St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-09-28
The Patent Office Fire.

Special Correspondence of the Cdledonian.
WASHINGTON, ID. c., Sept. "a, 1877.
Another of those terrible conhagra-
tions which, in the course of an bOuI,
destroy the labor of centuries is, at this
moment passing over our city, over the
cOuntry-over the world. The United
States Patent Office in which is, OF
was, preserved the models of nearly
two hundred thousand inventions, pat
ented in this country mainly during
the last 50 years, is passing away be-
fore the memorable flames.
Your correspondent, who was an eye
witness to the fire from the moment of
its discovery, will Try to give you II
graphic description thereOf-as COM
plete us the confusion at the present
moment will admit of.
At ll.30, A. NJ. Il slight commotion
was observed on the corners of F. aud
9Th streets, and, almost simultaneously
the cry of ''fire fire !" was heard. A
small cloud of white smoke were hover
ing over the western wing of the Pat
ent Office so small and in-ominous as
to attract scarcely any attention, until
officials of the patent Office was seen
rushing out upon the roof. The top
story or "loft" of the building, directly
under the roof, was occupied as d store
room for printed copies of specifications
and drawings of patents, and under that
was the well-known mOdel-rOom, occu-
plying the entire upper main floor of the
four wings forming the Patent Office.
Upon the roof of the west wing was ar
ranged a conservatory, i'll which flow
ers, intended to adori our public parks
and squares, were reared. 1t was in
this hot house that the fire originated
perhaps many hours before being dis
covered, and, finding plenty of combus-
tible material among the old papers
and rejected models on the loft, it soon
spread and was finally discovered. An
alarm was Immediately turned in, and
an engine promptly arrived. Nobody,
however, seemed to know where the
fire was, OIL how to find means of access
to the burning portion of the building.
An attempt was first made to bring the
hose up the stairs, but this proving i'm
practicable, it was hOisted up upon the
roof. But, whether owing to misfor-
tune or to bad management, the hose
twisted and before the mistake could
be corrected, the flames shot through
the roof, to the CONSERVATION of every
body as, up to this moment, no real
danger had been anticipated. Three
minutes later the masonry arches
which supported the roof gave way,
burying in their fall at least six unfor-
tunate people (among whom two ladies)
who, unconscious of the danger, had
ventured into the west hall of the mod
ell room. At this moment the destruc-
ton commenced. The windows gave
way in an instant, and the wind, blow
ing from the southwest, swept the
flames through the whole length of the
hall-275 feet-and into the north hall,
in which they were soon beyond con-
troll. From the north the fire spread
to the east hall in which it is finally, at
this moment, being checked by the
united efforts of all the Washington en-
gines, four from Baltimore and one from
Philadelphia, the assistance of which
was called for Immediately upon the
fall of the roof
Of the buildings surrounding the
Patent Office the LeDrOit building
located directly opposite, was at one
time thought in danger, and Lewis
Dagger & Co., patent agents, whose of
fees are in the upper part of this build
ing, made preparations for removing