StevenWarRan

Was A. J. F. van Laer Really Satan's Handmaiden?

2012-02-15T20:46:00.000-05:00

Could someone explain to me how after the sudden and unexpected death of George Rogers Howell, (and that's a story we'll save for another day,) the archivist of the New York State library who died of pneumonia on April 5, 1899, "A. J. F. van Laer, a native of Holland and a graduate of the Polytechnic school at Delft, and a member of the New York state library school class of 1899," could possibly have been put in charge of the manuscript division left vacant? When did the Class of "99 graduate---June? Library Director Melvil Dewey's 82nd Annual Report, says simply, "After the death of Mr. Howell," van Laer was appointed, so when was it...May? June?

Although this report says that "Mr van Laer brings to his work a rare combination of linguistic ability, professional training, accuracy and enthusiasm which will render his services of great value in deciphering the rich collection of Dutch manuscripts, etc. intrusted to his care," van Laer had only emigrated to Albany in 1897, after what was arguably a checkered past, which led directly into library science and a senior position. Albany was full of Dutch speakers in the late 19th century, did one need to be imported? How was van Laer's English? Was it fluid and robust? It is breathtaking, and unbelievable, that someone from an unconnected and verifiable background could have been elevated directly out of the school room into a trust as sacred as the responsibility for New York State's manuscript collection.

I should think van Laer was imported from the international coven's "General Purpose" division, to undergo the briefest period of training, to achieve the most minimal amount of credentialing, which would allow him, and that's with one eye closed for the rest of us, to take on the job of first controlling, then gathering up, to eventually eliminating the parts of a documentary record that changing sensibilities would find increasingly objectionable--that is, if they ever knew about them.

The other new sublibrarian, Mr. Charles A. Flagg (B. A. Bowdoin, and also a graduate of the New York library school from an unknown class,) who took over the history half of Howell's former responsibilities, was already publishing within his first year, (See the full text for "Reference list on Connecticut local history") So when did van Laer start to publish?

The rest of the New York State Library 82nd Annual Report is filled with goodies---like the expressed desire for fireproof safes in which to store manuscripts. This is over ten years before an "unforeseen and unforeseeable " calamity by fire occurred. Then there's this gem:.

It is further believed that under present conditions no better service could be rendered to historical students than to print as soon as possible the calendars prepared by Mr. Berthold Fernow for the following records:

Court of assize, v.2, 1665-72
Council minutes, v. 3, 1668-78
General entries, v.4, 1671-74
Council minutes, v.5-31, 1683-1776
General entries, v.32, 1678-80
Entries, v.33, 1632-83
Orders, warrants, letters, v.2, 1665-69
Warrants, orders, passes, etc. v,3, 1674-79
Passbook, v.4, 1680-91 (incomplete)
Licenses, warrants, etc v.5, 1686-1702
Orders, warrants, etc. 1680-82

But Melvil had fired Fernow over a dozen years before, according to an essay by Joseph F. Meany Jr. Could his completed reference work, ready for publishing, have just languished like that?

In the Van Laer Paper, 1908-1952, held by the New York State Library (yes, I know, the spelling has changed,) are several intriguing entries:

Diagram of shelving against the south wall of the manuscript room showing destruction of manuscripts near hot air register, 1911 (Transferred from single accession 8786)

Memorandum contesting charges made by the State Historian that historical papers were being thrown away with debris (Transferred from single accession 4306)

Photograph of State Library staff working on document restoration in the aftermath of the Capitol fire, 1911; "Some of the burnt out clerks helping in the restoration" (Transferred from single accession 8775)

Correspondence between John F. Tyrrell and Alexander C. Flick, 1933, with photographs regarding the restoration of documents damaged by fire

How anyone could possibly reconcile a scenario of fire entering the document room through the heating duct and leading to only a partial destruction of documents, with the eyewitnesses who saw flames shoot half-way across State Street out the half-moon window of the room, or the narratives (like van Laer's own) of total destruction contained within the confines of the narrow room, would be a neat trick.

The "Photograph of State Library staff working on document restoration in the aftermath of the Capitol fire, 1911; 'Some of the burnt out clerks helping in the restoration,'" refers to an image that Mercer and Weiss published on page 71 of their little book. The caption reads:

"William Berwick, an expert in document preservation, came from the Library of Congress to help in the work of salvage and restoration of what he termed "Mr. Van Laer's treasures." He also documented the restoration in photographs. He titled this image, "Some of the burnt out clerks helping in the work of restoration."

The clerks don't look burned out to me. The women are sitting erect, many with smiles on their faces. The men slouch in casual poses, with hands in their pockets, or placed on their hips, or arms across their chests. There is nary a dirty hand or blouse to be seen in the room, with no sign of the mountains of volumes and tens of thousands of pages of rescued manuscripts. Just a few tidy wicker baskets. And apparently Berwick's documentation of the restoration in photographs was limited to only this one image.

But it is the "correspondence between John F. Tyrrell and Alexander C. Flick, 1933, with photographs regarding the restoration of documents damaged by fire," which I find really intriguing. When John F. Tyrrell testified for the prosecution in the Richard Hauptmann Trial, (he also testified in the Leopold and Loeb case,) he described his profession as "Examiner of questioned documents." In the transcript he sounds like an eminently sensible and honest witness. Why correspondence between Tyrrell and Flick would be in von Laer's file raises more questions than it answers. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but it sounds like von Laer was in a defensive posture here, much like in his "Memorandum contesting charges made by the State Historian that historical papers were being thrown away with debris."

John F. Tyrrell Examining Evidence
Original caption: Handwriting expert who testified at Hauptmann trial. John F. Tyrell, Milwaukee handwriting expert who testified for the prosecution in its trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, is pictured examining specimens of handwriting in the Hunterdon county court at Flemington, Jan. 15. Image credit: Corbis.

On page 72 of Mercer & Weiss: "The only known photograph of Arnold Johan Ferdinand van Laer, was taken for this Albany Evening News article in 1932. At the time of the fire, Van Laer, the state archivist, was a world-renowned authority on colonial Dutch records and history, especially known for his translation." (Mercer & Weiss use the variant spellings Van/van only 19 words apart in the same sentence.

First of all, don't you think it's s p o o k y that van Laer would leave no photographs of his life other than this? Do you think he cast a shadow at noonday?

The Sad Irony Of Joseph Gavit.

2012-02-15T01:23:00.000-05:00

When Paul Mercer and Vickie Weiss set out in 2011 to write a 100th anniversary history of the March 29, 1911 fire which destroyed the New York State Library housed in the State Capitol building in Albany, they apparently failed to realize the true significance of the loss of the original, documentary manuscripts, whose stewardship the library was entrusted with. How else to explain the authors basing to a large extent their book on a personal narrative contained in an unpublished memoir, the contents of which have been kept a secret all these long years, until the last of any living, and possibly contradictory, memory had died away?

The book is dedicated in part to this man, Joseph Gavit, who, the authors tell us, was "a librarian who believed in the lessons of history and who told and retold the story of the capitol fire," although, there is no record of his lesson ever reaching any citizen outside their paid circle of "public servants." Of the dozen or so names listed on the acknowledgement's page for "The New York State Capitol and the Great Fire of 1911," all but one are colleagues or superiors in allied state government jobs, who assisted in the book's creation while on the taxpayer's dime, with the one outlier being the acquisition's editor at Arcadia publishing.

The authors say on page 8 that

The disaster of March 29 and its aftermath are fully documented in photographs, news reports, and the first hand accounts of eyewitnesses, including remarkably dramatic memoirs of library staff who felt the loss most keenly and whose personal recollections bring the pictures to life. Many captions are drawn from the memoirs of Joseph Gavit, whose library career spanned 50 years and whose photographic memory of the intricate arrangement of the library rooms is a vital link to the past.

