Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-28

paper In America and helped to get 1t out
of the burning building
was it much of fire?" inquired the
young man of The Star.
well. l guess it was. 1t kept the fire
department of that day guessing to Its
ultimate proportions
Occurred in September, 1877.
LET me see' he said, sit broke out
about II O'Clock In the morning of Sep
TENDER "a. in what was known the
greenhouse, just under the roof of the
patent office, and directly over the portico
OF the west or 9th street front of the build
Ing Instead of turning in alarm at
once, 1t seems some of the employees at
tempted to eXtinguiSh the fire themselves,
and it was not until a half hour later, when
the fire had gained considerable Roadway.
that an alarm was turned In. The fire
chief realized quickly that he had serious
proposition to deal with. considering the
paratus for fighting fire. Therefore. he
telegraphed promptly to Baltimore and
Alexandria for assistance.
There is a collection of pictures hang
nodding his head in the direction of
group of views of the burning building as
he began to fill his pipe for IL smoke.
Did the fire last long?" queried the re-
porter, scanning the pictures.
About three hours" was the reply "and
1t was eight, too, that one who witnessed
1t will never forget. When the first fire
apparatus arrived from Baltimore shortly
after l o'clock, the fire was at It's height
The scene was one of impressive grandeur
The cold, classic outline of the big white
building was brilliantly Illuminated with
a background of seething flames, curling
and kissing hither and thither, mingled
with great lowering columns of densely
black smoke. From the big windows of
the 9th and the street sides great sheets
of flame darted and rose high into the air.
enveloped in great clouds of smoke which
spread out over the city by the wind
like an eruption from some great volcano
In that portion of the building, only a few
weeks before many hundreds of tons of
file papers had been stored. and when these
papers were released by the work Of the
flames the draught of the fire took them
up and out of their confines and carried
them high into the air. For a while the
air looked as If it were filed with snow
flakes The roofs of the buildings ada
cent to the burning edifice were literally
strewn with the scattered documents and
file records.
Infiammable Nature of Contents
The upper portion of the building-the
lof: under the roof-was mostly filed with
immense piles of papers and documents
from the various bureaus in the lower part
of the building, while the upper story
under this loft. was known as the model
room. and contained probably the finest
collection of models in the world"
Pretty good ma terial for a fire." VEN
tured the interviewer
We'll. | reckon" calculated the .reciter
In the comment of the fire at the time
IT was referred to a yeritabIe finder
box. and the investigation after the fire
showed that the only contingency consid-
cred. when the vast amount of combustibe
stun was stored, with reference to
the capacity OF the floor and Orders to
support the hundreds of tons of file
papers.
by the way interrupted The Star man.
was anybody killed in the fire?'
NO; everybody had ample time to leave
bers of the fire companies had narrow es-
capes from suffocation. and a newspaper
reporter came very near to being caught
by the falling of the burned roof
GLASS cases containing the models of
the patent office could be plainly seen from
the street by the thousands of spectators
enveloped in the raging flames. The west
hall. over which the fire originated was
27l feet long and g. feet wide. With the
other three halls ii contained models OF
infinite variety, representing something
like 15,0Oo. and divided into lf5 general
classes and nearly $500 relevant subdi-
visions. The entire space of the model
division occupied a suite of four magnf-
cent halls on the four sides of the build
ing's second floor"
WAS this the first fire the patent office
had ever sustained?' asked The Star re-
porter.
No II l remember rightly in Decem-
DER. iN-'n tHe DullolnS then occupied by the
patent office was completely destroyed by
fire. and among the losses were the models
accumulated during a half century. and
numbering upward of 1000. After this fire
the business of the department was trans
acted in the city hail. now the District
court house, where 1t remained until the
Office was removed 10 the present site
Marines Ordered Out for Guard.
"Detachments of marines came from The
navy yard and were stationed at various
points In and around the building to guard
the government building. The government
navy yard fire engine was brought into
requis1ion and carried a stream of water
from the water plug near the post Office
building"
"Spesking about inquiry" interrupted the
reporter. were there any expressions at
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