Evening star., 1915-01-31
FIFTY YEARS Ago
IN THE STAR


January -, 1855. fire partly destroyed
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian building. BY good for
a,, tune the flames were
AoIa1e. confined to the main
building and the major part Of the col
lection was saved, though considera BILE
was done. The Star of that
date has an extended account OF the
fire. in part as follows:
"At fifteen minutes to today the
was startled by seeing fire
issuing from the Smithsonian building
and shortly the whole central portion of
the building was cnveloped in flames.
The fire originated in the loft above the
picture gallery, between the ceiling and
the roof. west wing of the building, ana
Is believed to have been caused by de-
fective flue. The ceiling speedily fell in
and in a few moments the gallery was one
sheet of flames. Workmen had been en-
gagged during the day in hanging up pic
lures in the ROOM all OF which were
consumed with the exception of some fouE
or five. The paintings thus destroyed
were very fine and included Stanlcy's
celebrated Indian gallery The fire spread
rapidly and soon the roof of the lecture
room fell, driving out the firemcn. who
were endeavoring to contine the flames to
the picture gallery. The flames extended
to the lecture room and main tower, and
then to the apparatus ROOM Only a
small portion of the valuable appa aratus
in this room was saved. as the heavy ap-
paratus could not be removed.
THE first known of the fire by Prof
Henry and Mr.. Rhees, who were in the
professors rooms, was
Officials from Il cracking sound
c.., like that of ice falling.
oIo1 Iieu. and, rushing out. they
found the whole lecture room adjoin-
ing in flames Some of the meteorologi-
cal observations were saved from the
secretary's rooms, but the more valua-
BILE documents. including the corre-
spondence of the institution. the back
etc, were Destroyed. Mr.. Reese
also lost much of his own valuable per
sonal property stored there. The hre
spreading to other portions of the
X,
move the furniture of the east wing,
occupied by Prof. Henry as "A private
residence, and also the stuffed birds
and preparations from the taNider-
mists' rooms, but in the haste and from
the narrowness of the passages much
damage was done. Supt. Richards ana
the police force were promptly on the
ground and stretched Il Gordon OF rope
to keep away the crowd and regulated
as far as possible the work of remov-
ing the immense amount of property.
"The fire, as it mounted the central
tower and burst forth in full volume
from the main roof. was
Mapnificent magnificently grand, and
curious spectacle was
oPee1acie. presented by the unper-
turbed steadiness of the revolution of
the anemometer, or wind register, sur
mounting the tower while the neree
flame was ravenously mounting to its
destruction. The windows of the pic
ture gallery soon burst out, disclos-
ing the shell of the room. There were
some 200 of Stanley's pictures here ana
he was just on the point OF selling them
to the state of Michigan. Indeed. not
lady who had been commissioned 10
see to the purchase was at the gallery
examining them. In this room was the
valuable statue of the Dying Giadlatoi'
owned by Mr.. Mcclure of this CITY,
which viii. of course, be ruined as d
work of art.
Some little delay occurred in sound
fn
had accumulated around
Delaved the telegraph alarm box,
- which rendered it difficult
dldIA. to open. AS soon as the
alarm was given, however. the gov
ernment and city fire departments re-
sponded promptly. and the frahhilh
No. 1 was the first to reach the GROUNDS
and get to work Supt. Richards, with
a large detail of metropolitan police-
men, reached the place some ten
minutes after the alarm was sounded
and Immediately took possession Oh
the building, allowing no one but the
firemen and those connected with the
to enter. Shortly afterward
a detachment of the provost guard,
of men of the 9th Regiment.
Veteran Reserve Corps, under COM
mand of Lieut. Patterson, reported Tor
duty and rendered efficient service in
guarding the property and in remoV-
ing the effects. A portion of the east
tower on the north front fell about
AIS, with ii terrific crash. causing a
general scattering of the crowd, but
fortunately no one was injured
Peace talk continued to prevail
through the winter of 1865 as the
plight of the Con-
Peace Talk federacy grew more
and more desper
at Richmond. ate with the steady
Union advance. Apparently this sort
of talk persisted even in Confederate
circles In The Star of January 70,
1866, is the following paragraph:
THE current tone of the Richmond
press is most significant. Half their
editorials are devoted to denunciations
Of the proceedings of the rebel con-
gress in secret session. These pro-
ceedings. they tell us, are debates upon
peace propositions. According to the
Whig, Enquirer, Examiner and Dis
patch considerable peace party.
which they join in denouncing as
submission party. is now organized in
their congress; decidedly a new ele-
ment of embarrassment for the oil
garchy. The Examiner threatens to have
the congress abrogated at the point
of the bayonet and a convention of
war r-to-the-last men improvised in