Although the Manuscripts and Special Collections division of the State Library, of which they are fellows, has a holding, New York State Library Fire Collection, (SC10867) Mr. Gavit's memoir is not a part of it. That collection is composed of scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, and folders of letters of sympathy, and wherever the "first hand accounts of eyewitnesses," and the "remarkably dramatic memoirs of library staff" were kept, they weren't catalogued by the Dewey decimal system, or available to the curious public.

When Mercer and Weiss inform us on page 123 how "[i]n 1945, Joseph Gavit, dust[ed] off his fire memoirs for the new state librarian, Charles Gosnell,...." it gives us a hint at the potentially authentic purpose for his unvetted narrative.

On page 32:

In 1896, Joseph Gavit, the 19-year-old son of an Albany engraver, joined the state library staff as a junior clerk in the shelf section. Some 50 years later, having risen to the position of associate librarian, he retired from state service. For much of his career, he was superintendent of the stacks and was reputed to know personally where every book in the library was to be found. His intricate knowledge of the collections and workings of the library were put to the test in the aftermath of the fire. As the first library employee on the scene, his eyewitness accounts, written from memory in the succeeding months and years, are invaluable in understanding the events of March 29, 1911, and afterward.

But this authoritative "understanding" we are being asked to undertake is predicated on an abuse of power, where controlling interests can hide a manuscript---or burn one, for that matter---and where the public is spoon-fed an uncompelling pablum in lieu of historical fact.

This is obvious in the pages of the book credited to Mercer and Weiss, where on almost every one can be found deliberate manipulations and distortions of what is a still-provable truth: That the burning of the State Library was an incendiary act by State authorities, whereby in their destruction of the authentic and legitimate records, they were enabled, at the very least, to rewrite a history free of warts. This is an incontrovertible truth that we can take one page at a time, by refuting the story given to the long-deceased Joseph Gavit by the living, active agents who promote his lies.

Let's start on page 80:

Joseph Gavit, recounting early salvage efforts, describes one such journey leading to a lucky find: "The writer, with Mr. Champlain, had gone out onto the roof of the western approach to look at the building from that point. Every window was gone---except one, a disc of glass hardly 6 inches in diameter. That window was one of two alike in the little room where [the War of 1812 records] had been stored...Like a flash came the truth---this room was fireproof because [it was] unventilated! Securing a ladder, we [ventured out] over the still smoldering gallery, to this room, where we found the door burned down but the contents little injured."

Gavit is referring to what is variously known as a Roundel, or bull's eye, or oculus, or oeil-de-boeuf, or circular light window. We know exactly what he is referencing and where it is located: it is a closet, closed off of the upper portion of a corridor end, sealed off by an oaken door, on the fourth floor mezzanine, north of the Main Reading Room; just to the left of the circular clock surround whose face has been burned away in the fire.

On page 31 of Mercer and Weiss's book is a photograph with this caption:

Harry Roy Sweny was well-known as a talented amateur golfer and the proprietor of an Albany sporting goods store. The first alarm was turned in at 2:42 a.m. on March 29. Sweny left his South Swan Street house, around the corner from the capitol, at about 3:30, just in time to capture on film the full fury of the flames and the doomed structure silhouetted against the night sky.

Here is the same photograph, in a slightly better register, published in "Sparks From the New York State Capitol Fire," a souvenir booklet, which Mercer and Weiss describe as "one of the chief sources for research on the fire." In it, the entirety of the third, fourth and fifth floors, and the rooftop, of the central section of the western facade is fully engulfed and illuminated with flames.

And on page 31 is another Sweny image, an oblique view of the west-northwest facade, showing the flames extending to the northwest corner tower section

But in the same image in a larger file size it is unmistakable that the oculus window to which Gavit refers is illuminated by the same flames which occupy the windows below, and to the left and right of it.

And the real kicker for me is Gavit describing the window as being "hardly 6 inches in diameter." When you realize the scale of the Capitol building, that each of the three main floors was twenty-five feet in height, then the "oeil-de-boeuf" window we see has to be between two and three feet in diameter. (Try lining seven of them up vertically in your spatial imagination.) In other words, for the descriptor, Gavit "pulled it out his ass."

Every one of this book's 128 tawdry pages (and that includes the Arcadia Publishing advertisement on page 128) is as demonstrably false as the example given here. If I can stomach it, I'll try to post one such a page a day to show you. These are not arguments coming in from left field, but the internal illogic, and inherent inconsistency, of an indefensible and reprehensible insistence on living in a lie.

Oh, P.S. Sweny married into the mercenary wing of the Albany Regency.

April 24, 1896, New York Times, A DAY'S WEDDINGS. Sweny-Parker.

ALBANY, April 23.--Miss Louisa Parker, oldest daughter of Gen. Amasa J. Parker, and Harry Roy Sweny, only son of the late Capt. Alfred Sweny, were married in St. Peter's Church this afternoon by the Rev. Dr. Battershall. The bride was given away by her brother Amasa J. Parker, Jr. Dr. C. C. Schuyler of Plattsburg acted as best man. There were no bridesmaids. Lewis R. Parker, Dr. Frederick Cox, R.V. , D.W. Walsh, and Harry Whiting Garfield were the ushers.

In this view of the main reading room of the state library, the circle seen in the center of the arch over the doorway is the frame of a burned out clock. The doorway opening in the extreme right of the picture leads to the law library. The manuscript records of the War of 1812 were found intact in a closet located to the left of the clock frame.

According to Joseph Gavit, in the fire's intense heat, "Scotch granite columns {were] literally eaten away by the flames. The cast iron wheels of book trucks were melted... and of the 50 odd tripods of the revolving chairs in room 59, I failed to find a trace. In the lower left hand corner is the bust of [pioneering educator] Emma Willard. She couldn't stand it!"

Yes Joseph, but if you look in the lower right hand corner of the picture you'll see a section of the wrought-iron railing lying on top of the pile of debris---unmelted...my dear. Did that come from the obliterated upper mezzanine tiers, or on top of the granite columns "literally eaten away by the flames?" Remember, we also see an overturned wooden table (it's seen upright in other, presumably earlier post-fire images. It must have gotten thrown in a fit of pique,) along with the light weight wooden Thonet side chairs. The third-floor windows that look into this scene were seen fully illuminated by flames in Sweny's shots.

And we can't see your circle in the center very well in your image. It shows better in Sparky's shot, which is described as A WOODEN FRAME OF A CLOCK WITH THE WORKS BURNT OUT.

Cecil R. Roseberry

2012-02-14T04:54:00.001-05:00

The image below was printed as a full-page illustration in the 1964 first edition of Capitol Story, by Cecil R. Roseberry; however it was deleted from the "expanded" 2nd edition of the book released in 1982. The text of the chapter in which it appears, "Battle of the Styles," is verbatim between the two editions, while the chapter layout seems otherwise to have been only shifted about inconsequentially.

This impressive view, taken at the point in the construction of the Capitol when the New Capitol Commissioners fired their first architect, Thomas Fuller, and hired on the troika of "expert advisers" they'd engaged to reevaluate the building's progress, depicts a process which gave the public a narrative and this chapter its name. It can now also give us hints into a hidden agenda working behind the veil of official publicity.

The deletion is startling when Roseberry's caption on the facing page is read:

"Lieut.-Governor Dorsheimer (top) was key figure in decision to revise Capitol architecture; also envisioned the building as a repository for fine arts. Building superintendent during the controversy was James W. Eaton. Photo at left shows approximate stage at which Fuller left off, view from Washington Avenue side. Note, at right side of picture, projecting structure for balcony intended to flank Assembly Chamber. The new architects removed this; street level portico was added later."

