The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-02-04
BOMB THEORY
WAS REJECTED
AS FIRE CAUSE
Continued from first page.l

able to give any assistance. The gov
ernor-g general sat in his closed car anC
watched the destruction of the historic
building, the cornerstone of which wa!
laid in 1867 by his brother, King Edward
VII, then prince of Wales.
Sir Robert Borden made the following
announcement at midnight:
"The House of Commons will meet Fri
day afternoon at 3 o'clock. The place
will be announced later" The premier
said that the place would be either the
Russell theatre or the government Offices
of the board of railway commissioners.
Asked as to whether the session would
be adjourned the premier replied that he
and his colleagues had not yet considered
the question,
81 was on my way from the chamber
to my room, which is near the library"
said Mayor Martin of Montreal, in de-
scribing his experiences in the fire, "and
had gone through the door on the east
side of the House of Commons chamber,
when | heard an explosion. Whether it
was caused by spontaneous combustion
or a sudden fire among the newspapers,
] cannot say, but instantly flames shot
out from the reading room and | realized
that there was blaze. My first thought
was Of the fire extinguisher, which was
nearby, but policemen were then endeav-
oring to press it into service and |
turned, running into the chamber.
Deputy Speaker Rhodes was in the
chair and everything there was tranquil
until | dashed through the door and
shouted 'Fire-and big one / turned
toward my room again, but by that time
the corridor was filled with smoke and
flames We're beginning to shoot toward
the chamber. ] then cried tor the mem
bers to get out and run around by room
l6, giving the alarm there and escaping
into the open air. / saw them helping
one of the ministers, | think it was Mr..
Burrell, out of his room, and later ! saw
DIR. Clarke, who had been burned about
the face and hands. | escaped without
scratch.
81 reached the hotel about OILS o'clock |
and Immediately put in an order for the !
Montreal fire brigade. | notified Chief /
Tremblay to send as many men as pos
sible, taking this step as a matter of pru-
dence | realized then that little of the
building could be saved, but feared that |
other fires would break out. These are
serious times and the unexpected has
happened so often that | wished to have
every protection possible.
81 believe that all the members es-
capped. There were only about so in the
chamber when | ran in and shouted fire.
Flames shot along the corridors at an
awful rate and it seemed just few sec
onds until the whole place was black
with smoke, making it impossible to see.
There was not much confusion on the
floor of the House and to this many of
the members probably owe their escape"
Buildings Cost 100000.
Ottawa, Ont, Feb. 4.-The Canadian
Parliament buildings were situated on a
bluff $50 feet high and overlooked the
Ottawa river. They were erected from
1859 to 1865 and the corner stone was
laid by the then prince of Wales, later
King Edward VII, in 1860. The cost of
was S5,O00,000 and several
wings have since been added.
The style Of architecture was 18th CEN ]
hurry Gothic and the Parliament building q
vas said to be one of the finest examples
If Gothic architecture on the continent. q
-ream colored sandstone, lavishly but
,ressed. was used. Lord Dalhousie, the
irst governor general of Canada, was t
argely responsible for the design of the t
building. a
The central building. which had two G
wings, was 470 feet in length and had I
over 220 feet high. To the rear of the I
entral building was the library of Par C