The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1898-11-12
SUPREME COURT s..
RECORDS DESTROYED
Fire In the National Capitol Build
ing Causes Great
Damage.
CAUSED BY GAS EXPLOSION
;AusED BY GAS EXPLOSION.
ALI the Court Records From 1892.
to 1882 are a.Total
Loss.
cAPIIoLl1sELF scoRcHEDBY FIRE
Loss to the Building Will Amount
to 100000 White the Loss TO
the Records Cannot BE
Figured in Money.

Washington, Nov. s.-An explosion
and fire at 5:15 o'clock yesterday aft
ernoon wrecked the supreme court
room and the rooms Immediately adj
joining 1t on the main floor of the zap
itol. The damage is enormous. The
entire cen~tral-eastern part of the great
marble pile, from the main floor to
the subterranean basement practical
ly is II mass of ruins. The force of the
explosion was SC heavy that the cop
ing stones and 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 We're blown out and locked
doors were forced from their hinges
quite $50 feet from the scene.
Fire followed the explosion SO quick
1y as to seem simultaneous with it.
The explosion shook the immense
structure to it's foundation, and was
heard several squares from the capt.
toll. 1t occurred in a small room tight
ly enclosed by heavy stone walls in
the subterrunean basement immedi-
ately below the main entrance to the
old capitol building. In this room was
a 500-light gas meter, which was fed
by Il 4-inch main. Very little gas is
used in that part of the building, but
at the time of the explosion the gas
had not been turned off at the meter.
The meter itself WIS wrecked, and the
gas pouring from the main caught fire.
The flames darted up the shaft of the
elevator, which had been completely
destroyed by the force of the eXplo-
sion, and communicated with the rec
ord of the supreme court, the
office of the marshal and the supreme
court library. Before the flames could
be subdued the priceless documents in
the record room had been almost de-
stroyed, and serious damage had been
done in the marshal's Office and some
minor rooms in the immediate vicin-
ity.
supreme Court Records Burned.
The library of the supreme court, To-
Gated Immediately below the supreme
court room, was badly damaged by
fire, smoke and water, practically de-
stroying the great collection of law
reference books. The library contains
about 10000 volumes, and was used not
only by the justices of the supreme
court, but by the members of congress
and lawyers practicing before the SUI
preme court.
Justice Harlan said that the IL
brary was very valuable. Many of the
works it contained would, he thought,
be difficult to replace. Librarian
Clarke, after a cursory examination,
necessarily made by the light of Ian
terms, expressed the opinion that many
of the books could be saved, although
they had been badly drenched by wa
ter.
The most serious damage, in the
opinion OF the justices of the supreme
court, is to the records stored in the
sub-basement. These included all of
the records of the supreme court from
1859 to 1882. The room contains rec
ords of cases and opinions rendered by
the fathers of the judiciary of the gov
eminent. Apparently the documents
in this room are either totally de-
stroyed or SO badly damaged by fire
and water as to be useless. Justice
Harlan said that while the loss of the
records was ~irreparable, it was fortu-
nate that the later records of the
court, which are kept in the Office of
the clerk on the main floor, were not
injured. As documents for reference
at this time and later, Justice Harlan
thought these were of far greater
value than the records destroyed. For
tunately the clerks Office was not in
the least damaged by fire and the eS-
plosion did no damage in it except to
blow out one window.
Some May he Saved.
James McKenna, clerk of the II
preme court, expressed the hope, after
making an examination of the old
record room, that some at least of the
documents, priceless from the view
point of the historian, could be saved.
Last night, however, owing to the in
adequate lighting facilities in that
portion of the building where the X
|plosion and fire occurred, it was, i'm.
possible for him to make an intelligent
or thorough investigation of the dam
age. The supreme court room was
damaged principally by water and
smoke, the fire not reaching that
point. Adjoining the court room,
however, both the marshal's offices
and the senate barber shops furnished
food for the flames.
Cause of the Fire.
While many theories are offered as to
the cause of the explosion, 1t seems be-
You'd doubt to have been due to escaping
gas. At seven minutes after 5. Lieut..