The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-07

for two hours. The tiremen were un- able, however, for a considerable time to extinguish the flame or gas which shot out of the four-inch main. From this main the fire swept through an orifice in the basement floor caused by the explosion and attacked the con- sultation room of the supreme court justices on the main floor. Some dam age was done to the furniture and tit- tings of this room, but it was incon- siderable as compared with that done elsewhere. The robing room of the justices was undamaged It was evil dent that the fire could not be extin- guished until the gas was cut off. That this might be accomplished the firemen turned two streams upon the main, choking the flow of gas and at the same time cooling the pipe. Electrician Glien braving the intense heat entered the meter room and cut off the gas at the floor valve of the main.
 Throughout the lower central portion of the old capitol building doors, win dows and fittings in committee rooms and other apartments are badly dam aged. Just north of the crypt an arch way almost over the meter room was completely blown out and great masses of masonry torn from the floor were hurled to the ceiling with such force as to burst the stone and plaster of the walls above. Ponderous flagstones were wrenched from their resting places, and throughout the corridors the frescoing on the ceilings and walls of the corri- dors were utterly ruined. No damage was done to the main foundations of the buildings, as these are of solid ma- sorry, deeply imbedded
 The electric light apparatus, includ- ing dynamos, boilers and wiring, was not damaged. In order to enable the firemen to work without peril Electri- elan Gliem cut off the current from all wires except one circuit which lighted the lower western part of the building. Within thirty feet of the scene of the explosion solitary incandescent lamp marking the exact center of the capitol structure, and hanging directly over the bier in which 1t was proposed to lay the remains of George Washington, burned brilliantly. Among the losses l which will be most sincerely regretted are those of busts of Chief Justice Mar shall and other distinguished members of the supreme court which were ar ranged on small pedestals about the su- preme court chamber. In the smoke and ruin which followed the explosion 1 these valuable works of art were either 1 badly damaged or wholly destroyed, l and with their destruction the country has suffered an irreparable loss Many of them have been treasured as exhibits l in the supreme court chamber for half l a century.
 The capitol building has been dam- aged a number of times before by fire, | but to-night's explosion is the most dis | astrous. On two other occasions fires have been started by explosions of gas. ! Seventeen years ago a large amount of damage was done to the same part of l the building by an explosion of this kind, and in 1876 there was an explosion l of gas that killed one man and came near killing another. No intelligent es- timate of the money loss by the explo- sion can yet be made. In the opinion of capitol officers and mechanics who examined the structure tonight the loss will reach probably $200,000 to the building. The loss on the library and records, as stated, can be scarcely es- timated in dollars and cents. A mil lion dollars could not replace them be- cause many of them have no duplicates in existence.
 Arrangements were completed to- night by Librarian Clark of the su- preme court and Colonel Richard D. Bright, sergeant t-arms of the senate, by which the sittings of the supreme court will not be interrupted. The court will convene tomorrow in the room of the senate committee on the District of Columbia, one of the most
 spacious rooms in the capitol. How long the sessions of the court will be held there will be determined by the justices themselves.