The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1911-04-01
.N.Y.CAP|TO[B BURNS
Magnificent Building a Prey
to Flames.
CAUSED 100000 DAMAGE
Fused Electric Button Believed to
Have Started Blaze in the
$2e, 100000 Structure.
One Man Dead.
CAUSED $7,OOO,OOO DAMAGE

swept, smoke strewn and water
/ drenched, New York states magnih-
cent capitol stands a partial wreck by
flames that started in the assembly
library and burned away the entire
west wing. II is believed that the
/ fire was started by a fused electric
push button becoming electrified.
Franklin b. Ware. the state archi-
tect, placed the loss officially at So
00O. 900, but nobody would be surprised
If it ultimately went a few millions
more.
Samuel j. Abbott, aged seventy
seven years. a Civil War veteran, who
was employed az a night Waterman in
the state library. is supposed to have
persisted in the flames His body has
not been found
Guardsmen Patrol Building.
Capitol Hill is a dismal spot. A bat
TALON of national guardsmen are do
ing sentry duty around the whole
building with a vigilance that would
befit captured fort This was the
place where the Legislators and the
crowds had fingered until l o'clock In
the morning for q possible, outcome
of the senatorship caucus. The whole
/ legislature is farther out of the CAPT
toll than politicians could ever put IL,
and both houses will be doing business
for some days in the municipal cham
bers of Albany's city hall, block be-
low the capitol.
AS a result of one Of the most dis
astrous fires that ever ate up state
property, the $4,000, 900 capitol, which
took years to build. furnished such
ready fuel for the flames that the fire
burned eight hours before it was I'M
der control With its origin some
where in the rear of the assembly ju-
dietary committees room and assem-
bly, library on the third floor, the fire
spread with alarming rapidity. wiping
completely out OF existence the entire
state eduction department, with its
state library OF worldwide fame and
Of value that cannot be estimated In
dollars. and destroyed other state Of
/ fees with an ease which bafiied the
I fremen and gave Albany one OF the
worst rights 1t ever got.
/ A Spectacular Blaze.
Granite pillars were no barriers for
the flames. They got a start in the
assembly judiciary committee rooms
and claimed the state library. with its
I hundreds of thousands Of books and
pretty wooden partitions of carved
oak in one gnlp. They swept over the
entire third floor Of the capitol at the
western end, while the big plate glass
windows crumbled and fell with
crashes that tumbled the residents
within ten blocks of the capitol out OF
bed, and then went merrily skyward
I 200 feet. Within a half hour after the
fire started for fifty miles about was
transformed into daylight. The heav-
ems were Illuminated with the kind OF
reflection Albany never saw before.
The capitol building on the top Of the
hill plain to the naked eye for at
least fifty miles. was now the great
beacon light. giving a display which
was as spectacular as 1t was threat
ening.
Thought Whole Building Doomed.
State officials. the hundreds of male
and female clerks employed in the
building and members OF the legisla-
ture were out and running to Capitol
Hill from all directions. The first view
gave credence to the belief felt for
hours after that the Whole capitol
building was doomed to destruction.
State Sli1ce after state Office went out
, 81 business. From the third floor the
fire ate its way right aud left and
finally made for the senate and as
sembly chambers.
Firemen pluckily entered the burn
ing building, which was full OF smoke,
to save the senate and assembly, even
If the whole western section OF the
capitol went up in flames. The flames
reached the assembly ceiling, and II
would have gone up in a jiffy had II
not been of papier mache. The
streams on the building from the ex-
terror went up to only the third floor,
and the hardest part Of the battle had
to be done by the firemen In the
building. One by one they succumbed
to the smoke, only to be quickly re-
vlved in the open and hurry back to
the sickening interior again.
The assembly chamber was soaked
with water and Damaged by fire and
smoke to such an extent that 1t will
be a month at least before 1t can be
used. The senate didn't fare so badly, !
although the rooms of the lieutenant
governor, Senator Wagner and Sena-
tor Frawley and Senate Clerk McCabe
we're devastated with the smoke and
water.
The departments which were put
absolutely out of business by the fire
were the sta e library and state library
school on the third and fourth floors
Of the capitol, the state court of
claims, the legislative bill drafting de-
nartment, the state superintendent OF
weights ana measures, the examina-
tTons department OF the regents on the
fourth floor Of the capitol, where the
fire ragged the fercest, causing that
particular cupola 10 topple over into
the ruins. The senate library was
saved fro M he flames, though delueed
with water.