The Roseberry image is irreconcilable with the view depicted in this stereo-optician view above, taken at a similar stage of construction---or reconstruction. Roseberry's caption is deceptive, when he says of the image that it shows a "projecting structure for balcony intended to flank Assembly Chamber," which was removed and altered by the new architects, when it is clear the projecting structure didn't "flank" the Assembly Chamber, but comprised the entirety of it, and that what the image depicts is the full 390-foot length of the Washington Street facade.

So what is it we are seeing in the C. W. Woodward stereo view? I believe it depicts the extent of the reconstruction ordered by the new architects, which includes the demolishing of the top-most entablature across the entire building length (most of which had to be recreated in its exact form when the Legislature mandated a return to the original style of architecture.)

Charles Moberly, His Friends Call Him "Carl."

2012-02-11T13:31:00.001-05:00

INDEX:

January 4, 1930, The [Montreal] Gazette. Page 1, Column 2, Fire Causes Slight Damage in U. S. Capitol, By Canadian Press (The "Canadian Press" must be "owned" by the "Associated Press" since this article quotes liberally whole paragraphs from the AP's work of the same date.)

January 4, 1930, New York Times, Page 1, Fire Menaces the Capitol But is Quickly Subdued, Historic Documents Saved, Flames Light Up Dome, Start in Decorator's Studio Under Roof in the West Wing. Jump to Document Room, Artist, Found Stupefied in Smoke, Tells Incoherent Story of What He Saw. Throngs Watch Spectacle. Damage Put at $3,000---Blaze Comes Ten Days After Executive Offices Fire.

January 4, 1930, St Petersburg Times, Page 1, Column 8, Fire Threatens Capitol Building, Flames Soar Toward Dome of Structure, Artist Overcome by Smoke; Valuable Papers of House Damaged by Water.

January 4, 1930, New York Evening Post, Page 1, Column 4, Officials Probe Fire at Capitol Damage Scant. Carl Moberly, Artist Saved From Smoke, Expected to Aid Solution. NO DELAY IN SESSION OF CONGRESS TO RESULT. Valuable Documents Are Found Unharmed — Third Blaze Since Last August.

January 4, 1930, Binghamton [NY] Press, Page 1, Column 8, Artist, Former Police Officer Are Quizzed; Former Overcome by Smoke From Fire, Which Started in His Studio; Damage is Only $3,000; Spoiled Records Principally Copies; Cigarette Seen as Possible Cause.

January 4, 1930, The Reading [Penn.] Eagle, Page 1, Column 2, Loss in U. S. Capitol Night Fire Only $3,000. Out in 45 Minutes After Spectacular Blaze At Side of Dome Lights Up Sky. Capitol Painter Unable To Explain Fire Start,

January 4, 1930, Tyrone [Penn.] Daily Herald / U.P., Page 1, Column 8, Documents and Oil Paintings Are Destroyed. Government To Investigate Cause of Blaze, Estimated Damage $7,000.

January 4, 1930, Brooklyn Daily Eagle / AP, Page 1, Column 1, Capitol Artist Denies Cigaret Cause of Blaze. Moberly Questioned by Architect Says Pail of Oil-Soaked Waste May Have Ignited—Damage Said to Exceed $3,000.

January 4, 1930, The Medina [NY] Daily Journal, Page 1, Columns 7 & 8, Capitol at Washington Damaged by Fire Last Evening, Blaze Raged For 45 Minutes and Flames Shot Above Dome.

January 4, 1930, The Titusville Herald, Page 1, Column 1, Twenty Fire Companies Quickly Respond and Confine Blaze To Document Room, By Associated Press

January 5, 1930, New York Times, Page 1, Blaze in Capitol Remains Unsolved, Architect Reports Cigarette or Spontaneous Combustion as the Probable Cause. Artist Tells His Story. Denies Smoking as Does Friend Who Found Him Asleep and Tried to Put Out Fire.

January 5, 1930, The Huntsville Daily News / AP, Section 2, Page 3, Column 5, Flames Lick At Capital Dome, Flames Lick at Capitol Dome, Grand Old Building Was Endangered But Damage Was Slight.

January 5 1930, The Brooklyn Eagle, Page A2, Rum In Capitol Fire, Artist Admits He Took 2 Drinks Few Hours Before Studio Blaze—Prober Says Various Versions Don't Jibe—-Will Continue Inquiry.

January 5, 1930, [Rochester] Democrat Chronicle, Page 1, Column 1, Fire Cause at Capitol Not Found, Spontaneous Combustion or Careless. Smoker Thought Most Likely Source, Artist Admits Drinking, But Denies He Was Drunk; Friend Made Futile Effort To Put Out Blaze.

January 13, 1930, Time Magazine, "The Congress: Fire No. 2."
THE CONGRESS: Fire No. 2

David Lynn in 1923

David Lynn (November 10, 1873 in Wheeling, West Virginia – May 25, 1961 in Washington D.C.) was an American architect and honorary member of the American Institute of Architects.

Wikipedia calls David Lynn "an American Architect" although the government tells us differently:

David Lynn was appointed Architect of the Capitol in 1923 by President Calvin Coolidge to fill the vacancy caused by Elliott Woods’s death. Like his predecessor, Lynn was not an architect but had worked his way up through the ranks to become the agency’s number one assistant at the time of his predecessor’s death.

January 4, 1930, New York Times, Page 1, Fire Menaces the Capitol But is Quickly Subdued, Historic Documents Saved, Flames Light Up Dome, Start in Decorator's Studio Under Roof in the West Wing. Jump to Document Room, Artist, Found Stupefied in Smoke, Tells Incoherent Story of What He Saw. Throngs Watch Spectacle. Damage Put at $3,000---Blaze Comes Ten Days After Executive Offices Fire.

Washington, Jan. 3.---Fire tonight damaged the Capitol and for a time threatened the historic structure with the most serious danger it has faced since British soldiers set fire to both wings in 1814.

Tonight's fire came just ten days after the Christmas Eve fire which destroyed the office wing of the White House, where, by coincidence, many surplus documents were stored in attic stories under the roof of the White House.

"This is more than a coincidence!" exclaimed Senator Vandenberg of Michigan, arriving at the Capitol from a dinner table which he had deserted.

Officials at the Capitol felt certain, however, that the fire was not incendiary, but was probably caused by a smoldering butt of a cigar or cigarette.

David Lynn, architect of the Capitol, said tonight that this was the first serious fire in the Capitol in thirty years, the last having been one in 1900 which seriously damaged the roof and gutted the chamber of the Supreme Court. There have been a few minor fires, none causing serious damage.

Five Alarms Are Sounded.

The first alarm, sounded at 6:45 P. M., was followed by four others. The fire men who sped to Capitol Hill, accompanied by a large part of the city's population, had the blaze under control in about half an hour, although late this evening smoke still swirled around the electrically lighted dome.

The fire started in what is known as the 'model' room immediately adjoining the supplemental or reserve document room on the fourth floor, in that part of the main building proper on the west side, just south of and adjacent to the main rotunda and dome and immediately under the roof. A sheet of flame and a cloud of smoke burst through the roof to apprise the citizens, with the fire in the White House office building still fresh in their minds, that another blaze was menacing a government building.

Sight Was Spectacular.

Although the sight was a spectacular one, with firemen swarming over and through the building, on which they played searchlights, and running ladders and hose lines to every window, it was estimated tonight that the actual damage was only $3,000. While the flames spread from the "model" room into the reserve document room, they were brought under control before much damage was done in the latter place. The chief damage, it is believed, will be found to have been caused by water.

Some damage was done by water to the rooms of the House Committee on Banking and Currency on the third floor and also to some of the offices of the Supreme Court.

