The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-26
Copyright, 1902, by Henry Russell.)

building. a block of granite weighing
thirty tons. 1t is twelve feet vyida
twenty-three feet long and eighteen
inches thick. The towers walls are
twenty-five feet thick, and while thew
would resist bombardment, they can
not Keep out wireless telegraph mes
sages. During recent experiment.
several wireless messages penetrated
the masonry and We're caught in one
OF the tower rooms by an operator.
The. mortar in many parts of the
tower is not yet dry. year or two
ago masons, in tearing down some old
brick work, discovered that the NOR
tar was very damp. similar condi-
ton has been discovered in many other
portions of the building where altera-
tons have been made.
The second highest elevator I'm the
world is in the tower 1t runs from
the seventh floor, 1873 feet above
ground, to the base of the Penn statue.
an upward course of $40 feet 8 inches.
The air cushions for this aerial lift
cost $4,000. One of the 400 telephones
in the building is located in the tower,
at the base of the statue.
Then there is the great clock and the
little clock that governs it. Com
pressed air is the motive power The
dials of the great clock are 36l feet
above the earth, and the diameter of
each is twenty-six feet. The lengths
of the minute and hour hands are flf-
teen and twelve feet respectively, and
their weights 225 and IT'S pounds. while
the lengths and widths of the hour
marks are thirty EIGHT and fourteen
inches, and the size of the minute
marks three and one-half inches
square. The distance Travelled by the
minute hand in one year is 1147 miles.
The weight of the dial frames, with
glass, Is five and one-half tons, and
the total weight of the clock is fifty
tons
The little or master clock the clock
that really runs, is LAB feet below the
great clock by which the city and
country folks for miles around regu-
late their watches. Two years were
spent in building it, and it's mechau-
ism is as delicate as that of the finest
watch. 1t rests In metallic case on
a platform built into a wan so no vi
bration can effect II. Quite unlike the
big clock. which in four years collect
ed three tons of dirt the case keeps it
free from dust. Once every minute
this clock. which is regulated from
Washington. opens the valve which ad-
nlits impressed air to the tubes con-
nected with the gears. The air moves
the hands of the clock way up in the
tower, which after all is Just a dunn
my clock, for it has only four faces
and lets the little clock down below
do all the actual work.
How the Tower Kills Birds.
Another peculiar thing about the
tower is that in the course of a day
contraction and expansion, due to the
SUMS rays make 1t lean quarters
of an inch out of plumb. This pecu-'
liarity has been determined by means
of a tub of molasses placed far up in
the tower, the surface of the molasses
varying three-quarters of an inch ac-
cording to the lean of the tower.
Then, too, the tower is an Unsuitable
and inveterate destroyer of "the birds
of the air." The ring of sixteen power
full arc lights that glow at the base of
PENIS statue blinds the birds so that
they fly against the tower, are killed
and fall to the roofs below One of
the halls employees has collection of
over a thousand BIRDS comprising all
sorts of species, that were killed in this
manner.
The statue of William Penn that caps
the tower has unusual dimensions. 1t
weighs 53,348 pounds and Is thirty-seven
feet in hight. The hat is nine feet i'm
diameter the rim twenty-three feet in
circumference; the buttons on the coat
are six inches in diameter and the coat
cuffs three feet long. Penn himself has
a nose thirteen inches long; eyes twelve
inches in length and four wide; a
mouth that is fourteen inches from
corner to corner; hair four feet long; a
face of three feet three inches from
hat to chin; a waist of twenty-four
feet; fingers two feet, six inches long:
nails three inches long, legs that are
ten feet from ankle to knee; ankles
Ave feet in circumference; arms twelve
and one-half feet long, and feet that
are twenty-five inches wide and FIVE
feet four inches long.
Rooms of Steel.
Between tower and basement are
many queer things.
The largest room measures 5Sx71 feet
and has floor area of 4,118 square
feet. This is the Common Council
Chamber, and two three-story houses,
Philadelphia style. could easily be
placed in it. Eighty-five thousand dol
lars were spent in furnishing this
room.
The smallest room is about as large
as the average living room. 1t meas
ures 10x12 feet, and is used by the
judges of one of the courts as place
to retire during a recess. This room
has fourteen yards of carpet, while the
largest room carpeted takes 800 yards.
Approximately, $4,000 yards of carpet
are laid in the building.
Thirteen of the rooms occupied by
the city solicitors department are fur
nished in steel. The only thing infiam-
mable in them are the wooden tops of
a few tables and a half dozen carpets.
Desks are of steel as well as doors,
window frames and thousands of fire.
proof boxes for municipal documents.
Four hundred and seventy tons
of steel were used in fitting UP these
rooms, and it took seveI~.en months
to do the work.
Another room entirely of steel, ex-
cept the table tops, is the Law Assoc
citation Library, where $4,000 volumes,
bearing on nothing except law, are
kept. This library, the second largest
Of the kind in America, has among it's
many other treasures one of the two
existing sets of Transcripts of complete
records Of the United States Supreme
Court.
The ScuIptors Unknown.
The seating capacity of the seventeen
court rooms is about $780, In addi-
ton to these $500 chairs, 5000 chairs
are scattered among the various Of
fees. Every room has clock, and
each room contains on an average
three roll top desks, making about 1000
of these in use In the building.
There Is no way to arrive at the cost
of furnishing the Mayors room, for
instance, because City Hall contracts
invariably have been let in lump sums
For this reason no one except the con-