The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-03-30
Entire Western End Of the
Building Practically
In Ruins.
STATE LIBRARY DESTROYED
Senate and Assembly Chambers
Saved, but Are Damaged
by Water.

ALBANY. March 2o.--The granite walls
Of the State Capitol. majestic and white
twenty-four hours ago and holding the
machinery OF the State Government. to.
night are blackened by fire and smoke,
The entire western end Of the Capitol
il almost completely destroyed. at q loss
Of at least 81 900 900. and half OF the State
departments are crippled and homeles1,
Samuel J. Abbott. II years old. civil
war veteran who was employed as u
night watchman in the State LibraryH
is supposed to have perished In the flames.
His body has not been found.
Tonight Capitol Hill is a dismal spot.
The smoke was still pouring out OF tho
ruins Of the western end OF the building
and a battalion OF National Qua rdsnen
was doing sentry duty around the whole
building with a vigilance that would befit
captured fort. This was the place
where the legislators and the crowds
fingered until o'clock this morning
for a possible outcome of the Senatorship
CAUCUS. Tonight the whole Legislature
is further out Of the Capitol than politi-
cians could ever put it. and both houses
will be doing business for some days in
the municipal chambers Of Albany's City
Hall. a block below the Capitol. facing
Capitol Park Square.
READY FuEL YoR TIRE FLAME,.
The Capitol furnished such ready fuel
for the flames tnst the fire burned from
some time around o'clock this morning
until after II o'clock before il was under
control. With it's origin somewhere in
the rear OF the Assembly Judiciary Com.
mittee's room and tia Assembly Nb-s.y,
directly in tho rear OF the Assembly e'nam.
Der on the third floor OF the building. the
fire ragged with alarming rapidity. wiping
completely out Of existence the entire
State Education Department. with it's
State Library OF worldwide fame and
Of a value that cannot be estimated in
dollars; destroyed other State Offices
with an ease which bafiied the hremen
and gave Albany one Of the worst frights
it ever got.
Granite pillars we're no barriers for the
flames They got a start in the Assembly
Judiciary Committee rooms and de-
stroyed the State Library with its hun
dreds OF thousands of books and pretty
wooden partitions OF carved oak They
swept over the entire third floor Of the
Capitol at the western end and the big
plate glass windows crumbled and fell
with crashes that awakened the residents
MI tnt, tl lie - . -
half an hour after the fire started Albany
for fifty miles about was transformed into
daylight. The heavens were illuminated
with the kind Of reflection Albany never
saw before. The Capitol building on the
top Of the hill, plain to the view OF tho
naked eye for at least fifty miles was now
the great beacon light. giving a display
which was as spect acular as il was threa.-
ening. State officials. the hundreds Of
male and female clerks employed in the
building and members of the Tegislas sure
were out and running to Capitol hill from
all directions.
PROGRESS OF THE PIRE.
The first view gave credence 10 the
belief felt fol hours afterward that the
whole Capitol building was doomed to
destruction. State Office after State Office
went out OF business. From the third
floor the fire ate it's way right and left
and finally made for the Senate and As
sembly chambers. Firamen pluckily
entered the burning building. which was
full OF smoke. and obeyed the orders Of
their commander. Chief Bridgeford. to
save the Senate and Assembly even IL
the whole western section Of the Capitol
went up in flames. The fam es reached
the Assembly ceiling and it would have
gone up in q jitiy had it not been Of papier
mAche. The streams on the building from
the exterior went up to only the third
floor and the hardest part Of the hattie
had to be done by the fremen in The
building, One by one they succumbed
to the smoke only to be quickly revived
in the open.
The Assembly Chamber was soaked
with water and damaged by fire and smoke
to such an extent that 1t viii be month
at least before it can be used, The Senate
Chamber did not fare 90 badly although
the rooms OF the Lieutenant Governor.
Senator Wagner and Senator Frawley
by smoke and water.
DEPARTMENTS BURNED OUT
The departments which were put abso-
lutely out Of business by the fire were tho
State Library and State Library school.
on the third and fourth hoors of the Capt.
tol. on the western end; the State Court
OF Claims. the legislative bill drafting
the State Superintendent OF
Weights and Measures and the examina-
ton department OF the Regents. in thu
southwestern corner OF the fourth floor
of the Capitol, where the fire ragged the
fercest. causing that particular cupola
to topple over IN the ruins. The Senate
library was saved from the flames.
though deluged with water, The Senate
Finance Commuters room, the Senate
Codes Committee room. Majority Leader
Wagner's ONCE, the Assembly library.
the Assembly lavatory and the Assembly
engrossing room were wiped out by the
namss Ths odloss Of tho State Esoiss