When the first Capitol policemen entered the 'model' room they found Charles Moberly, an artist, lying there apparently overcome by smoke. He is attached to the staff of Mr. Lynn and had been employed in retouching frescoes in the Senate wing and portraits and other paintings which had been taken from various parts of the Capitol to the so-called 'model' room for restoration.

Tells Incoherent Story.

Mr. Lynn said he assumed that Mr. Moberly had been smoking and that a smoldering cigar or cigarette might have been the cause of the fire. Moberly was unable, after being rescued, to tell a coherent story of what occurred.

Moberly told Lieut. Commander Calber, the House physician, who attended him in the office of Representative Garner of Texas, that he had gone from the Senate end of the Capitol to the document room, which he used as a studio. As he sat down he suddenly saw flames all around him. The next thing he knew he was in Representative Garner's office, two floors below.

Moberly talked incoherently as a result, according to Fire Department officials, of the smoke he had inhaled. He insisted he had not been smoking and had not gone to sleep and that he could not tell what happened before he realized that the room was in flames. At first he said he never smoked cigarettes, only cigars. Then he said he did not smoke at all. The physician said it would be futile to ask him questions until he had fully recovered from his experience.

Mr. Lynn said it was not usual for Moberly to work at night unless he had a rush job.

"I don't know if he was working," he added. "He had no rush job that I know of."

The architect said he would start an investigation as to the origin of the fire tomorrow morning. An inquiry by Congress as to the cause of the blaze also may be undertaken.

Moberly, now chief decorator, has been a decorator at the Capitol for twenty years. He is 61 years old.

Fears Loss of Paintings.

Mr. Lynn feared that valuable paintings, supposed to have been in the "model" room, were destroyed. These included portraits of former Secretaries of War and State and Justices of the Court of Claims.

John Heinberger, a Capitol policeman, stationed outside the building on the eastern front, seeing smoke pouring from the upper story, ran into the building and upstairs, where he was joined by John L. Bass, another Capitol policeman. At that time they thought the fire was in the document room. Continuing upstairs, they entered the reserve document room, immediately under the roof, and passed through it to the model room.

Entering the "model" room, they found the flames there and Moberly. They dragged him downstairs and turned him over to William G. Hatcher of Mr. Garner's secretarial staff and Ralph G. Bray of Mission, Texas, a friend of Mr. Garner. They helped to revive Moberly.

Meanwhile the grounds east of the Capitol had filled with a throng such as turns out for an inauguration, and practically all the fire-fighting machinery of the city was in action, under command of Chief George S. Watson.

Valuable Papers Endangered.

The "model" room is separated from the reserve document room by a partition only a quarter of an inch thick and the flames soon licked through this and spread to the documents on the shelving at the end of the room nearest the studio room, in which there were oils and paints, as well as a model of the Capitol Building and valuable portraits.

The reserve document room, in which there are stored millions of copies of Congressional documents, some of them dating back many decades, is a commodious place, in which the danger of fire spreading is great, once it is started.

The documents were not in steel cases but were stacked on long rows of shelves. That the fire did not do tremendous damage is considered almost a miracle.

Most of the documents stored there are printed ones, and William Tyler Page, clerk of the House, said they were not of great historical value. There were in the room also some overflow documents from the Senate library and the main document room, which were of great value, some of them running back to the time of George Washington. These were not reached by the fire.

Lights Still Burn in Dome.

Flames pouring from the top of the Capitol, visible from Pennsylvania Avenue and other thoroughfares leading toward the building, drew thousands of spectators to the scene. Almost every article of fire apparatus in the city was massed in the east plaza, where the great quadrennial inagural pageants occur, and which tonight was as light as day under the glare of great flood lights which were used by the firemen to illuminate the building. The dome itself was still lighted by the battery of searchlights which illuminate it every night.

Billows of smoke poured from the roof of the building and made the conflagration appear even more serious than it actually was, so far as the apparent extent of the damage is concerned. Firemen ran long ladders up to the roof of the building and carried hose lines there so as to be able to drench the model room with water.

Precautions Urged Repeatedly

The fire called attention once more to the haphazard manner in which some of the most precious documents in the possession of the government are kept, for it was pointed out that had fire broken out in the exactly corresponding space on the Senate side of the building, precious papers dating back a century might have been destroyed. Original messages of the Presidents since Washington and other documents, some of them most valuable government papers, would have been threatened with destruction. These priceless Senate documents are packed away in the Senate "attic" in flimsy tin boxes.

Mr. Lynn and his immediate predecessor in office, the late Elliot Woods, have repeatedly recommended that Congress make provision for modern steel filing cases and other fireproof equipment in which to place these overflow documents and reduce the fire hazard, which is at all times present in that portion of the Capitol building.

Mr. Lynn was unable to state definitely tonight exactly what, and how many, portraits were in the model room or studio to be retouched by the artist at the time the fire started. He said that there had been there recently eight to ten portraits of former Secretaries of State and War, which had been sent from the State, War and Navy Building, and also some portraits of justices of the Court of Claims. It is definitely known that a portrait of Mr. Lynn was destroyed.

A plaster cast model of the Capitol, ten or twelve feet long, an exact duplicate of the one now on exhibition at the Spanish exposition at Seville, Spain, was practically destroyed.

The reserve document room itself was damaged very little. Some of the documents were thrown down on the floor and trampled by firemen or damaged by water. The skylight above the studio was shattered, not a pane of glass remaining in it. Charred beams around the sides of the studio bore witness to the fierceness of the fire. Heat could be felt through the Capitol for some time after the blaze was under control, and the whole building had the sickening smell of burnt and water-soaked wood long afterward.

The marble floors of the main rotunda were running with water and streams formed in various small passageways. The folding doors that gave entrance to the eastern side of the rotunda had been arranged so that many lines of hose could be run in on that floor. Broken glass from doors was scattered around the main entrance to the rotunda.

Hose lines wriggled across the broad Capitol plaza like so many worms, water spurting from the connections of many of these to wet the plaza like a downpour of rain.

Firemen were allowed to move free and unhampered in the plaza, as the crowd was kept back by police squads which rushed to the Capitol immediately after the alarm was sounded. Automobiles were detoured around the Capitol grounds in each direction and were not permitted to go near the building.

Hoover Gets Details by Phone.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (AP).---President Hoover, whose personal experience with fires was refreshed last week by the blaze in his own offices at the White House, took an especial interest in the spectacle tonight at the Capitol.

He instructed one of the White House aides to get the details. The telephone operator at the Capitol, while being besieged with calls from Senators and Representatives, connected the White House with the office of Representative Garner of Texas. There David Lynn, the Capitol architect, gave the details for relay to Mr. Hoover.

Title: View of the U.S. Capitol during the fire which destroyed the studio of Artist Chas. Moberly & considerably damaged the House Document Room - fire engines with ladders going up the side of the Capitol. Date Created/Published: 1930 Jan. 4. Source: Library of Congress.

January 4, 1930, St Petersburg Times, Page 1, Column 8, Fire Threatens Capitol Building, Flames Soar Toward Dome of Structure, Artist Overcome by Smoke; Valuable Papers of House Damaged by Water.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, AP).--Fire blazed for more than thirty minutes tonight about the dome of the Capitol of the United States.

Originating in the room of a Capitol artist, it damaged the documents of the house and sent flames shooting toward the great figure of liberty on its top while thousands within the great parkways stood by in fear that the historical building would be destroyed.

More than twenty fire companies were called upon to fight the stubborn blaze which at first smouldered beneath the roof and then broke through to shoot shafts of reddish hue into the air. The blaze could be plainly seen all along Pennsylvania avenue and from the White House itself, where a Christmas eve blaze burned President Hoover's executive offices.

Artist Almost Suffocated.

