Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-30

The Electrical Illumination Of the
Dome of the Capitol.

ELACCtrIcaA OF tne
Dome of the Capitol.
Precisely at 500 o'clock last evening Elec.
trician c. p. GLEN signaled to Assistant
Engineer Thomas America that all was well
the button was pushed. and Immediately
the gathering gloom about the Capitol build.
ing was Illuminated as If by an electrical
display from the heavens. The illumination
of the dome Of the Capitol was a triumph OF
electrical display.
The citizens committee on parade AMI
illumination, of which Gen. Walker is chair.
man. had charge of the arrangements for
laying the necessary wires was carried for
ward under THE supervision Of Electrician
c. p. GLEN. This feature Of the evenings
display was devised by Gen. Walker. and to
his persisteney it execution Is due. For
thirty-eight years the statue has stood upon
the dome Of the Capitol, two hundred and
seventeen feet above the halls of Congress-
where the laws of the land have been made
or repealed. With her face toward the east
she has witnessed the rising Of the sun
during this long lapse of years.
On Monday last, however, for the first
time in all that period the lofty solitude was
III oxen by the presence of a man. On that
day Albert Ports. an expert climber and rig
ger, mounted the stairway leading to the
dome and, once there, proceeded, with the
assistance of Joseph Sullivan and Dennis
Naley, to climb up the back of the statue of
Freedom, towering nineteen feet above him
A ladder was with considerable difficulty
rails ed to the base of the statue, and once
there II was swung into position so that the
top rung rested at point just between the
bronze shoulder blades of Miss Freedom.
A Dizzy Height.
Carefully but steadily Ports mounted the
ladder until the shoulders of the goddess
were reached.
Once having attained this coign of want
age he easily swung himself astride the
shoulders of the immense bronze statue.
Her shoulders, by the by, are of quite COM
fcrtable breadth, being exactly six feet
across. Then the intrepid climber COM
menced to string the wires which conveyed
the electrical current supplying the brilliant
light that flashed out last evening from
above the head of the statue. stout staff
was dashed about the neck Of the statue
and upon this pole cluster of twelve large
incandescent lights were placed.
Aside from the cluster of lights, which
shone forth from above, the head of the
statue, seventy-six sixteen-power electric
lamps encircled the base of the statue and
lightweight one hundred candle power
lamps. arranged in eleven clusters, hung
over the cornice. Ten clusters were swung
under the tholus making in all an illumi-
nation equal to 1,O16 candles.
John NJ. Berger & Co. of this city were
the contractors. who. under the supervision
of Electrician c. p. GLEN, strung the wires
The Westinghouse Electric Company loan
ed the lamps for the OCCASION. The illumi-
nation of the dome of the Capitol will be
Continued each night throughout the week.
A Fuse Burned Out.
The current was turned on at 500 O'Clock
last evening, and all the lamps flashed rays
of light until 7:5s. when a signal was re-
ceived from the dome to turn off the cleo
trical current. This was promptly obeyed,
and for some ten minutes the statue of
Freedom was wrapped in darkness. 1t was
found that fuse in the connector had
burned out. This, however, was quickly
repaired, and the current again turned on,
and the great white dome was once more
ablaze with light.
Mr.. Albert Ports. who adjusted the wires