The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-11-11
Supreme Court Room and 9th
! ers Immediately Adjoin-
ing Badly Wrecked.
PRICELESS RECORDS BURNED
Fire Follows the Explosion and
/! the Damage Resulting Is
J Almost Irreparable.
Escaping Gas in the Basement
Generally Accepted as the
Cause of Disaster.

\ w ASHlNGTON, NOV. An explosion
and fire at 5:15 o'clock wrecked the su-
preme court room and the rooms imme-
diately adjoining it on the main floor of
the Capitol. The damage is enormous.
The entire central eastern part of the
great marble pile from the main floor to
the subterranean basement is practically
a mass of ruins. The force of the explo-
sion was so heavy that the coping stones
on the outer walls, just east of the point
where the explosion occurred, were
bulged out nearly two inches; windows
in all that part of the building were
blown out and locked doors were forced
from their hinges quite $50 feet from
the scene of it. Fire followed the ex-
plosion SO quickly as to seem practically
simultaneous. The explosion
Shook the Immense Structure
to its foundations and was heard sew
eral squares from the Capitol. 1t &C.
CURED in small room, tightly enclosed
by heavy stone walls, in the subter-
ranean basement Immediately below the
main entrance to the old Capitol build
ing. In this room was gas meter
which is fed from the gas main. Very
little gas is used in that part of the
building, but at the time of the ex-
plosion the gas had not been turned on
at the meter. The meter itself was
wrecked. The flames resulting from
the explosion darted up the shaft of the
elevator, which had been completely
destroyed by the force of the explosion,
and communicated with the record
room of the supreme court, the Office of
the marshal of the court and the su-
preme court library. Before the flames
could be subdued the priceless docu-
ments in the record room had been
Almost Totally Destroyed
and serious damage had been done in
the marshal's Office and some minor
rooms in the immediate vicinity. The
library of the supreme court, located
Immediately beneath the supreme court
room, was badly damaged by fire,
smoke and water, practically destroying
the great collection of law reference
books. The library contains about co.
600 volumes and was used not only by
the justices of the supreme court but by
members of congress and lawyers prac-
ticing before the supreme court.
Mr.. Justice Harlan stated that the
library was very valuable. Many of the
works it contained would, he thought,
be difficult to replace. Librarian Clarke,
after cursory examination, necessarily
made by the light of lanterns, expressed
the opinion that many of the books
could be saved, although they
Had Been Drenched by Water
from the streams poured into the library
for two hours after the explosion &C.
CURED. The most serious damage, in
the opinion of the justices of the SUI
preme court, is to the records stored in
the sub-basement. These included all
of the records of the supreme court
from 1899 to 1882. The room contains
records Of cases and opinions rendered
by the fathers of the judiciary. IN
doubtedly the volumes in this basement
are either totally destroyed by fire or
so damaged by water and fire as to be
utterly worthless.
The supreme court room was dam
aged principally by water and smoke,
the fire not reaching that point. Ad-
joining the courtroom; however, both
the marshal's Office and the senate bar
Der shops furnished food for the flames.
Damage on the Main Floor.
A number of apartments on the main
floor were badly damaged. Just north
of the crypt an archway directly over
the main room was blown out and great
masses of masonry was hurled against
the ceiling with such force as to burst
the stone and plaster of the walls above.
Ponderous fagstones were, wrenched
from their resting places and through
out the corridors the frescoing on the
ceilings and walls were utterly ruined.
No damage was done to the main flags
of the building as these are solid mason
ry. In the opinion of Capitol Off
Gals and mec hanics who examined the
structure the loss will reach probably
100000 to the building. The loss on
the library and records as stated above,
can scarcely be estimated in dollars and
cents.
Gas Theory Probably Correct.
While many theories are offered as to
The cause of the explosion it seems be-
yond doubt to have been due to escaping
gas. At 5:07 o'clock Lieutenant Nelson
of the Capitol police detected an odor of
gas in the corridor adjoining the SUI
preme court room. Not being able to
locate it he proceeded to Statuary hall
the old hall of the house of representa-
tives thinking the gas might be escap-
ing from a burner in that vicinity.
While he was endeavoring to locate the
escape of the gas the explosion occurred.
Only few persons, principally officers
of the Capitol police, were in the build
ing at that time, but several of them
had narrow escapes.