Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-10-05
The Deluge at the Patent once.

Between the two elements fire and wa.er
the Interior department building and its con-
tents have sustained heavy damage not the
least of which is the throwing OF the work
iEg system of the Patent and Land OH ces
into Confu sion, Tor a time at least. Yester-
days heavy rain deluged a great many of
of the rooms in the 9Th and street wings,
unroofed by The fire, and To save the records
from the falling water many OF them were
removed into The corridors. To-day the
passageways OF the department are block
AIDED with desks, books, papers, etc in APP
parent confusion. Secretary SchurZ saws
that none OF the records of the Patent OH.
have been damaged by yesterdays rain. out
that some OF the records OF The Land Office
are saturated with water, but they can be
restored by sun bath.
THE ACCIDENT TO THE PoRTICo
OF The north wing by the failing of part of It's
marble ceiling yesterday morning has been
The subject of much comment. The pOrtIo1
which Tell, judging from the aperture in the
ceiling, was about twenty feet IN length,
eight feet in width, and Too or 80 in thick
ptss. IL is broken lhiO my Rad of smaller
PIE, es. The more bulky portions look IL tue
eye as II Ill the adhesive qualities hal been
taken out of the stone by calcimatiou, and
thar the contact of the rain mai slaket IL
into a doughty mass. The smaller pieces can
be crumbled in the hand.
ARCHITECT CLUSS,
VINO was one OF the commission who inspect
Ell the walls, stated TO n representative of
THE STAR to- day that the marble slabs,
which fell yesterday and formed part of the
the northern portlcO Were in an exposed pO-
siticn, different from any other marble near
the AREA. covered or affected toy the ire. The
corresponding ceiling OF the 9Th street portl-
CO Is of heavy cast-iron, and all the m arhle
Incorporated in the walls, so that It's failure
would impair the strength, and is projected
by heavy brickwOrk on its exposed inner side.
The marble arChitraves, freezes and cOrnices
over the plastered brick pillaSters projecting
from the inside OF all the side walls of both
burned wings are mutilated beyond rec ~
n h. no Inns alaaI a..t
crumbled of. Still, such was merely touch
ed upon in the report, because though Ii de-
faces The appearance, 1t does not decrease
strength, and will never be replaced by any
tody. The fallen slabs were about II inches
in thickness, and covered iu by an entirely
wooden roof, frame and sheathing, which IN
n charred state had sagged down upon the
unprotected marble slabs with tn copper
covering still on. These were out of the
reach OF observation, being covered by the
debris up to the time of the fresbet. In such
loft of the north wing, which communicated
the fire to this combustib bic structure did not
intro duce heat enough to afford a relief by
the melting of The copper or the orea king
down of a combastibie wooden ceiling in
the museums; but there was still heat
enough TO calcine slightly the upper surface
of the marble slabs. which before the freShet
did not show any assures underneath. visi.
bic to the naked eye. 1t is matter of course
hat every exposed stone, especially lintels
OF windows, must be examined after such a
fire; still this is a matter OF detail. and was
not alluded 10 in a report, in which prompt
ness and dispatch were highly important-of
course, not at the expense OF accu racy. There
are nume Ious broken liniels and sIils in the
facadeS on eth ard on q street, and in the
heavy architraves, cornices of the museums
on It'll and + ST. eets, the cracks of which. IL
on the opposite facade, would no doubt have
been blackened by SCOT, enlarged by the &C
ton OF the heat, and charged To the fire;
hence II cannot surprise the expert, that an
original settlement of the walls at the corner
of OH and q streets, similarly affected,
caused serious apprehensious TO general OBJ
servers, though the walls are in but a
slightly worse condition than they were for
years.
AFTER THE FLOOD.
To day The rooms from which th7 racOr Is
were removed yesterday. are beng ssa,n
placed iii Edition To receive the mass of
public Comments stacked in the passag.
ways AS an evidence Of how some OF the
tmpl yes lost their heads yesterday as on
The dag Of the hre,) IL may De mentioned that
large hole was made through G street front
of the BUILDING out OF which the water was
swept. making an unsightly stain GU The
While front without the plea OF necessity for
for any such action.