The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1904-12-24
GREATEST FIRE WONDER.
Freakishness Of Flames at Worlds
Fair Fire Inexplicable.

The SAVING OF the FAMOUS paintings
of Missouri's Governors and Supreme
Court Judges from the fire that
destroyed the Missouri Pavilion at the
Worlds Fair is the talk and wonder of
the hour.
The paintings were hung in the As
sembly Hall, where the fire was the
fercest, and where the floor, ceiling
are nearly all the walls were destroyed.
The frames of the pictures were burned
and. in some instances the stretcLers
upon which the canvas is mounted
were badly charred. yet there are only
six paintings out Of the fifty that have
holes burned in them, and only two
were destroyed.
Most of the damage to the pictures
was caused by water, impregnated with
lime from the plaster. which ate away
the paint of the backgrounds and the
coats but did not damage the faces.
Another strange feature is that, while
six of the paintings have holes burned
in them, none of the features are dam
aged.
A. A. Kocian, who has charge Of the
restoration of the paintings, said: "AIl
will have to be refined and mounted on
new s~tretchers, and we will paint in
the backgrounds and coats, and some
few of the faces will have to be re-
touched. 1t is the most remarkable
thing / ever heard Of. The massive
frames were burned, but the canvases
loaded with oil-paint, matter which is
supposed to be highly combustible,
passed through the flames unscathed,
SO far as the fire was concerned.
"The greatest difficulty is going to be
in identifying the portraits. The
name plates were destroyed. Now.
this picture, | found back of q radiator
under three feet of plaster. The frame
and stretcher were nothing but char
coal. 1t was afterwards Unidentified
by Governor Charles P. johnson as
that Of Governor Andrew McNair.
Governor johnson readily identified
three other of the damaged pictures.
"Another remarkable feature Of the
fire was the way the large painting of
Pope Leo remained unharmed. This
was upstairs in the southwest part of
the building. 1t is framed with a deep
gold frame of plush and ebony, covered
with glass. When we put this picture
in the building, it required seven men
to hang it. We fastened it to the wall
with our large screws and by chance
they struck the joist.
1.-THE ceiling, floor and walls. except
ing the joist, were burned, yet this
picture is not even scorched. The glass
is not even smoked or cracked. The
only damage it suffered was TO the
plush on the lower side Of the frame.
Water in some way got behind the glass
and wet this plush. When we took
this down we had to take it to pieces,
| and lower it with a rope and derrick.
II asked the firemen how they ac-
| counted for this remarkable freak of
the fire. They said that they played a
heavy stream of water around the
| picture, but even then it is wonderful
| The saving of all the paintings in the
| Missouri building is one of the greatest
| fire wonders of the generation, and is
| certa My something that the people of
| Missouri have to be thankful for, be-
cause as history, the paintings are in
| valuable"
In a short time the paintings, will be
back in their old places on the walls of
the Capitol at jefferson City.-St. Louis
Republic.