Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-11-08
The Library of the Supreme Court Room Suffered Most, as Valua-
 ble Books Were Lost.
THE EXPLOSION CAUSED
 BY ESCAPING GAS.
The Main Entrance Was Wrecked and POndereus FlagstOnes Were Wrenehed From Their
 Resting Places.

Washington, Nov. g. The supreme
 court room and the rooms immediately
 adjoining it on the floor of the capitol
 building were wrecked by an explosion
 of gas and fire late Sunday afternoon.
 The damage is enormous. The entire
 central eastern part of the great marble
 pile from the nam floor to the subterra-
 mean basement practically is mass of
 ruins. The force of the explosion 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 l50 feet from the scene of
 it.
 Fire followed the explosion SO quickly
 as to seem practically simultaneous
 with it. The explosion shook the
 big structure to it's foundation and WAS 1 heard several squares from the capitol.
 It occurred in small room tightly en-
 closed by heavy stone walls in the sub-
 terranean basement immediately below l the main entrance to the old capitol building In this room was 500-lght gas meter which was fed by 4-inch main. Very little gas is used in that
 part of the building, but at the time of
 explosion 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 originating from the ex- plosion darted up the shaft of the eleya- tor which had been completely destroyed | by the force of the explosion and com municated with the record room of thN supreme court, the office of the marshal of the court and the supreme court li- brary. Before the flames could be sub l dued the priceless documents in the
 record room had been almost totally ds- | destroyed and serious damage had | been done ill the marshal's office and some minor rooms in the immediate vi- cinity
 While many theories are offered as to
 the cause of the explosion it seems be- yond doubt to have been due to escaping gas. Lieutenant Nelson of the capitol police detected an odor of gas in the cor
 ridore adjoining the supreme court room and while he was endeavoring to locate the escape of the gas the explosion oc- | cured Only few officers of the capi- tol police were in the building at the 1 time.
 Within few minutes after the arriv- al of the fire department the flames were under control, although as precaution-
 ary measure streams were poured into the marshals office, the library and the subterranean basement for two hours. The fireman, however, had some diff. cu1ty in turning off the gas to stop flame which shot out of a inch main. Throughout the lower central portion
 of the old capitol building, doors, win dows and fittings in committee rooms and other apartments were badly dam aged. Just north of the crypt an arch way almost over the meter room was completely blown out and great masses 1 of masonry torn from the floor were l hurled to the ceiling with such force as 1 to burst the stone and plaster of the wall above. Ponderous fiagstones were wrenched from their resting places, and throughout the corridors the frescoing l on the ceilings and walls of the corri- 1 dors were utterly ruined. No damage
 was done to the main foundations of the
 buildings, as those are of solid masonry 1 deeply embedded and % feet thick. The library of the supreme court, To- cated immediately beneath the supreme l court room was badly damaged by fro, smoke and water, the water practically
 destroying the great collection of law reference books and decisions rendered
 by the court. The library contains about l! aa,00O volumes and was used not only by the justices of the supreme court, but by members of congress and lawyers practicing before the supreme court.