Evening star., 1897-02-02

was discovered. 1t had made such head
way that but little could be saved in the
costly apartments of the lieutenant gov
ernor or across the hall in the rooms CT
Superintendent of Public instruction Schaf-
- fer, who was alone in his office when The
fire was discovered. He did all he could
to check the fire. but it was not in his pow
er.. All he saved were the appropriation
books. Thousands of dollars worth of rec
ords We're lost.
The flames had eaten their way through
the senate roof before the fire department
arrived. Part of the roof tumbled in be-
fore the water was started Then the
streams were small that the fire laughed
at the play and burned on. Soon the great
dome was a mass of flames. This burned
like shavings- The fire quickly communi-
Gated to the house side and is now-at ::E5
eating its way along the roof. There
seems to be no possible way of saving the
building.
The house was in session when the fire
was discovered and 1t quickly adjourned.
The mem bers saw the probabilities of the
fire spreading and they began to save their
belongings
The smoke soon drove them from the
tuilting and little was gotten out.
The officers in the department buildings
adjoining the capitol are preparing to move.
The dome has just fallen. Before 1t fell
ore patriotic citizen crawled through the
mass OF fames and hauled down the flag.
Several men were slightly injured by fall
ing timbers-
Flames in the House.
p. m.-The entire interior of the house
is in flames. The water power is still very
weak and every effort is now being made
to confine the flames to the legislative
halls The building stands between those
used by Adjutact General Stewart and Sec
retary of Internal Affairs Latta. These of
hctals are removing their valuable papers
and furniture.
While trying to remove their desks from
the house Representative G. W. Rhoads of
Northumberland and ]. W. Doggy of Dau-
phin had narrow escapes Just as they
were leaving the chamber a portion of the
roof fell in They were slightly injured.
Loss S1,OOO.OOO.
go p.m--The fire will be confined to the
capitol building. The entnre structure is
now IL flames in the interior The roofs
have fallen in. and soon the great pillars at
the main entrance will fall. The walls are
now cracking and crumbling
The loss is placed at 81 900 900; insurance
100000. The loss to valuable records is
great They can never be replaced.
The Pennsylvania Capitol.
The state capitol at Harrisburg was an
old-fashioned brick building of colonial
he Ol the main DullQlng K
contained high columns running up al
most to the roof of the building Two
wings were built to the old building one
side being the senate and the other side
the house. Back of the main building were
the committee rooms OF the capitol. The
main building contained a dome of old
fashioned design and picturesque in its
nature The building two stories high
besides a basement. The building had
been repaired at considerable expense re-
Gently in the way of fitting up the interior.
The buildings are located in the midst of
a beautiful park of more than fifteen acres
on a gentle rise OF ground. They are
plain brick edifices. The capitol building
proper is $50 feet long by 80 feet wide.
with a circular Ionic portico in front, sur
mounted by dome commanding a fine
view Of the city and surrounding country
Under the dome is spacious rotunda. The
building was begun in 1919 and OccuDled
for the first time January IS. lS22. There
is smaller building of similar design en-
each side OF the main structure, devoted
also to governmental uses. The state Ii
brary OF 40vO volumes is contained in the
capitol building.