A Basket of Apples

On January 23, 1896, a fire swept through the white-framed buildings of the Spencer Academy, killing my uncle, Pat (Samuel Guy) Spring, who was 10 years old at the time. Sometimes referred to as the National School of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, the Spencer Academy offered college preparatory studies to the children primarily of wealthy Choctaw citizens. When the fire started, the children were hurried from the main building as clouds of smoke filled the classrooms and hallways. Wanting to save a basket of apples his father had sent him, Pat ran back into the building just as the fire was spreading. As he returned, the stairway collapsed, causing him to be badly burned. After hurrying to the school with horses and a wagon, my grandfather, Joel S. Spring, gently laid his son on the floor of the wagon. Racing to Paris, Texas for medical help, my grandfather ran the horses to death and Pat died a few days later. My grandfather probably agonized over whether or not he was responsible for the tragedy by sending his son the gift of apples. On Pat Spring’s tombstone in the Spring Chapel Cemetery near Hugo, Oklahoma is carved a basket of apples.