The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-24

to allowing the writer to look over the premises
to see for himself.
The statement made in the Journal on last
Friday concerning the appearance of the build
ings was incorrect 1t told but half the truth.
The fire that destroyed SO large and SO necessary
portion of the hospital took place about 2
o'clock en- the morning of the 9th day of last
January, and with the exception of
the work done Immediately thereafter,
under the direction of DR.. Fletcher, and
necessary to save the buildings from utter ruin,
nothing has been done for months the trustees
stopping the work when it should have been
allowed to continue to completion. The chapel
has a new roof, put up by the superintendents
direction. Interiorly, it is wreck, and has
been so ever since the fire. There are no sashes
in the windows, the woodwork is charred to
coal in many places, in others entirely consumed,
in others broken, and the floor is covered with
debris. The rain comes in through the open
windows and the wind bloweth where it lsteth.
The male dormitory is roofed but all burned
out inside.
In the boilerroom 1.-THE laundry before the fire
occupied the upper stories) the reporter found
the main steam pipe propped up by scantngs.
In this building the roof is gone, and there is not
door or window in it, Tarred paper had been
put upon floor overhead after the fire as sub
stitute until a roof could be built, and, although
five months have elapsed, there is no roof, as the
charred and jagged timbers are there to testify.
approach mSsro to p door is piece e"'e Of
canvas which covers one of the openings the
carpenter left, put there, as was remarked to the
reporter, to keep the wind from blowing the en-
gineer and fireman away. The laundry has, as
a matter of course, not been used since the night
of the fire, and the laundry force now work in
temporary quarters provided for them in large
wooden building, which is a very incendiary
looking affair and menace to tho valuable
property about. Day before yesterday the
trustees set five entire carpenters to
work. the boss being Mr.. Cobb, who is from
DR.. Harrisons town Of Lebanon. These FIVE
carpenters, in their elegant leisure, will have
work enough to last them all summer and until
late in the fall, and work, that by an unfathom
able mbecility, has been postponed five months
will not, unless more men are put at work, be
completed for five months to come. To be done
with the proper dispatch al least twenty
five carpenters are needed One of
the trustees, Mr. Philip Gapen, was
at the hospital when the reporter
called Wishing to clear his skirts of the charge
of procrastination in the matter of repairing the
damage caused by the fire, he said, appealing to
Superintendent Fletcher You know, Doctor,
that this has not been my fault. have been
minority in this business" to which the super
intendent asSented.
The reporter, returning to the city called upon
the firm of Shower Il Christian, builders and
contractors. Mr.. Shower, answering the
porter's questions, said: 1--WE were employed
the morning Of the fire to make repairs. The
fire took place about o'clock in the morning
of Jan. q. AT o'clock we looked over the
damage, and at noon we had our force at work.
We rooted the chapel, we rooted the laundry
and the bakery and the two porches on each
side of the dining-room. Then we inclosed as
temporary laundry building that was intended,
believe, for coal she'd. We nclosed it and
put the laundry runs in for the dry house. That
is all the work we did, We did not put sash
in the whole building---except, of course, the
temporary laundry We put a cheap floor over
the boiler house-a temporary affair, not
expected to last but few weeks but
necessary to keep the men from freezing to
death You remember that was the worst
weather. the coolest had last winter. We
first put q temporary roof of tar paper on the
chapel floor to run off the water. We did not
put the chapel roof on until March. That was
the last thing we did and we have not been there
since We did not solicit the work. From the
beginning until we finished the work lasted
about seven weeks, but we were actually at
work less than four weeks: 1t was such bad
weather we could hardly work at all. We were
treated very well, and have nothing to say, even
if we never get any more work there"
There were number of questions that Mr..
Shower objected to answering. He did not say
who at one time put stop to the work, as
everything and gone ahead and finished the
work which has remained undone for five
months, nor did he give an estimate as to what
the cost would be with five carpenters at work
under the directions OF the trustees at q cost to
the State of So day each.
The reporter was assured by Trustee Gapen
and Superintendent Fletcher that the journal
had been misinformed Regarding the death OF
hogs by cholera But two hogs had died. and
these not by disease The hogs were fat and
LOIh aar, pdrit, + nh ha
rather eccentric that Dr. Harrison should buy
233 hogs in the heat of summer to feed to insane
patients but as the hogs were bought of two
eminent Democrats, Franklin Landers and John
explanation or apology seems neces-
sary 1t is said that though Mr.
Cooper saw his twenty-five hogs driven
out to the hospital, and saw them weighed after
arrival there. with his usual artless diffidence
and reserve he allowed the sale to be entered
upon the books at the hospital in the name of
~. w. Bradley" 1t is pleasant to chronicle
these eccentricities OF great men.
The economy of the board is something
marvellous. The other day the Journal spoke of
the prices paid to favored Democrat for butter,
eggs, etc. They also pay with becoming
liberality for strawberries. In contracting
for Strawberries, of which the supply was to be
thirty.two bushels daily, they made the
contract price forty cents gallon. Hun
dreds of bushels of first class berries have been
sold during this time in this city at twenty and
and twenty five cents gallon at retail, and in
some cases even lower
The Journals butter statement being ques-
toned, a reporter called at Jordan's commission
house yesterday and received the following in
Formations: I'VE are furnishingthe Institution
for the Blind cow with choice country butter at
| 10 cents a pound. Mr.. King, the steward, has
said on several occasions, that the butter he is
| getting here is better than he has had for six
| months before. The school at the institution is
out now, and they are not using so much butter.
| The other day they wanted small tub We
| had no small tub Of country butter. and the
| steward took a tub of creamery at 10 cents. Did
| we make profit on the creamery Yes, we
made fair profit on it at Is cents
| Now while other dealers are furnishing ether
institutions with country butter at ten cents Mr.