Fire at the Castor School House; Bienville, Louisiana
Source: The Bienville Democrat/Ringgold Record; Bienville, Louisiana
From Across The Tracks by Mary K. Hamner
Submitted with Permission of Mary K. Hamner,
by Lynelle Cowan Stevenson, and Martha Stevenson Owen.


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               ****Castor--99 Years & Holding****

FIRE!!!   This announcement, possibly in the middle of the night,
would frighten the most courageous.

It is a cry that alerts the neighborhood even today, and all the
differences that occur among people are cast aside.  We come
together as best we can to fight the dread enemy and come to the aid
of our neighbors.

When this dread enemy appeared in the night in 1923, it was a call
that touched many.

The fire was at the school, and the means of fighting it were
primitive and ineffective.  We imagine the bucket brigades from
water wells and a sense of general panic when the crowd realized the
flames from the first building to catch fire were spreading to the
second building.

There was little sleep in the small village that night, and soon the
crowd realized there was nothing left to do but stand and watch.  It
was too big a fire to fight.  Both schools, high school and
elementary would go.

"The original school buildings were a great loss to the community,"
said Rupert Sledge.  "We had lively school plays in the community
and I was on of the star performers in one of them.  I was six years
old and played Tom Thumb."

"The stage and auditorium were located on the second floor of the
high school building.  It was situated approximately eight feet
south of the elementary building.  The two buildings comprised the
complete structure of Castor High School.  The windows of the second
floor were eighteen feet from the ground."

"Approximately 150 parents and friends climbed the stairs and
crowded into the seats arranged before the stage.  The lighting for
the play was primitive, since there were no electric lights at that
time.  A single lantern fueled with kerosene hung closely from the
pine ceiling of the room. Parents waited with anticipation and
watched as the curtain opened and the play began."

All attention was focused on the child "stars" and fire threatened
the large crowd assembled on that second floor of the building.  The
lantern was too close to that pine ceiling, and soon a circle of red
and black embers appeared.  One can imagine the panic and the
resulting tragedy of that night if someone had _?_  ___?_____
____?_____ (a few words missing from copy) fingers for life," Sledge
said,  "but lives were saved by his action that night.  Three years
later I watched both buildings burn to the ground."

Rumor has it that the fire  started from cigarettes of some careless
people meeting after hours to engage in gambling activity.  there
was blame fixing the next among those walking among the ashes of the
once-proud buildings. The fixing of fault resulted in nothing more
than talk.

Soon, the community went to wok finding places for the students who
had attended the first Castro Schools, and classes were established
in Churches, and the Woodsmen of the World building until a new
school building could be built.