Carl Moberly, the artist, was found almost suffocated and was removed to an office of the building. The Capitol officials immediately began an investigation to determine whether a carelessly tossed cigarette might have caused all of the damage.

In order to reach Moberly's room, firemen first battered through a locked revolving door at the east entrance of the rotunda through which thousands of tourists pass each year.

Outside on the spacious east plaza of the Capitol dozens of fire engines, hook and ladder companies, fire pumpers, fire supply cars, first aid wagons and police reserve patrol wagons were parked.

Beyond this hastily formed battery of fire fighting and first aid apparatus, district and Capitol police held back thousands of spectators who had been attracted to the Capitol.

Here and there on the granite floorway over which those prominent in public life for more than a century as well as millions of ordinary American citizens have walked, were pools of water.

The fire first was discovered by members of the Capitol building police.

Attaches of the Capitol said that if the fire had reached certain portions of the document room, valuable papers dating back to the time of George Washington would have been destroyed in addition to those of recent years which did suffer. The extent of the damage could not be determined at first. Moberly had been in his office for some time before the fire was discovered. Whether he had had friends with him was unknown. He was alone when rescued.

Dr. George W. Calver, a naval physician assigned to duty at the house of representatives, treated Moberly. He said the artist had been overcome with smoke but he felt he would recover quickly. He added, however, that if he had not been rescued at the time that he was, an alarming condition might have resulted.

Loss Believed Slight

Dr. Calver said Moberly was bleeding slightly on the left side of his face when found. Apparently, he asserted, the wound was only flesh deep and not serious.

Damage caused by the fire at the Capitol was estimated by David Lynn, Capitol architect, to have totaled only $3,000.

He added the damage was done almost entire to the skylight, plastering and water damage to documents. Most of the documents, he said, were undamaged since they had been raised off the floor above the level reached by the water.

Lynn said the fire apparently started in the artist's working room but that he could not assign cause for the fire until after a complete examination.

Eight of ten portraits of judges of the court of claims, which had been placed in the model room for retouching, also were destroyed.

The architect said firemen had found the electric wiring in the room to be in good condition and did not believe the fire originated from that source.

Moberly is 61 years old. His home is at Mount Ida, Va., which is between Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va.

Moberly was questioned as the decorator lay on the couch in Representative Garner's private room but no details were learned as to the cause of the fire at first. However a fireman came out of the room and said the artist had told him he had awakened and found the place afire, and the next thing he knew had found himself in Mr. Garner's office.

A large number of members of the house visited their offices as soon as they learned of the conflagration. Representative McDuffie found the only damage in his room had been caused by water.

Water seeped down into the private chambers of members of the supreme court, but these doors were so tightly locked that firemen were unable to gain entrance to determine the damage.

In the artist's room there were a number of paintings just completed of justices of the court of claims. These with much other material in the document and artist rooms were destroyed.

However, the original model of the Capitol usually there was not in the artist's room. It is now on exhibition in Seville, Spain.

Firemen were busy long after the fire had been extinguished getting rid of the water which had seeped down onto all four floors of the main structure.

Shortly after 8 o'clock the firemen were still pumping water into the building but in greatly reduced quantities. Only a few of the 27 fire companies that answered the alarm remained on the scene, and the huge crowd was rapidly dispersing.

Despite efforts to prevent it, water had seeped through into the rotunda of the building, but had been prevented from reaching either the chambers of the senate or the house of representatives at the extreme ends of each wing.

Oils, paints and easels in the artist's room had permitted the blaze to spread quickly and it soon got into the supplementary document room nearby.

A hasty survey under the flashlights of firemen showed that a number of documents had been damaged by water. These mostly were copies of bills, resolutions and committee reports and apparently were not a total loss, since it was believed they easily could be read after drying out.

Texan in Building

One of the few persons in the section of the building in which the fire occurred was Ralph G. Bray, editor of the Texas Mission Times. He was in the office of Representative Garner at work when he first smelled smoke. As he rose from the desk, he said he heard the sirens of the first of the fire equipment arriving on the plaza.

Running into the corridor that leads to the historic Statuary hall, once the chamber of the house of representatives in the early days of the Union, and now set aside for the statues of the leading sons of each of the 48 states, he said he found firemen entering through the rotunda archway with hose.

At first, he explained, the firemen were unable to locate the little doorway leading into the winding staircase to the fourth floor.

The doorway is the first to the right leading off Statuary hall and is inconspicuous compared with the pretentious rosewood doors leading into the office of Mr. Garner on the left and the private office of Speaker Longworth on the right.

It was only a moment, however, he added, before the firemen discovered the small entrance and began climbing with the hose up the iron steps of the winding stairs.

The heavy walls of the document room, erected years ago of heavy masonry and said to be nearly three feet thick, were believed to have aided firemen materially in preventing the blaze from spreading throughout the Capitol.

Lynn, the Capitol architect, said that the structural damage would not amount to very much but that he understood valuable paintings and pictures were being renovated by Moberly.

He said that some of the paintings belonged to the court of claims and others to the war department and possibly a few to the navy department, and these apparently had been destroyed.

A model of the White House by E. Garrettee was in the studio and was practically demolished.

Lynn told the fire authorities he thought the fire fighters had done exceptionally good work in confining the fire to the studio and to a part of the document room.

Offices Damaged by Water

Some of the water from the hose was leaking into the office of Representative McDuffie, and some other water was leaking into the office of Chairman Leavitt of the House Indian affairs committee.
The office of Chairman McFadden of the house banking and currency committee also was damaged slightly by water.

The firemen began cleaning up the debris as soon as possible and carried out in buckets pieces of old pictures and books, documents and studio equipment.

The floor of the fire-swept studio was covered with broken glass from the skylight.

One reason advanced by Fire Chief Watson for the difficulty in ascertaining the location of the fire was an old heating system used in the capitol which had ventilators. Regions far from the studio had smoke in them before the offices adjacent to the studio were penetrated.

The floor of the studio is about three feet higher than the floor of the document room. The entire roof of the studio was a skylight. At one end of the studio stood the model of the White House on a dais. All around the walls were bookcases and places where paintings had rested.

Only the charred remnants of a chair and desk remained and here and there were scattered about models of agricultural [sic...he means...architectural] decorations.

Firemen reported that the stand pipes in the document room failed to function for lack of pressure. Because of this they had to depend solely on the hose lines, and it was with great difficulty that these were finally carried up the exterior of the building and through the tiny corridors into the room.

The blaze brought fire companies flying from surrounding communities to supplement the efforts of the Washington fire fighters, companies from Boulevard Heights, Geater Capitol Heights and Capitol Heights arriving on the scene shortly after the blaze was seen enshrouding the dome of the Capitol.

It was in 1814 that the original Capitol building of the United States, the corner stone of which was laid by George Washington, was burned by British troops. After the rebuilding of the Capitol, wings were added, and later an extension of the wings was begun. The wings were not finally completed, however, until 1858.

The great dome, which has been pictured the world over as symbolical in part of the government of the United States, was not completed until the close of the Civil war. It is more than 287 feet in height.

Some idea of the expansion of the building is given in a comparison of costs. As the Capitol stood in 1827 its cost was quoted as $2,433,844. The total cost as quoted upon its final completion was approximately $16,000,000 with the value of the grounds quoted at about $10,000,000.

January 4, 1930, New York Evening Post, Page 1, Column 4, Officials Probe Fire at Capitol Damage Scant. Carl Moberly, Artist Saved From Smoke, Expected to Aid Solution. No Delay in Session of Congress to Result. Valuable Documents Are Found Unharmed — Third Blaze Since Last August.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (AP).—The tongues of red flame that leaped through the roof of the south west wing of the Capitol last night and licked at the side of the huge white dome had left only a small blackened spot on the side of the building today.

