The Washington times., 1895-06-16
Miles Of Kl6GfriG Wires
In fhe Whif0 N0U80.
Curious and Historic Articles Discovered by Work
men While Fitting the Mansion With
It's Thousand Lights.

time, and under his direction. No doubt
it was considered a fine thing in those days
In tearing up the floor OF the basement
room, now occupied as the laundry, we
discovered q depression, oval-shaped,
which was once spring and said to nave
been used during General Jackson's term as
place for cooling Presidential butter,
and referred to in old-time accounts OF the
White House as JackSon's butter-Well.
Captain Dinsmore, so long Identified
with the mansion, showed me two scars
in the sandstone wall surrounding the base
ment which were made by President Lin
coin, who fired two shots from rifle
which had been brought to him for inspec-
tiOn and approval. BY the way, | ran
across a box full of army cartridges, green
with age, in an out of the way nook over
the front portico How they got there no
one knew, but no time was lost in removing
them.
MORE THAN A THOUSAND LIGHTS.
There are 1920 lights in the mansion,
and the current is generated by ythedynamos
of the War, State and Navy Departments,
situated in the basement of that building.
AS the expenses of the White House are
paid out of the appropriation for public
buildings and grounds, bill is rendered
for the amount Of coal consumed in the
production of the current used, ana re-
corded, this being the simplest way to
arrive at the cost Of the current
The man wires conveying the current
to the Executive Mansion are led out
of the building through an underground
conduit to one of the hot houses, thence
along the top of that out-building to the
west end of the conservatory, where two
sets Of wires receive the current and
convey it by different routes into the
no oil fpr Ea
to the attic.
MILES c. WIRES.
"Cut-out blocks on each floor distribute
the current TO the numerous rooms, and
controlling switches were placed near
the door in each room. The Presidents
sleeping room contains central clecrolier
of six lights with a couple OF handsome
side brackets furnished with frosted globes.
The Library, an oval room above the Blue
Room, has twenty-eight lights disposed
about its sides and center
The Cabinet Room and Executive Room
contain sixteen and eight lights respect
lively As to the East Room, the great
show parIor OF the Mansion, we put 230
lights i'll there. All the 'cut-outs' on the
upper floor were covered with neat walnut
boxes, partly for the sake of appearances,
and partly to keep the irrepressible Baby
Mckee from burning his fingers, as he
was an investigating yoRgster.
"A cluster of lights dnder a tin re-
flector was placed in enc OF the hot
houses in order to try the experiment of
forcing the growth of plants by means of
that artificial sunlight The plants grew
more rapidly, but lacked strength and
vigor, probably from loss of sleep.
The electric light wires are not the
only wires about the place by any means.
Electric call bells are everywhere and their
wires extend in every direction. Then the
fire alarm system is quite complete; and
the watchman's electric registers are
scattered about the basement, so that
there are several miles OF wires in that
moderniZed structure. and though ours
were last they were not least"