Albuquerque evening citizen., 1906-11-14
TERRITORIAL CAPITOL BUILDING
SCORCHED BY AN UGLY FIRE
SmOuldering Flame Discovered in Base
ment and ExtinguiShed Just in Time
to Prevent Costly COnflagratiOn--
Custodian Miller Unconscious.

The handsome territorial capitol at
Santa Fe, which with its furnishings
cost over $150.0O0. was threatened
with destruction at O'Clock yester-
day morning. when the night watch
man discovered the entire building
full Of choking smoke, as the result
of fire which was fast gaining head
way in the store room near the center
of the basement. David l.. Miller.cus-
todian, was overcome by smoke and
fc,l unconscious ct the edge of the fire
He was rescued by his son, Walter
Miller, who carried him through a
window into the air where he quickly
revived.
Il is not possible to estimate the loss
at this time It Is certain to amount
20 several thousand dollars at least.
Owing to the fact that the valuable
looks in the library are damaged and
not an office escaped some harm from
smoke. the amount may be much lar
ger. It Is said that the whole building
was endangered for nearly an hour by
a recently appointed night watchman
who apparently made inefficient ef-
forts to extinguish the flames without
summoning sufficient assistance.
This Is borne out by the fact that no
alarm reached the fire department.
To the. prompt work or Custodian
Miller, however, really belongs the
credit for saving the capitol.
Whatever loss there may be is fully
covered by insurance. the total
amount on the building and fixtures
being about s150,00e.
1t seems that about o'clock yes
terday morning Thomas Alarid, the
night Waterman, smelled the smoke
which was pouring into the corridors
from the basement. He investigated
and found that in the long store
room, near the center of the building
there was a fire. He could not enter
the room because of the clouds of
smoke. The watchman then summon
ed the engineer and several others
whom he could arouse having failed
to communicate with the telephone
exchange because the fire had burn
ed out the wires to the telephones IN
the building at the point where they
entered the capitol. The frightened
men made an attempt TO extinguish
the blaze which was smouldering for
want OF air. Being unsuccessful they
sent post haste for Custodian Miller,
who, with his son, arrived quickly.
Mr.. Miller opened the windows lead
ing into the engine room in order to
let out the smoke. Instantly there
was fash Of flames, as the fresh air
reached the smoulderlng fire.
Custodian Fell Unconscious at Edge
OF Fire.
Before opening the windows, >Mr.
Miller dragged a line of hose into the
engine room and as near to the fire
as he could get He then stood his
ground. playing stream of water up
On the fire until he grew so weak
from inhaling smoke that he could no
longer hold the muzZle. He called for
assistance, but the janitor force un-
der the directions of his son, was en-,
gagged In getting other hose. Just
what happened then Mr.. Miller can
not clearly recall except that he fell
in the smoke, at the edge of the fire.
His son, entering the room a minute
later, found Mr.. Miller and carried
him through a window to the fresh
air, where he revived. Father and son
with lines OF hose, then re-entered the
store room and began directing effect
I've streams of water on the fire
which was quickly subdued. The
other men worked valiantly in fight
ing the fire. removing combustible
material and ciding in handling the
nozZles