Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-02-09
FLAMES DESTROY
MISSOURI CAPITOL
$4,000 IN CASH, 100000 SCHOOL
BONDS AND 100000 LEGfs-
LATIvE SCRIPT BURNED.
SOLONS RESUME DUTIES
Although Buried In the Ruins, It 10
Believed Fire Did Not Reach the
Office of Governor, Treasurer
and Insurance Department.

Jefferson City, Mo.-The Missouri
capitol was partially destroyed by fire
Sunday night.
A shaft of lightning which struck
the pinnacle of the cupola shortly be-
fore s o'clock started the blaze that
burned the old pile.
The loss to the building alone is es-
timated at $1,000 900. The state had
been unable to induce any company
to insure either the building or its
contents.
Records of ~incalculable value were
burned. The original land grants,
which it would have been impossible
to replace, were saved through the
heroic efforts of Secretary of State
Cornelius Roach, attaches of his Of
fee and a host of volunteers.
Other records, including those per-
tanning to the corporations of the
state, are in vaults that may or may
not be tireproof. In the vault in the
t%reasurer's office when the roof
crashed in was $4,000 in cash, $780,
600 in school bonds and $100, 900 in
legislative script. A time lock pre-
vented the opening of the inner vault.
1t is supposed to be fireproof.
The records of the present house of
representatives were estroyed. The
senate records were saved.
The destruction of the building will
force the legislature, now in session,
to seek temporary quarters, probably
in the courthouse and opera house
here.
The state officers and the legisla-
ture will be without an adequate home
for several years.
The burning of the capitol at this
time is expected to start anew the
struggle to take the state departments
away from Jefferson City. Sedalia
and University City are two places
that have been attempting during the
present session to vote for a capital
removal amendment to the constitu-
ton.
The battle against the flames was
an unequal n from the stark The
cupola on top of the dome, where the
fire had it's origin;' is 1870 feet from
the ground, and the water pressure
was insufficient to reach it.
Jefferson City has no paid fire de-
partment and does not even boast a
fire engine. The volunteers did the
best they could with the available
equipment, but their efforts we're pitt
fully futile. Men cursed, the women
wept, as they saw first the dome con-
sumed by the flames, then the center
of the building, and, finally, the two
wings, which were added to the orig
inal building in 1887.
Fire Chief w. H. Paul of Sedalia
and eight men of the Sedalia depart
ment made a record run on a special
train yer the Missouri Pacific to the
capital. The distance, 65 miles, was
covered in a few minutes more than
an hour.
The SedaIia department brought ap-
paratus to aid in fighting the fire.
Sedalia fought hard for the capital
when the removal from Jefferson City
was agitated a decade ago, and that
city was the first to offer assistance
to preserve the burning building.
The fire special left Sedalia at $50
O'Clock and the track to Jefferson City
was kept open, giving it the right Of
way.
The governor, other officials and the
volunteers stayed in the building as
long as they possibly could, being
forced finally to flee for their lives as
the. roofs of the two wings crashed
In almost simultaneously at $40.
The local company Of state guards
were the last to leave the building.
They worked like heroes, under the
command of Major Paul Hunt, and
when they were ordered out by the
governor came reluctantly, their faces
blistered and blackened by the smoke
and heat.
Joseph Frank, one of the volunteer
iremen, was carried from the build
ing half %suffocated. Secretary Robert
McClintic Of the senate and a force
Of his clerks had a narrow escape.
They were carrying out the senate
records when a skylight collapsed
above their heads.