Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-17
DELUGED WITH WATER
HUGE TANK ON ROOF CRASHED
THROUGH SKYLIGHT.
Catastrophe at Woodward & Lothrop's
New Building Amounts
to Several Thousand Dollars.

With a report resembling distant thunder.
followed by aslcrash of falling wood and
iron. the huge water tank on the roof of
the recently completed addition to the
Woodward & Lothrop establishment burst
about s:15 last evening. dashing its con-
tents-25. 900 gallons Of watcr-with por-
ton Of the debris through several large
skylights into the store and damaging sew
eral thousand dollars worth Of merchan-
disc. sHsll's;. e.
When the report Of the bursting of the
large tank rang out@the night employees in
the establishment and pedestrians for sew
erai squares around were at a loss to know
exactly what had occurred. Within q mo-
ment after the report, however, great
crash was heard. caused by the breaking Of
the thick glass of the main skyiight and
other light shafts located directly under
and around the tank. as with the force OF
tornado a mass Of huge timbers, iron bolts,
pieces Of broken iron bands and large
volume Of water crashed through the open
Ing and flooded the lower floor of the es-
tablishment
For a time the employees of the building
were bewildered and awestricken. Foreman
George w. Amiss and Watchmen Richard
o. Wright and L. N. Paxton took In the
situation. and Wright ran to the fire alarm
box located in the establishment and sound
ed an alarm to which companies Nos 1. 2,
6 and IA and trucks c and D and the water
tower, with Chief Wagner in the lead. re-
sponded. Upon the arrival OF the fire ap-
establishment onto 11th and streets were
thrown open. The fremen were somewhat
SURPRISED to find that they would not have
themselves equal to the emergency. and
quickly pressed the suck pumps attached
to the various engines into service.
Removing the Water and Debris.
Chief Belt arrived on the scene and took
direct charge Of the operations. The pumps
were placed in position. and within a short
space of time the depth of the water was
greatly decreased. In the meantime Mr.. 9.
w. Woodward arrived at the store and d.
rected the salvage work. The sewer vents
of the establishment were located by Chief
Wagner and Mr.. Woodward. and the
amount of water then remaining on the
floor was soon drained. The removal Of
water and debris was finished by the night
sweepers of the building by the use of
mops and brooms.
1t was stated this morning that 1t is not
thought that the damage to the goods will
reach as high figure as Is usually the
case in such accidents, for the reason that
practically all the water and debris came
quickly spread In all directions, but was
not of sufficient depth to reach many Of
the articles or goods on shelves nearer the
floor, All articles Oh Inc IlrSt lOOf directly
under the skylight and those arranged on
the various upper floors near the light
shaft, however. were greatly damaged, as
was the upper portion of the building, and
It is thought that the ceiling In many places
will have to be torn away and replaced
with new material.
Several Thousand Dollars Damage.
In conversation with Star reporter this
morning Mr. woodward stated that the
damage will reach several thousand dollars:
lust how many thousands he could not say.
In summing up the entire loss, he said, the
cost of repairing the building would have
to be taken Into consideration. For the
most part. he said.r the bulk Of the dam
aged stock was black goods, wash goods.
laces. ribbons and handkerchiefs. He said
that although he h insured against fire.
he is not protected against loss caused by
water. The thnk,,'Mr. Woodward stated,
was only recently erected and was a part
of the automatic spfinkling fire system. He
said that 1t hid not yet been turned over
to the management Of the establishment,
and that water had been placed in the tank
only two days ago, and that the bursting
was caused nv the Swelling Of the stavas