The vividness of the flame, the shrieking sirens of fire apparatus, first thoughts that century-old records, possibly the structure itself, might be endangered, had faded this morning and fast were be coming a part of the bulging history of Capitol Hill.

Officials were more concerned over the blaze than the damage wrought. They said the loss would amount to about $3,000, that the fire in no way would interfere with the convening of Congress Monday, following the holiday recess, and that such documents and papers as were charred or water-soaked were not a part of the permanent files.

The blaze, far more spectacular than that which destroyed part of the Executive office of the White House Christmas eve, originated in a room occupied by Carl Moberly, an artist who has decorated many of the corridors in the Senate and House wings.

Moberly was rescued in a partly suffocated condition. First aid was administered in the office of Representative John Garner of Texas, the House Democratic leader, and the artist was later taken to a hospital.

Careful Inquiry Planned.

Today Mr. Moberly had practically recovered and from him Capitol officials hope to obtain some light on the cause of the fire. Several Capitol employees suggested the possibility that a cigarette or a cigar started the blaze. David S. Lynn, the Capitol architect, and Joseph G. Rodgers, the House sergeant at arms, reiterated this morning that they proposed to investigate carefully into the cause. Both were at the Capitol last night before the flames were extinguished and obtained all information then available.

The fire was discovered at 7 P. M. Capitol police turned in the alarm. Firemen on apparatus which had to travel over Pennsylvania Avenue were spurred forward by the sight of the flames, leaping and glowing bright above the hundreds of electric lights that illuminate the building.

Reaching the Capitol a multitude of difficulties delayed the firemen. Most of the doors were locked. Some companies threw ladders against the structure to fight inwards, while others smashed the thick plate glass in the revolving door opening from the rotunda to the east plaza---the entrance through which thousands of tourists pass annually.

People Flock to Capitol

As firemen strove to reach the flames thousands of Washingtonians swarmed

Continued on Page Eleven.

to Capitol Hill. Many in the city had missed the White House fire and last night, as word spread over the city that the Capitol was burning, men, women and children hastened to the scene.

Police reserves were rushed to "the Hill" to assist the hastily mobility Capitol police force in holding back the crowd that surged over the broad east plaza. On the west side still another crowd gathered on the sloping hill.

Of the thousands obtaining information about the fire over the telephone was President Hoover. He instructed White House aids to obtain all information and they immediately had a White House phone connected with the office of Representative Garner. After Firemen had smashed the east rotunda door, they carried hose lines through the rotunda, the walls of which are decorated with many valuable oil paintings of events of early American history.

Other lines of hose were carried up the stairway opening just to the north of Statuary Hall.

Later it was ascertained that no damage from water or smoke had resulted in either the hall or the rotunda, and within a short time after the blaze was out charwomen had swabbed up the water pools on the floor.

Valuable Records Unhurt

The artist's room opened off a document room used to store principally bills, resolutions and committee reports. Some damage to these resulted but practically all were copies. More valuable records nearby were not marred.

In Moberly's room, some portraits of Justices of Federal courts suffered from the water and smoke.

Firemen had the blaze under control in slightly more than ten minutes after they put their first hose in action.

The fire was out within forty-five minutes from the first alarm.

Immediately under the artist's room in the office of Representative John McDuffie of Alabama, the Assistant House Democratic leader, while under McDuffie's office is the private office of Speaker Longworth. Representative Garner's office is opposite that of the Speaker's, while several Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as the chairmen of the House Banking and Indian Affairs Committees, have rooms in that section of the building.

Moberly is sixty-one years old. He has been a decorator at the Capitol for nearly thirty years. His home is at Mount Ida, Va. He came to Washington from Frederick, Md.

The fire last night was the third since August. The other two were blazing trash boxes ignited by carelessly tossed cigarettes. Bert W. Kennedy, the doorkeeper of the House, said today he had counted ten fires during his many years of service at the Capitol. Last night, however, was the first time in six years the city fire department has been called upon.

January 4, 1930, Binghamton [NY] Press, Page 1, Column 8, Artist, Former Police Officer Are Quizzed; Former Overcome by Smoke From Fire, Which Started in His Studio; Damage is Only $3,000; Spoiled Records Principally Copies; Cigarette Seen as Possible Cause.

Washington, Jan. 4—.(Associated Press) —Preliminary investigation today left as an open question the cause of the fire which last night sent flames leaping around the dome of the Capitol and threw Washington into a furor of excitement.

With his inquiry incomplete, David S. Lynn, architect in charge of public buildings, said, all of the information he had been able to obtain had not convinced him as to the origin of the blaze.

"The fire was caused either by spontaneous combustion or somebody smoking in the artists' studio." Lynn said, after questioning Charles Moberly, the artist, and Samuel Hall, a former Capitol policeman, who was with Moberly when the blaze started.

Lynn said Moberly had told him that he was not smoking, but was a sleep with his head on his desk in the model room. Hall was sitting in a chair reading a newspaper, the architect, said. He added that Hall discovered the fire and undertook to put it out with a fire extinguisher obtained from a nearby room.

Questioned as to whether Moberly had been drinking, Lynn said the artist told him he had had two drinks about 12:30 p. m. yesterday. He also said Moberly told him that those were his last drinks, and it was asserted that the artist had worked throughout the afternoon retouching, the decorations in the Senate corridors.

There was no explanation of Hall's presence in the artist's quarters. He had not been employed at the Capitol for many years.

The stories of the two men as reconstructed today for Mr. Lynn, left many apparent gaps which he later will undertake to fill in before making his report to Speaker Longworth on the origin, of the blaze and the extent of the damage, traces of which were being removed today by a large force of workmen.

Moberly's story as related by Lynn was that he had gone to his room after stopping work at 4.30 p. m., and being fatigued had laid his head, down on his forearm across the desk and had fallen into a doze.

Suddenly he was awakened by flames and smoke and started to open the door, leading from the model room to the artist's room proper and was met by more flames and smoke, which he said, overcame him. His next recollection was when he came to in the office of Representative John Garner of Texas, two floors below, to which he had been taken by Capitol police and firemen.

Hall's statement was that he was an old friend of Moberly and had gone to the studio to visit him. He said Moberly appeared to be tired and he suggested that Moberly take a nap. Hall then picked up a paper. Hall asserted that he had not been smoking but that sometime afterward he noticed smoke; found the fire and undertook to extinguish it. He told the elevator boy of the fire and the boy advised the capitol police.

Capitol officials did not learn until late in the night that Hall had been on the scene of the fire at the time. Lynn said he would call Moberly and Hall before him again for questioning later in the day in a further effort to fix the exact cause of the fire.

Dr. George W. Calver, of the

(Continued on Page Seventeen.)

Navy, assigned to duty at the House of Representatives, reiterated to newspapermen today his statement of last night that he had treated Moberly for suffocation caused by smoke fumes. He pointed out that paints and oils and chemicals in the studio had produced poisonous fumes which had overcome the artist.

Ten portraits of chief justices and Judges of the United States Court of Claims, which for years have looked down from the walls of that tribunal, were among the art objects, damaged or destroyed by the fire.

The portraits had been taken to the artist's room in the Capitol shortly before the fire broke out, in order that they might be retouched, and while no official estimate has been given of the damage done them court attaches said that it could not be estimated in terms of money.

Officials were more concerned over the cause of the blaze than the damage wrought. They said the loss would amount to about $3,000; that the fire in no way would interfere with the convening of Congress Monday from the holiday recess; and that such documents and papers as were charred or water soaked were not a part of the permanent files.

The fire was discovered at 7 p. m. Capitol police turned in an alarm that brought every engine in the business and near-in residential districts. Firemen on apparatus which had to travel over Pennsylvania avenue were spurred forward by the sight of the flames, leaping and glowing bright above the hundreds of electric lights that illuminate the building.

