The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-24
A FAMOUS BUILDING.
Where General Lew Wallace Wrote
 Part of "Ben-Hur."

From the New York Press.
 Associated with the name of Gen. Lew Wallace and with that of his most fla nous book, is the name of the oldest building on the continent. which has been continuously occupied as a seat of gov ernment since its erection. This is the governors palace. which bounds one side of the plaza in the center of the city of Santa Fe. Unlike the Old South church. Mount Vernon, and other historic build ings which have been saved from de- struction only by conversion into .mu- seums, the palace has never once ceased to be the seat of authority since New Mexico was a crown colony of Spain. Spanish viceroys, Mexican governors and territorial governors sent from Washing ton have all lived there.
 It was as governor of the territory that General Wallace occupied the house in 1S79-S0, and in the great rambling old adobe structure there is one room called the Ben Hur" room. The author was known to have written part or the book there, and when the novel became famous former Governor Brad ford Prince who has had a lifelong in- terest in the historic features of New Mexico, wrote to General Wallace for confirmation of the fact General Wal lace's reply, which has been preserved in Santa Fe said:
 "When in the city my habit was to shut myself up in the bedroom back of the executive office proper and write till after 12 o'clock The sixth, seventh and eighth books were the result, and the room has ever since been associated m my mind with the crucihXion. The re- tirement, impenetrable to sound was as profound as a cavern s.
 The force of the reference can be un- derstood when one observes the thick ness of the mighty adobe walls which have lasted so many generations It Is perfectly unpretentious building, very long and only one story high. The Nlsitor is astounded at the spaciousness or the interior It has scores of immense rooms each warmed by the quaint, three-cor- nered fireplace copied from the Pueblo Indians. and fired. like theirs, with the resinous pinon boughs. which make the brightest and most beautiful flames.
 Vast loads of these pinon boughs go eran1bn1ating about the streets or Santa Fe apparently without any motor power But if one looks closely he may discover the legs and nose of a sad little Mexican burro protruding from the mass, Ana fin making his bargain with the bright eyed Indian boy who accompanies 1t he will decide that the fuel trade in santa Fe has picturesque features denled 10 n load of coal dumped through hole Tn the sidewalk.
 A skylight in the roof of the building at one point has curious history m 1880 the Pueblo Indians rose against the Snanish invaders and drove them tenn porarily from the country. The spanish garrison was massed In the governor $ palace which they evacuated on August oo of that year. Great was the triumph of inc Pueblo chieftains when they gain ed possession of the building from which The commands for their government had so long emenated. They burned the span ish archives in a vast bonfire but pre- served the palace to be the residence of their chiefs. But the Pueblo Indian from time immemorial has entered his house from the roof, drawing the ladder up after him when there are enemies without. One may see such houses today in the remoter Pueblos of New Mexico. So the conquering Indians of 1880 closed all the doors of the palace, reared ladders outside and cut a hole in the roof (still preserved as a skylighp, for their exit and entrances.