Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-11-07
A GAS EXPLOSION
Continued from page ~

49, tSoShii6 tiaui poiAl Adjoining the
court room, however. both the marshaps
office and the Senate barber shop fur
nished food for the flames
While many theories are offered as 70
the cause of the explosion, it seems he
yond doubt to have been due to the es-
Gaping gas. At 567. Lieut. Nelson of the
Capitol police, detected an ouor of gas
in the corridors adjoining the supreme
court room. Not being able to locate il.
he proceeded to -Statuary hall-the old
hall of the House of REPRESENTATIVE
thinking the gas might be escaping from
a burner in that vicinity While he was
endeayoring TO locate the escape of the
gas, the explosion occurred. Only few
persons, principally officers Of the Capi-
tol police, were in the building at the
time, but several of them had narrow
escapes.
Before the fire department arrived, c.
P. Gliem, chief electrician of the Capitol.
and H. W. Taylor, chief engineer of the
House side, had a stream playing into
the supreme court record room, which by
that time was a roaring furnace. Within
a lew minutes after the arrival of the fire
department the flames were under con-
troll, although as precautionary meas
ure, streams We're poured into the mar
shal's office, the library and the subter-
ranean basement for two hours The
tiremen were unable, however for a con-
siderable time to eXtinguish the flame Of
gas which shot out of the 4-inch main in
the meter room. From this main the fire
swept through an orifice in the basement
floor. caused by the explosion and at
tackled the consultation room of the su-
preme court justices on the main floor.
Some damage was done to the furniture
and fittings of this room, but it was in
considerable as compared with that done
elsewhere. The robing room of the JUS
tices practically was undamaged.
1t was evident that the fire could
not be extinguished until the gas from
the main 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 GLEN
Drawing the intense heat. entered the
meter room and cut off the flow of 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
archway 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 flag
stnoes were wrenched from their rest
ing places and throughout the cor
ridors the freseoing on the ceilings
and walls We're utterly ruined. No
damage was done to the main founda-
tions of the buildings, as they are of
solid masonry deeply imbedded and 25
feet inches thick.
The electric lighting apparatus in
Guiding dynamos. boilers and wirings,
We're not damaged. In order to enable
the firemen to work without peril from
live wires. Electrician Gliem cut off
the current from all wires except one
circuit, which lighted the lower west
ern part of the building. Within 80
feet of the scene,sof the explosion a
solitary incandescent lamp marking
the exact center Of the Capitol struc-
ture and hanging. over the spot in
which it was proposed to lay the re-
mains of George Washington brilliant
ly burned.
Among the losses which will be
most sincerely regretted are those of
busts of Chief Justice Marshall and
other distinguished members of the
supreme court.
The Capitol building has been dam
aged n number of times before by fire,
but it is believed that tonight's fire
will prove to be the most destructive
in the history of the building. On two
other occasions prior to this fires have
been started by explosion of gas.
Seventeen years ago a large amount
of damage was done to the same part
of the building by an explosion of this
kind and in 1876 there was an explosion
of gas that killed one man and came
near killing another.
No intelligent estimate of the money
loss by the explosion and fire can yet
be made. In the opinion of Capitol
officers and mechanics who examined
the structure, tonight, the loss will
reach probably 100000 to the building.
The loss on the library and records as
stated above, can be scarcely estimat-
ed in dollars and cents. A million dol
lars could not replace them, because
many of them have no duplicate in ex-
istence.
Arrangements were completed, tonight.
by Librarian Clark of the supreme court,
and Col. Richard D. Bright, sergeant-at
arms of the Senate, by which the sittings
of the supreme court will not be inter-
rupted. The court win convene. tomor-
row, in the room of the Senate commit
tee 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.