Reaching the Capitol a multitude of difficulties delayed the firemen. Most of the doors were locked. Some companies threw ladders against the structure to fight inward, while others smashed the thick plate glass in the revolving door opening from the rotunda to the East Plaza—the entrance through which thousands of tourists pass annually.

As firemen strove to reach the flames thousands of Washingtonians swarmed to Capitol Hill. Many in the city had missed the White House fire and last night as word spread that the Capitol was burning men, women and children hastened to the scene.

Police reserves were rushed to "The Hill," to assist the hastily mobilized Capitol police force in holding back the crowd that surged over the broad East Plaza.

So quickly did the crowd assemble, that hundreds were on hand before the last of the fire companies arrived and there were narrow escapes in several instances as the fire trucks roared into position.

On the west side still another crowd gathered on the sloping hill. Those who raced to this position had the best view of the flames piercing toward the sky.

Of the thousands obtaining information about the fire over the telephone was President Hoover. It was only a week ago that he stood on the west balcony of the White House, dressed in evening clothes and watched the fire in the executive offices. Last night he instructed White House aides to obtain all information and they immediately had a White House phone connected with the office of Representative Garner.

After firemen had smashed the east rotunda door, they carried hose lines through the rotunda—the walls of which are decorated with many valuable oil paintings of events of early American history, to reach the narrow, winding stairway to the fourth floor.

Other lines of hose were carried up the stairway opening just to the north of statuary hall, once the chamber of the House of Representatives. Later it was ascertained that no damage from water or smoke had resulted in either the hall or the rotunda, and within a short time after the blaze was out, charwomen had swabbed up the water pools on the floor.

The artist's room opened off a document room used to store principally bills, resolutions and committee reports. Some damage to these resulted but virtually all were copies. More valuable records nearby were not marred.

In Moberly's room, the artist had a plaster model of the Capitol building. It was a duplicate. The original model is in Spain, having been sent there for the Seville exposition. Water and fallen beams damaged the duplicate and other debris damaged to some extent models of several other public buildings. Some portraits of justices of Federal courts likewise suffered from water and smoke.

Firemen had the blaze under control in slightly more than 10 minutes after they put their first hose in action, but considerable time had been lost in reaching the fire because of the winding stairway---just across the building from that used by tourists who climb to the top of the dome. The inconspicuous entrance to the stairway added to the delay as the first group of firemen could not locate the door.

The fire was out within 45 minutes from the first alarm.

On the west, Moberly's room adjoined a runway under the eaves of the wing. Much water had settled in a vat in the floor of this runway and Fire Chief Watson turned his men to bailing from the moment the blaze was out.

Firemen were unable to explain what use is made of the vat, or concrete receptacle, but said they had been ordered to dry up as much water as possible to prevent its seepage into the offices below.

Immediately under the artist's room is the office of Representative John McDuffie of Alabama, the assistant House Democratic leader, while under McDuffie's office is the private office of Speaker Longworth. Representative Garner's office is opposite that of the speaker's, while several civic services, Justices of the Supreme Court as well as the chairmen of the House Banking and Indian Affairs committees have rooms in that section of the building.

Hardly had firemen stopped their bailing before janitors, committee employes and charwomen were at work. Before daylight they had cleaned up much of the wreckage. A tarpaulin had been stretched over the broken glass in the roof of the studio.

During the fire, those fighting from the inside could see the smoke that poured through this broken skylight drift up into the light played up on the dome and at times envelop an American flag floating in a gentle breeze over the center of the west entrance. No one explained how the flag happened to be flying after sunset.

Practically all the spectators had left before Moberly was removed from a couch in Representative Garner's office to a hospital. He had been treated at the Capitol by Dr. George W. Calvert, a naval physician assigned to duty at the House of Representatives.

Moberly is 61 years of age. He has been a decorator at the Capitol for nearly 30 years and his paint brush has renovated many of the historic paintings on the walls of the Capitol, as well as the designs along the corridors.

THE KNICKERBOCKER PRESS, Albany, New York, January 4, 1930
"Fire Sweeps U.S. Capitol at Washington. Flames Sear Upper Floors, Passing Dome. Document Room Wrecked by Blaze in House Quarters; Historic Papers May Have Been Destroyed. Thousands See Fire Creep Through Dome. Capitol Artist Found Overcome; Damage Is Believed To Be Slight."

Is the following a late Evening Edition, which has a second, shorter dateline tacked onto the head of the article? In the section below, our hero-villain-scapegoat is called "Carl" Moberly; later, and more correctly, he's called "Charles" Moberly. The AP normally stuck with Carl, which maybe got confused with "Chas," which is a diminutive for Charles.

January 4, 1930, The Reading [Penn.] Eagle, Page 1, Column 2, Loss in U. S. Capitol Night Fire Only $3,000. Out in 45 Minutes After Spectacular Blaze At Side of Dome Lights Up Sky, Capitol Painter Unable To Explain Fire Start,

Washington, Jan. 4 (AP).--Charles Moberly, Capitol artist, in whose studio the fire began that turned the dome of the Capitol into a torch for a time last night, was questioned today by David S. Lynn, Capitol architect, but he threw little light upon the origin of the blaze.

Moberly, who was found unconscious in his smoke filled room by firemen, appeared very nervous and said he did not know how the fire began and told Lynn that he seldom used cigarettes but smoked a pipe or cigar occasionally.

Lynn said he had learned that the alarm had been turned in by a man named Hall who had been in Moberly's studio before the fire originated. Hall, whose first name was not obtained, will probably be questioned some time today.

Another theory that defective electric wiring might have started the fire was dispelled by the report of a fire inspector who said that he had found the wiring in good condition.

Another possible cause took its place, however, when Moberly told Lynn that the fire might have begun from a pail of oil-soaked waste in the studio. He explained that he used the waste in cleaning and retouching pictures and said that in addition to being permeated with oil it contained certain chemicals used in retouching pictures.

"It settles down to one of two things," Lynn said. "Either it was caused by spontaneous combustion or from someone smoking."

Washington, Jan. 4 (AP).---The tongues of red flame that leaped through the roof of the southwest wing of the Capitol last night and licked at the side of the huge white dome had left today only a small blackened spot on the side of the building.

The vividness of the flare; the shrieking sirens of the fire apparatus; first thoughts that century old records, possibly the nearly nation-old structure itself might be endangered, had faded this morning and fast were becoming a part of the bulging history of Capitol Hill.

Officials were more concerned over the cause of the blaze than the damage wrought. They said the loss would amount to about $3,000; that the fire in no way would interfere with the convening of Congress Monday from the holiday recess; and that such documents and papers as were charred or water soaked were not a part of the permanent files.

Starts in Artist's Room

The blaze, far more spectacular than that which destroyed part of the Executive Office of the White House Christmas Eve, originated in a room occupied by Carl Moberly, an artist, who had decorated many of the long corridors in both the Senate and House wings.

Moberly was rescued from the room in a partly suffocated condition. He was given first aid treatment in the office of Representative John Gerner, of Texas, House Democratic leader, and later taken to a hospital.

Today he practically had recovered, and from him Capitol officials hope to obtain some light on the cause of the fire. Employees suggested the possibility that a cigarette or a cigar started the blaze.

The fire was discovered at 7 p.m. Capitol police turned in an alarm that brought every engine in the business and near-in residential districts.

Firemen on apparatus which had to travel over Pennsylvania avenue were spurred forward by the sight of the flames, leaping and glowing bright above the hundreds of electric lights that illuminate the building.

Most of Doors Locked.

