The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-11
FIRE at The CAPITOL
Court Records. DestroyedIThe Mar
shal's once Gusted and the Cham
Der Itself Damaged Damage 80
Building $4,000

explosion, in the central portion Of the
capitol building last evening, did ex-
tensive damage in the vicinity of the
ton extending from the endorsement
TO the third foor of the historic old
building.
The damage to the capitol is consid-
cradle. The conclusion OF the explos-
ion blew out doors and windows on the
east and west sides OF the building
within a radius Of 100 feet; many print
ed records of supreme court cases stor-
ID in this part of the basement We're
destroyed by the fire, and the flames
completely Quilted the office Of the mar
shall Of the supreme court. The law
library. containing thousands of price
less volumes, was damaged, principal
ly smoke and water, and the supreme
court chamber was licked by the
flames, the greatest damage DelnS
caused by the large volume of water
thrown through the east windows The
floors in the immediate vicinity of the
explosion are ~upheaved. and the arches
and walls are displaced n thrown
out of plumb. An elevator, which was
Gently installed for the use OF the JUS
tees at a cost of 5000, was completely
wrecked, and the consultation rooms
and several thousand legal volumes
stored within were more or less dam
aged by water and smoke. The su-
preme court today will sit in the room
of the senate committee on the Dis
trict of Columbia.
The flames resulted from an explosion
in the sub-basement, which occurred
shortly before $50 o'clock, the scene
being in a small room almost directly
under the old ~air-shaft, in which was
located a large gas-meter used for
registering the supply of gas to the
main, or old, building. This meter was
connected with a 4-inch gas main.
CAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION.
The cause of the explosion was, SO
officials of the capitol declare. after a
careful investigation, an accumulation
of gas, which was, in all probability,
ignited by a burning gas jet in the
room. This representatives of the gas
deny. The force of the ex-
plosion was terrific, and the amage
it wrought was almost as great as
from the flames which followed. The
conclusion wrecked the room in which
the meter was located, forced Upward
the heavy ston and tile flooring above,
and apparently took a devious course,
for it's impact was felt some distance
to the westward, where it caused an
utter upheaval Of the flooring above,
giving vent to the gas on the main floor
of the building.
The force of the explosion was also
felt at a point north of the meter room,
and here the electricians room was
completely Quilted, the walls and floor
ing being converted into one mass of
debris. An elevator shaft, which con-
nected the basement floor with the
main floor, and which was used ex-
clusively by the justices of the supreme
court, served as a means Of commune
cation for the flames from one floor OF
the building to the other.
The first alarm was turned in from
box 81. in the Coast and Geodetic Sur
vey building, by Policeman Austin, of
the Fifth precinct. Austin and his
partner, Mason, were riding near Sec
ond and c streets, when the explosion
occurred. They rode toward the cap
itol, and soon saw the flames breaking
from the windows Austin then sped
to the nearest box, No. 81, and turned
in the alarm. AT 5:35 the second and
general alarm was turned in by Chief
Paris, from the same box. The whole
northeast end of the old building ap-
peared to be wrapped in flames when
the engines arrived.
FLAMES HARD TO REACH.
Owing to the inaccessibility of those
portions of the building to which the
fire was confined, the department met
with great difficulty in fighting the
flames. The firemen were not familiar
with the interior passageways OF the
sub-basement, and until those who
were acquainted with the maZes of the
building arrived, it was almost impos-
sible to get at the seal of the fire. The
flames had spread, however, with
such great rapidity that there was
an abundance of work for the firemen,
and ladders were quickly erected
against the east side of the building
and the windows broker in on the main
floor of the supreme court chamber
and on the floor below, SO hat in a
few moments several streams of water
were pouring in upon the floor of the
basement to get streams of water to
the flames below, which quickly reach
ed a~ccumulations of documents which
were burning.
The fire burned so fiercely and the,
fremen experienced such difficulty in
getting at the flames that more than
three hours elapsed before it was pos
sible to get within the law library on
the first foo and the court chamber
above both of which were filed with
dense smoke. This made it next to
impossible to form anything like an
accurate idea of the extent of the dam
age, and not until the flames were en-
tirely subdued was it learned that the
supreme court chamber had escaped
destruction, the main damage to this
portion of the building being from
smoke and water. The doorway on the
south side of the chamber was COM
pletely burned away, and the flames
had just begun to lick the walls of the
court room when the fremen checked
their spread by directing the streams
on the flames from the east windows,
access to which they had by means of
ladders. The marshai's office. which
connected with the court chamber by
this door. stood the brunt of the fire,
which made its way through the ele-
vator shaft leading directly to this
room. The room was entirely gutted
and the floor was upheaved by the ex-
plosion, leaving it in a dangerous con-
dition.
The force of the explosion was ter