100 Years Ago in Macon: Santa burned when beard catches fire; frigid Christmas forecast

Today’s dive into our archives turns up stories from The Telegraph on Dec. 22, 1916, when the newspaper included items about a Santa Claus whose Santa suit caught fire, another about a blaze at the Mercer University president’s house and a frigid Christmas Day forecast.

A young man who had lived in Macon was burned in Albany the day before when a firecracker tossed at his feet blew up and set fire to the Santa suit he was wearing.

“The flames quickly ran up the front of the suit and ignited the flowing false beard, and before rescuers could snatch the burning beard and garments from him, the young man was severely burned,” a front-page article reported.

Another item in the paper that day a century ago mentioned a fire that damaged the Mercer University president’s mansion. A headline on the story said the president, W. L. Pickard, who had been out of town when the blaze happened, was “given rather rude shock” upon his return.

In other news, the Christmas Day forecast appeared in a front-page headline: “Christmas Is To Be Freezing Cold.”

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 1:51 PM with the headline "100 Years Ago in Macon: Santa burned when beard catches fire; frigid Christmas forecast."