Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-02-18
LOCAL NEWS.
TUEsDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY IS.
ANNuA1 MEETING OF THE ALEXANDRA

night. Benjamin Barton pte'io"'
Robert Jameson acted as Secretary. IL. Il
Carpe. President of the Company pre-
septed and read tho following report. when
was accepted:
III the Alexandria Library Company
On resigning into your hands the autnoflty
Won conferred on US seven years ago, we oeem
e dne both to ourselves and you, to lay before
Won brief statement OF the manner 10 WHICH
The library was despoiled, during the late war;
Of one-fitth of its books aud nearly al! ITS 1uf-
niture. ;,;tou,,
forces If the Commonwealth of Virginia, the
. .o,1 which had been necessarily closed for a
low davs. in consequence of the absence OF the
T;hrarian was occupied by the officers OF the
Alexandria Artillery, and subsequently by those
of other comp anies, though by whose authorl-
~ we are unable to say, as no notice OF such
occupation was ever served upon u.s. The &C.
cnnant of the rest of the building, who had
nrivate k,yto the Library, delivered up, as we
afterwards learned, this private key on the
demand of sergeant OF the artillery, and thus
they obtained possession. -,
When the city was evacuated ny the state
troops, possession was Immediately retaken,
and The books all appeared to bein their proper
ulaces, and 10 good order. Soon after this.
working party, in the service of the U: 5. mill
tsrv authorities took possession, likewise with
ont notice and we heard that some of the
hooks were burned to kindle fires under their
camp kettles. Application was immediately
m.de to Gen. Heintzieman, Military Governor,
Tor leave to remove the books instead OF grant
inc which, be ordered the immediate evacua ZION
of the room, though 1t was then alter dark,
saying that it had been occupied without his
knowledge; and be restored possession, after
having had the room cleaned, on the day FOL
lowing. Some OF the furniture having been
carried off, and being traced to camp near
Fort Ellsworth, was, on application to General
Franklin, sent for and restored.
On the day following the battle Of Bull Run,
the room was occupied by parties OF soldiers,
but in few days, possession was again restored
Up tot his time, no wholesale p!undsring had
taken place; but now, the doors were frequent
ly broken open, and persons dressed as soldiers
were seen to carry off boxes ot books, which,
there is good reason to believe, were sent to
some of the Northern States.
To October, 1861, the room having been
secured against these intrusions, a demand tor
the KEYS was made on the President, by a GER
tain individual stakeholder, which being reius-
ed, applicstion was made to Col. j. r. Freese,
then acting as Provost Judge, and an order was
issued by him, placing the Library III charge OF
that stakeholder, and requiring the delivery OF
the keys; which order, under threat OF military
force, was oteyed by the President, and pos
session was thus lost for two or three months,
when it was regained on the application of the
Treasurer.
As soon as the state Of affairs warranted, the
Library was re opened I'm Ter the charge of 4.
F. Lee, jr., esq.,, who kindly consented to act
as Librarian, without compensation. The Ii
brary was thus kept open until, the rest OF the
building having been previously occupied as a
hospital, the surgeon in charge of the division,
seized the library room, and gave notice to the
President that the books must be removed
This was. at the time, simply impossible, every
warehouse in town being occupied, and no prl-
vate family having room for such collection or
books; so, after earnest, but unavallng re-
monstrances against the seizure of the room,
some books of very great value were entrusted
to private persons, and the surgeon In charge
agreed to fasten up the cases securely, so that
no books could be taken out. This agreement
was, apparently carried OUT but it is certain
that the cases we're reopened by somebody,
for many books were afterwards found to have
been taken and some persons unknown to the
President, were heard by him to boast OF q
valuable setof tooks having been appropriated
from the Library, by one of their friends;
while quite number were returned by SOL
der, who asserted that they were what remain.
ed of large number which had been packed
up for prominent military officer. This,
however, was not credited as be refused to
swear to his statement.
The total loss, during the war, was about a
thousand volumes, or one-ftth of the whole
number, with almost the entire furniture, which
was found to have disappeared during the hos
pital occupation.
When the war ended, the condition OF the
Library was such that it could not be re-opened
with any pros ect of paying the current ex,
penses; for while the really invaluable books
had mostly been saved, doubtless from want
of appreciation on the part of those who had
carried off the plumber, all the new books, and
such as form the chief part of the reading mat
ter usually called for, had disappeared.
Seeing no present prospect OF making i
available to the puoic, we accepted PROPOSE
ton of the Alexandra Christian Association
to place the Library in their charge, they Civ
ing room, &C., and paying Librarian, IN re
turn for the tree use Of the books in the room
and reduced rate of subscription to their 10
dividual members Under this arrangement
the books have been removed to this room
and are now being arranged, and all monte:
arising from subscriptions can be applied to re
placing the lost books; so that, in time, tbt
Library will, probably, be restored to its former
good condition.
In the seven years which have elapsed since
our election, James S. Hallowell, and }. E
Chase, esqrs, have lett Alexandria, and gu
late Treasurer, A. Jameson, esq.,, has resign
ed. We have, also, to mourn the loss, b!
death, of two of cur most efficient colleagues
Sylvester Scott and Albert E. Bassford, esqrs
Men of high literary attachments, sound ludg
ment, and active habits, they we're, both. deep
ly concerned for the prosperity of the Library
and interested themselves zealously in all tha
related to its welfare The loss of two sucl
men, at any time, would have been calamity
but occurring when it did, it was irreparable.,
None Of the vacancies created by these death