Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-11-10
A CAPITOL FIRE.
he Entire Eastern Part frCm the
Main Floor To Basement Ruined.
Itr'mr 'urI Room, Comp'ct"iy Euincd
Court Nhl Met Ia S"natr Com
mlitrr Knum-Ihr Loss Nhl
Foot Up s?Ic.oDO.


Foot Up s.Ic.0DO.
WAsIuNGTuN. Nov. ia explosion
and fire at 5:lI sunday afternoon
the supreme court ' ON and
the rooms Immediately adjoining it on
the main floor of the capitol. The
damage il enormous. The entire ccn-
trail eastern part of the great marble
rancan basement practically is a mass
of ruins The force of the explosion
was 81 heavy that the coping stones on
thc outer walls. just east of the point
where the explosion occurred. were
hulgcd uut nearly two inches; windows
in all that part of the building were
blown out: and locked doors were
forced from their hinges quite 40
feet from the scene of it.
Fire followed the explosion 81 quick
Iy ~ to seem practically simultaneous
with il. The explosion shook the inn
mrnsr structure To its foundations and
was heard several squares from the
capitol. 1t occurred in a small room
tightly enclosed 10y heavy stone walls
atcly fellow the main entrance To the
old capitol building. In this room was
"a aOO-light gas meter which was fed
10y n fuur-inch main. Very little
gas i used in that part of the
building. but at the time of the cN-
pluSion the gas had not been turned off
AT the meter. The meter itself was
wrecked and the gas pouring from the
main caught fire. The flames origin
ating from the explosion dartcd up the
shaft nf 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 supreme court
library. Before the flames could be
subducd the priceless documents in the
record room had been almost totally
destroyed and serious damage had
teen done in the marshal'S office and
some minor rooms in the immediate
vicinity.
The library of the supreme court. To-
Gated Immediately beneath the SUI
prcmc courtroom was badly damaged
10y fire. smoke and water. practically
destroying the great collection of law
reference books. The library contains
only by the justices Of the supreme
court. hut by members of congress and
lawyers practicing before the supreme
court. Mr.. Justice Harlan said sun
day night that the library was
very valuable. Many of the works it
contained would he thought. be diff
cult to replace. Librarian Clarke. after
cursory examination necessarily
made by the light of lanterns, express
ed the opinion that many of the books
could he saved. although they had
been drcnchcd by water from the
streams poured into the library for
two hours or more after the explosion
occurred.
The most serious damage. in the
opinion of the Justices of the supreme
court. is 10 the records stored in the
sub-baScment. These included all OF
the records of the supreme court from
1892 to lS32. The room contains records
of cases and opinions rendered by the
fathers of the judiciary of the govern
ment. Apparently the documents in
this room arS either totally destroyed
or So badly damaged by fire and water
as to be useless.
Fortunately the clerks Office was not
in the least damaged by fire and the ex.
plos;on did no damage in it except to
blow out one window.
The supreme courtroom was dam.
aged principally by water and smoke
the fire not reaching that point. Adj
joining the courtroom. however, both
The marshal's office and the senate bar.
Der shop furnished food for the flames
While many theories are offered a,
20 the cause of the explosion, it seems
beyond doubt To have been due To cs
Gaping gas.
No intelligent estimate of the money
loss vet can be made. In the opinion
of capitol officials and mechanics who
examined the structure Sunday nigh,
the loss will reach probably 5000. 600 Il
the building. The loss on the library
| and records. as stated above. can bC
scarcely estimated in dollars and cents
\ million dollars could not replace
them, because of many of them ne
duplicates are in existence.
Arrangements We're completed sun,
day night by which tie sittings of tn,
supreme court will not be interrupted
The court will convene Monday in the
room of the senate committee on the
| District of Columbia. one of the mos,
| spacious rooms in the capitol. How
long the sessions of the court will b,
held there will be determined by the
| justices themselves.
|