The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-05-02
Tho Panic About the Capitol.


The Panic About the Capitol.
There is evidently panic concerning the
Canitol, The old building is much SIAN
dered. 1t is not so badly built rs has been
represented, notwithstanding its many oe-
fccts. The walls are powerful, anu tney
are not hollow, as has been represented
nor did any burglar ever descend by the
alleged space in middle wall to tlle pase-
ment, and there rob the treasury. NOR was
the money in the treasury transferred from
that basement to the banks on account OF
such robbery that never took place. The
funds of the State were removed to the
banks on account Of the defalcation OF GER
NAN BAKER, the treasurer, who, driven 10
despair By his infidelity, committed SUICIDE
in an upper room Of the Capitol. The funds
were removed; and the present weil-guard'
cd system of disbursement Of those funds
was after much consideration, established
by the Legislature.
The building, as we have before stated,
was put up In times when there were no
such appliances for strengthening floors and
galleries rs are now known; especially the
admirable adaptation of iron for that pur'
pose. We believe the system of bridging
floors by connecting the joists with oblique
braces was not resorted to at all at that day
The building was finished In 1892, we be-
lieye. Not cut nail is found in 1t eXcept
in alterations or repairs. The nails were
then all wrought.
The sunkcn floors of the upper story
show how their supports had yielded TO
weight, and the falling Of the courtroom
was another illustration of the way IN
which strained and bent timbers will part
and 90 crashing down under the overweight
of human beings who may be so closely
packed. and who are never at rest.
At the day in which the building was put
I'D the flooring Of the upper story was
deemed very strong. That over the House
of DcIecates, which is parallelogram some
eichty-odd by thirty-three or four feet, was
supported first by five girders, thirteen by
twenty inches in diameter, spanning the
shortest line of the parallelogram. Upon
these rested the joists to which the floor
was nailed. The spaces between the g1fd-
ers was about fourteen feet. The Judges
seats and clerks table were at the east side
Of the conference.-the gallery at the west.
The girder across the room in front OF the
iudpes, seats was not heavily loaded, the
crowd being debarred from coming much
inside of it, and it did not break. The
great weight was upon the second, winch
gave way and carried down all (including
the crowded gallery upon the floor be-
tween the first and third Orders, occupying
space of about thirty by thirty-tour
feet. In this narrow space were packed
about four hundred people. The third
pirder was cracked, and is now supported
nv q timber from the floor of the hall below.
The courtroom was about forty-tiye feet
long. the remainder of the space over the
hall of the House, formerly used as the clr-
cult courtroom, was occupied with the 10
yernor's and Secretary Of the Common
wealth's offices. Each girder had to sup
port about five hundred square feet OF lloof'
Now, these Orders were never supported
by columns from below. We are assured
by persons who remember the hall as far
back as 1906 that there were no such CO.
lumns. We first saw it in 1882, when the
hall of the House of Delegates remained,
as we understood, exactly rs 1t was when
first built, with benches after the fashion OF
the English House of Commons for the
members. There was but one gallery TO
the hall-that ut the east end. The altera-
tons afterwards made in no wise affected
the strength of the upper floor. They TOOK
nothing from it nor added anything 10 IL.
There were never any columns in the hall
supporting or connected in any manner
with the upper floor. The main alterations
were in removing the benches and lntro-
ducinc the desks-those everlasting evils III
n deliberative body which help to divert
the attention of members from the SUBJECTS
under discussion, increasing the facility 1of
manufacturing resolutions and burthenlng
deliberation with frivolous matter helping
to extend debate, and constantly whiting
down, by the moral effect, the sense OF OBJ
LEGATION of members from the comprehen-
siye relations Of public duty to the selfish
and contracted views of local and mere per-
sonal interests. These alterations did far
more to sap the foundations of the State
than to weaken the floors of the Capitol.
Then we have it that the walls are crazy,
and will soon madly jump away from their
foundations and cover the Square with dust
and ruins. This is stuff. There is more
honesty in those walls than there is outside
of them. Could good honest representative
government last as long as those walls, we
would close our eyes upon our country in
peace and confidence.
There never was building more SLAM
dered. The walls have no serious defect.
A crack or two may be seen, but they have
been 50 seen for fifty years. The walls are
strong and durable, and will, if left where
they are, endure longer than the liberties oil
this land. d..
But we don't want to set up an argument
against new Capitol in good time. and un
der the proper circumstances OF economy
md deliberation, which will secure to the
State an ediice that will be not only Ell
during, but one that we may be proud of.
For the present, then, there are nc
stronger floors than those of the Senate
chamber and hall of the House of Delegates
These rooms may be made as elegant u.
they are secure. The systems of ceilings ant
floors over them may be readily and eco
nomically altered and perfectly secured
For instance, over the hall of the House two
lines of joists might be placed, the lower one
to support the ceiling over the hall, and the
upper one to support the floor OF the upper
story, the two rows being about five feet
anart tr,,sspd tn each other and bridped,