Features
District revelers on the night of Oct. 22, 1916 must have seen the strange glow emanating from the Georgetown campus. Those closer could plainly see that the source of the glow was in fact a raging inferno, and the audible cries and screams of thousands might have convinced residents that the morning would bring tragic headlines and the smoldering ruins of Healey Hall. But if the bravest had climbed the hill to lend a hand, they would have heard the cries and screams become yells and cheers because the scene through the main gates was anything but tragic.
“The wildest kind of a night was seen at the Hilltop last night. The biggest bonfire Georgetown has ever known was kindled … and at its height was visible for miles into Maryland and Virginia,” the next day’s Washington Times read.
The creators of the growing conflagration were the very same students—some 1,000 strong—who “snake-danced and sang and yelled until the fuel supply vanished and the band lost its breath.”
By
Anthony Francavilla
September 27, 2007
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