The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-05
BONES UNDER WHITE HOUSE.
GRUEsOME DISCOVERY MADE by
WORKBENCH.

Believed to BE Portion of Human
Skeleton and Negro LabOrers Are
Frightened - Excavations show
Foundation Walls of Old House
Where White House stands-Im-
mense oven Found Embedded in
Found Close by-May Have Been
Old Soup Bones.
Washington, Aug. 4.-Workmen en-
ployed in tearing out the interior of
the White House last week unearthed,
deep down under the basement, what
is believed to be a portion of a human
skeleton. The discovery created con-
sternation among the colored laborers
of a superstitious nature, and several
of them threatened to strike for a less
gruesome occupation. Strenuous eff
forts have been made to keep the dis
covery a secret, pending a more care
full investigation of the bones exhumed
from such an unlocked for but histori-
cal resting place. The workmen have
been cautioned not to discuss the sub
ject, and the most rigid regulations
have been adopted to prevent persons
not actually employed in the mechani-
cal work from entering the building.
Even clerks and messengers belonging
to the executive force are excluded I'M
der the existing order.
The mysterious discovery was made
while the laborers were engaged in
excaVating a vast pit or sub-cellar be-
low the floor of the basement, to make
way for the new heating apparatus.
provided for in the plans of alteration.
After going down about ten feet, a
massive stone wall or vault was en-
countered. Upon further exploration
it proved to be what was apparently
the foundation walls of an old house,
that had evidently stood on the same
spot where the White House was aft
erward erected. 1t will be remembered
that the land upon which the White
House and adjacent public buildings
are built, is made land. Developed to
it's present condition by filling in and
grading.
In this same excavation was found
an immense oven embedded in the
stone wall, and in close proximity to
the oven was found the bones, which
are supposed to be part of a human
skeleton. 1t was the discovery of the
bones in conjunction with the oven
that terroriZed the workmen and
caused them to believe that they had
unearthed an ancient tomb. Further
examination dissipated the vault or
tomb scare, for there We're unmist TAXA
BILE evidences of it having at some pre-
vious period been an old stone oven.
AS it does not interfere with the pro-
posed improvements to the mansion,
1t was closed up and remains undis-
turbed.
AS a result of those interesting and
rather sensational discoveries. many
uncanny and somewhat exaggerated
stories have been built upon the cir
cumstances above related There
seems to be a well-defined theory that
in the dim distant past, there must
have been an old colonial residence on
the low land of what is now the site
of the White House.
When British Burned Mansion.
During the tearing out process many
other interesting discoveries have been
made. For instance in the famous
East Room, evidences of the fire of
1914, when the mansion was destroyed
| by the British--were disclosed. AS the
walls We're cut out for the placing OF
| the new iron beams and supports
| pieces of old burnt timbers were found
having been burnt off close up to the
| stone walls and left undisturbed whes
| the house or that portion which was
| burnt was reconstructed.
| According to experts the outside
| walls of the White House are of per-
| feet construction, and said to be more
solid and substantial than those of
modern times. Fault is found, how
ever, with some of the interior brick
arches and construction of olden times.
Some of the latter were found to b.
dangerously weak and in a state of de-
cay. In a few places the old founda-
ton was opened and found to be in
need of repair New retaining walls
have been erected to brace up the weak
places, so that there need be no fur
Their apprehension about an insecure
foundation of the White House.