Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/134

116 CHARLES E. LEWIS J* In 1874 Prof Laing resigned as Head Master, on the ground of his unwillingness to be separated longer from his invalid wife and aged mother. Rev. George Burton, who had been assisting Mr. Laing, became Head Master and resigned the rectorship of Trinity Church to give his entire time to the school. The school was very prosperous until 1877, usually paying its expenses. On November 8 of that year, however, the building burned down, causing a loss of $25,000. The school was moved to temporary quarters in Holliday's Hotel building in East Portland. In March, 1878, Mrs. Anderson, a widow and matron of the institution, was delivered of a child at the school. She claimed that Burton was the father of it. Burton at first denied the accusation but later confessed, made a settlement with the woman and left with his family on the first boat for California. This tragedy, combined with the peculiar circumstances surrounding the fire a few months previous, as well as rumors that had passed about, caused a general belief that Rev. Burton had set fire to the building himself in order to cover other mis- deeds of a similar character. The two circumstances to- gether almost wrecked the school, although Messrs. Miner and Grant, two of the instructors, finished the year with about thirty boys. 12 In 1878 a new building was erected on the site of the old one, with a capacity of thirty boarders. Dr. Joseph W. Hill, of Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale, was se- cured as Head Master, who continued in that position until 1901. Dr. Hill at the time of his resignation de- scribes his coming as follows: "When I, a young man fresh from college, entered upon this work twenty-three years ago, it was certainly a day of small things, as far as the school was concerned. I well remember the open- 12 Judge Deady describes both the fire and the other affair with great detail in his diary. He had been a strong supporter of Rev. Burton all of the time and this disclosure was a great shock to him. It was mentioned in the Oregon Churchman that Rev. Burton had been deposed from the ministry and spoke of the disgrace which he had brought upon the school and the church.