B.
Lucas, Tutor,
No. 5, East Building
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