Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1898-11-10
U. s. CAPITOL BLOWN UP.
Important Papers In the Su-
preme Court Fi.e Room
Burned.

wrecked part OF tne capitol, ex-
pressed the opinion late this af-
ternoon that the damage to the
building could be repaired for
$4,000.
cit is by no means so s>rious
as ] first thought it was," said
Mr.. Wood. 81 find that the
foundations of the building we're
not damaged IN the least, and that
the only injury to the structure
by the explosion was done to the
arched floors. These were struck
from beneath and afforded the
least resistance, giving way so
readily that the foundation walls
were not injured in any respect"
Mr.. Wood believes the explo-
sion was caused by gas, but says
he has not yet been able, on ac-
count of the debris, to make a
sufficiently critical examination to
place the exact spot at which the
ignition occurred. Other archi-
tects who have inspected tee
scene of the. catastrophe also at
tribute it to an explosion of gas,
but like Mr.. Wood decline to 90
into details IN their theories.
Some express the opinion that a
broken main and a burning jet are
responsible for the occurrence.
The work of removing the rub,
bish caused by tie explosion pro-
ceeded rapidly all day, Is or 100
men being employed for this pur~
pose. AS soon as the refuse is
sufficiently cleared out the work
of repairing the damage will be-
gin. Mr.. Woods thinks that the
Supreme Court room will be
ready for occupancy within two
weeks. He says the damage was
less then was thought and the
opinion is expressed that nothing
moro than the repairing of the
walls, putting in new doors, new
skylights and new upholstery will
be necessary to render the cham
Der fit for service. The ceiling
of this part of the building and
some of the partitions are of
wood, and there is no doubt that
very serious damage would have
resulted if the fire had once got
ten a headway here. AS it adj
Joins the dome there has been
some speculation as to what effect
it would have had upon that strucr
ture.
| NO0S VI tu0 NSIy f0iOoOlO
books in the law library we're in>
jured.
The only damage that cannot
be made good was done in the
file room Of the Supreme Court
in the basement. where were
stored all the official records and
original copies of opinions from
the foundation CT the Governs
ment. All these opinions have
been printed. but the original
manuscripts were highly valued.
This room was almost over the
scene of the explosion. and it
was one of the first compart>
ments of the Capitol to be at
tackled. The documents here
we're stored away in an orderly
manner in wooden cases, and
none of them had any other pro
lection, except the records of the
court from 1892 to 1882. which
were encssed in tin boxes. The
flames appear 10 have completely
enveloped this room, but they
were only sufficiently intense to
badly CHAIR all the wood work
and many of the documents.
Comparatively few of the papers
were absolutely destroyed, but
those which suffered this fate
we're among the most valuable in
the room. They included the
Original opinions of the court in
the early days of the Republic
and among them we're many
manuscripts prepared in the
handwriting Of the j~urists Of the
days of Washington, Jefferson
and Adams. There were in the
list mahy opinions in manuscript
written by Marshal Story, Sans
uel Chase, Bushrod Washington
and others of the justices of the
period between 1890 and 1880 and
therefore priced as relics of the
early days of the court. These
papers were stored under the
arch of the room and seem to
have been completely consumed,
lon the other hand the officia.