Evening star., 1902-01-31
SERIOUS DAMAGE DONE
WATER HAS BACKED THROUGH POST
OFFICE BUILDING WINDOWS.
Files of the sixth Auditors Office
Have Been HadIy Injured-EHorts
to Remedy DiAculty.

Serious damage HAS beenE done to the
files of the sixth auditors soffice on the
ninth floor of the list Office building by
snow water, which has backed through
the windows just below the main roof IL
several rooms the floors are covered with
water an inch deep Alcoves all along the
main corridor have been emptied because
OF water which drips steadily from the
wall and ceiling By noon today the clerks
had cleared nearly all the file books away
from the water. The damage already done
is thought to have been very serious.
For several hours yesterday afternoon
the clerks ascribed the dripping water to
a leak in the copper roof below the glass
roof. At the end of the glass skylight over
the large court the roof descends perpendic-
ularly about ten fee. and continues to the
main walls in a series of dormer roofs,
with copper draining channels between.
These dormers shelter the spaces on the
ninth floor, now used as file rooms. The
ceilings of the file rooms and the walls
which rise from The floor in the corridor to
the glass roof are now spiotched with water
and in many places drip Steadily The as
pect is very mucn what it might be if a
series of leaks had let the snow water
through the roof.
The Real Cause.
Investigation has developed, however,
that the real cause was not a leak in the
roof. Instead the snow water has backed
up and soaked through the walls under
the window castings and the caves of the
glass roof. While the water spouts remain
open the roof does not leak at all. But
when the pipes are closed, as they are
now closed by ice and snow, the water
blacks up between the dormer windows
and is held there as though in a tank.
The most driving rain in the history of
Washington could not overflow the water
pipes. But the drifts of snow now hang
ing at the edge of the glass roof have no
waste channels at all.
The files most seriously affected are
those of the pay division and the division
of asserting and checking. BY law the
auditor must retain hiss files for seven
years. Some of these with a series de-
voted to the reports of postmasters for
the year 1888 are directly in line with the
dripping water and have been wet through.
All the file books in the rooms where the
water stands the floor have been re-
moved to dry quarters, but were wet be-
fore they could be reached. Most of the
books injured in this way contained the
contracts for railway mail service, foreign
mails and star route service. 1t is be-
lieved none of the file books has been
so badly injured as to make their con-
tents inegible.
Extent of the Injury.
No one connected with the department
would estimate the injury. If the wet
pages dry in rolls and "crinkies'' the bind
ing of the books may have to be renewed.
Several of the file cases must be replaced.
The plaster is expected to dry properly, but
may possibly fall in the course of the OPP
Grafton. While the consequences of the
leakage are so predetermined any estimate
of the damage would, of course, be value
less.
Chief Clerk Taylor and the superintendent
of the building, Rufus b. Merchant, will do,
of course, everything in their power to
avert further damage. Canvas has been
hung between the wet walls and the file
cases. The drip is being caught in buckets.
This afternoon men will examine the roof
from the windows and ascertain whether
the snow can be shoveled away without en-
dangering the lives of the workmen.