New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-09-25
DETAILS OF THE FIRE.
inv rrIvcR.P1 TO THE TRIBUNE

WAS the lips OF every one, INC atoHO OinNN 80
ON fire; and before those who lived even within
souare or two could reach the place the tongues OF
fire were cracking the glass in the windows OF the
two MINER stories and the flames were bursting from
the roof. How the fire came there nobody can tell
tonight. Some will have it that timers stove
did it: others that the fire came from defective
fine and others-fOr there must be those who have
evil thoughts at every public calamlty-ih-
sist that the fire is the devise OF those
who wish TO hide crime from impending investlga-
tion However the flames came, there they were
doing their deadly work long before any efficient AID
was near. The Fire Department was half an hour
too late upon the ground, for the reason that the
subordinate persons who first discovered the flames
thought that they could master them, and neglected
toturn in the signal at the alarm-boxes This was not
done until nearly half an hour after the fire was dis
covered. and then by a sergeant of police who saw
The smoke from an adjacent street.
1HE COURSE OF THE FLAMES
The flames spread with marvellous rapdity. Be-
ginning at the top of the building, the fire soon
DESTROYED the sham of wood covered with copper
called roof and the molten metal rushed down the
stairs in a fiery stream TO meet and destroy any
human being who sought to come up. The flames
then began TO work down, feeding gTeedy on thou
sands OF rejected wooden models and tons OF photo
graphic copies Of patent drawings Arriving at
the third story from the top, the flames were
checked in their downward course by the
stone tiliug and grained fre-proof arches
o This floor where they arrested until the IRE
Uuartmcnt brought them under control
TINS was the course of the fire along the west
font. I'm the same way the flames Tapped up every
thing before them through the entire upper portion
IF the north front ana down the seyenth-st SIDE
almost 90 81. There was nearly panic within
The building when theory of fire was first heard Inc
terks-possibly 1,S00 IN numbcr-rushed from Their
desks 10 lind the halls rapidly filling with smoke.
Terror seized the female portion Of the force, and
many of them abandoned their shawls, hats and
other covering in their precpitate flight. The
greater portion of the mail clerks remained, and
did efficient service in saving the more yalua-
bic papers immediately within their charge.
WORK OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
As soon as the Fire Department was informed OF
,b eseat danger IL exercised every effort, and the
fremen did not abandon their posts until long after
dark. few are still playing upon the smoulderlng
ruins. which in the moonlight quite resemble the
ancient Parthenon from which one portion OF the
building was modelled. Every engine in Washing
ION. old and new. was speedily upon the ground,
aud additional aid was asked from Alexandria and
Baltimore. The Department Of the latter city, re-
rnembering the aid rendered by Washington in their
recent great FIRE. sent two of their best engines
in charge of their Chief Engineer making the very
remarkable time from Baltimore to Washington
FORTY niles Of thiTty-twO minutes. But the flames
we're ravenOus and mercess, and it was not until
she beginning of the third hour after the existence
If the fire was first discovered. that it was certain
that the entire building would not be destroyed 1t
was very difficult to reach the top of the building
with hose owing TO the remarkable absence OF
ladders The only ladder that was attempted
IN he raised upon the south side, fell,
of people by its fall. The of the west
wing fell in before the Fire Department fairly
nj work The windows were gone long before, and
inside of this fiery furnace could be the models,
cases of records and tons of paper, struggling with
the flames. Soon after the roof fell it was feared
that the wind would rise. and, as it was, charTed
fragments of paper have been found upon Uniyer-
sity Hill. a mile and half away. The wind was
from the south. Had it been from the west, the
entire building must certainly have been lost
SPRl SERVING ORDER.
The police at first were not equal to their task.
Indeed everybody seemed dazcd at the possibilities
in the event Of the complete destruction of the
building. There should be excepted the small class
who. in low whispers, in the crowd, were heard to
saw" Thank Cod this will give work to the poor :"
but it would have been a sad day for the poor who
have taken the land of the Government, if, in
hour the best evidence Of title to their property
had been destroyed.
About noon the police obtained control Of the crowd,
and were assisted by a company OF marines and
company Of artillery with part of a company of
Washington militia. which at that time arrived on
the ground. The streets were then baricaded and
an appearance of order was restored Within the
building Secretary Schurz at the outset had himself
assumed command and with a cOlness and energy
creditable to him, gave directions 10 the heads of
bureaus and Division Chiefs in quite mill
tary manner but observing that the fire
was likely to be more extensive than at first
pected. he, after an hours time requested Major
Richards. Chief of Police, and the Fire Commits
soners 10 take charge of the building, and from that
time ngress was impossible. Before these precau-
tons were taken, it IS said that there were few
persons mean enough to steal some valuable papers.
TINDER Box
The crowd which watched the rapid destruction
Of the building could scarcely credit their own
This great structure, covering two blocks
has always been regarded solid masonry, and
none suspected that part Of the ceiling of the Mu
scum, which occupies the upper floor, was wholly Of
light timber supports and rafters, covered with
wood making complete Undertook Over
TINS was spread the copper sheets which
formed the outer covering of the roof
{ Vetween the roof and ceiling great many rooms
lad been made, in which vast number of shelves
were placed These were filed with eighty tons Of
phOtO-hthographs Of patent engragings. This was
the condition Of the roof Of the west or Ninth-st
and G-st or north fronts and Of tie space between
these roofs and the top of the Museum. BY some
means as yet unascertained, the fire was commune
tated to the wooden structures supporting the
OOf or TO documents stored between those