Reaching the Capitol a multitude of difficulties delayed the firemen. Most of the doors were locked. Some companies threw ladders against the structure to fight inwards, while others smashed the thick plate glass in the revolving door opening from the rotunda to the east plaza---the entrance through which thousands of tourists pass annually.
As firemen strove to reach the flames thousands of Washingtonians swarmed to Capitol Hill. Many in the city had missed the White House fire, and last night as word spread that the Capitol was burning, men women and children hastened to the scene.

Police reserves were rushed to "The Hill," to assist the hastily mobilized Capitol police force in holding back the crowd that surged over the broad east plaza.

So quickly did the crowd assemble that hundreds were on hand before the first of the fire companies arrived, and there were narrow escapes in several instances as the fire trucks roared into position.

Best View of Flames.

On the west side still another crowd gathered on the sloping hill. Those who raced to this position had the best view of the flames piercing toward the sky.

Of the thousands obtaining information about the fire over the telephone was President Hoover. It was only a week ago that he stood on the west balcony of the White House dressed in evening clothes and watched the fire in the executive offices. Last night he instructed White House aides to obtain all information and they immediately had a White House phone connected with the office of Representative Garner.

After firemen had smashed the east rotunda door they carried hose lines through the rotunda---the walls of which are decorated with many valuable oil paintings of events of early American history, to reach the narrow winding stairway to the fourth floor.

Other lines of hose were carried up the stairway opening just to the north of statuary hall, once the chamber of the House of Representatives. Later it was ascertained that no damage from water or smoke had resulted in either the hall or the rotunda, and within a short time after the blaze was out charwomen had swabbed up the water pools on the floor.
Valuable Records Safe.

The artist's room opened off a document room used to store principally bills, resolutions and committee reports. Some damage to these resulted, but virtually all were copies. More valuable records near by were not marred.

In Moberly's room, the artist had a plaster model of the Capitol Building. It was a duplicate. The original model is in Spain, having been sent there for the Seville Exposition. Water and fallen beams damaged the duplicate and other debris damaged to some extant models of several other public buildings. Some portraits of justices of federal courts likewise suffered from water and smoke.

Firemen had the blaze under control in slightly more than 10 minutes after they put their first hose in action, but considerable time had been lost in reaching the fire because of the winding stairway, just across the building from that used by tourists who climb to the top of the dome. The inconspicuous entrance to the stairway added to the delay as the first group of firemen could not locate the door.

Out in 45 Minutes.

The fire was out within 45 minutes from the first alarm.

On the west, Moberly's room adjoined a runway under the eves of the wing. Much water had settled in a vat in the floor of this runway and Fire Chief Watson turned his men to bailing from the moment the blaze was out.

Firemen were unable to explain what use was made of the vat, or concrete receptacle, but said they had been ordered to dry up as much water as possible to prevent its seepage into the offices below.

Immediately under the artist's room is the office of Representative John McDuffie, of Alabama, the assistant House Democratic leader, while under McDuffie's office is the private office of Speaker Longworth. Representative Garner's office is opposite that of the Speaker's, while several justices of the Supreme Court, as well as chairman of the House civil service banking and Indian affairs committees have rooms in that section of the building.

Wreckage Cleaned Up.

Hardly had firemen stopped their bailing before janitors, committee and office employees and charwomen were at work. Before daylight they had cleaned up much of the wreckage. A tarpaulin had been stretched over the broken glass in the roof of the studio.

During the fire, those fighting from the inside could see the smoke that poured through this broken skylight drift up into the light played upon the dome, and at times envelop an American flag floating in a gentle breeze over the center of the west entrance.

P.S. The Office of the Clerk, United States House of Representatives, is still calling him "Carl" Moberly here in 2012. This constitutes the "official" narrative of the fire. Fire (6)

The 1930 fire near the dome of the Capitol
January 03, 1930

At 7 pm on this date, two Capitol Police officers discovered a fire in the art restoration and modeling room in the Capitol. Located in an attic space near the dome, the fire illuminated the cold night sky. More than 27 fire crews from around the region responded to the fire alarms.The fire was confined to the room used by Carl Moberly, a resident artist at the Capitol. Water and smoke caused $3,000 in damages to a number of federal building models as well as portraits of federal judges which were undergoing restoration. A replica of the Capitol model (the original was at the Seville Exposition in Spain) suffered extensive damage. Moberly was discovered unconscious on the floor of the room by Sidney Mitchell, superintendent of the House document folding room. He was taken to the office of Representative John Garner of Texas and treated by Dr. George W. Calver, the House naval physician and the future Attending Physician of the Capitol. After administering first aid, Dr. Calver evaluated Mr. Moberly and determined he was "in such condition that anything he might say as to the origin of the fire could not be depended upon." Moberly was transferred to a local hospital. Despite the difficult physical location of the blaze, firemen managed to extinguish it in less than an hour. To add to the chaos, thousands of spectators descended on the Capitol grounds joining a pack of movie newsreel photographers. Throughout the night, the Capitol Police maintained a perimeter around the building to keep crowds away.

January 4, 1930, Tyrone [Penn.] Daily Herald / U.P., Page 1, Column 8, Documents and Oil Paintings Are Destroyed. Government To Investigate Cause of Blaze, Estimated Damage $7,000, Fire Originated In Storage Room—--Elevator Operator Discovers the Blaze-—Water Causes Considerable Damage—-Ceilings Damaged-—To Be Reconstructed at Once.

Washington, Jan. 4 (U. P.)—The cost and cause of a spectacular fire which for a short time last night threatened the rotunda of the capitol, were the subject of an investigation being conducted today by David Lynn, architect of the Capitol.

The blaze, which provided excitement for more than 10,000 onlookers, is believed to have caused only about $7,000 damage. This included $4,000 for destroyed documents and oil paintings of several justices of the court of claims. Duplicates of the documents are available elsewhere.

The fire started either in the artists' studio or the document storage room, just off the base of the big rotunda. It was confined to those two rooms.

The blaze, which came just nine days after flames raked the White House executive offices, started shortly after 7 p. m. and was extinguished less than an hour later.

Firemen, brought from all parts of the city by five alarms, found Charles Moberly, a capitol artist, unconscious in the burning studio when they gained entrance. He was taken to a nearby room, occupied by Democratic House floor leader Garner, of Texas, and revived. His injuries were confined, largely to shock, physicians said, and he should require only a rest.

The studio is located at the top of the House wing of the building, near the dome. It was filled with artists' materials and a number of valuable oil portraits of former state officials. These were saved and will be ready for hanging after refurnishing.

In the adjoining document room, however, between 500 and 1,000 bound volumes of bills were damaged and probably ruined.

Thousands of unbound documents on nearby shelves escaped the flames only by a little and many of these may be damaged by water.

Early estimates placed the damage to documents at nearly $4,000 and that to wooden partition walls of the two rooms at some $3,000. Only these wooden walls and furnishings were inflammable, it was said. The walls of the building itself of sandstone from three to five feet thick.

Had the flames succeeded in gaining the rotunda, it was pointed out, great damage might have been done to the mural decorations on the walls and dome. Prompt work by firemen, however, kept the flames from making any great threat to that section of the building.

The blaze was discovered by Kenneth Keeler, of Salt Lake City, an elevator operator, who turned in the alarm. Keeler and a capitol guard fought the fire with extinguishers until the firemen arrived.

As news of the fire spread about, the city excitement became intense. Automobiles from all parts of the city were turned toward Capitol Hill. On the plaza before the building several thousand persons, many of whom witnessed the White House blaze, gathered to watch the smoke curl from skylights.

Flames appeared, at times, to lick the base of the dome leading watchers to believe the fire was even more serious than it later proved to be.

Complete extent of the damage can not be estimated until the extent of water damage is determined. Because of the thick walls it will require some time to learn what effect seeping water will have on the ceilings of rooms below.

Some damage was reported to the ceiling of Associate Justice Sanford's office on the floor below, and firemen ripped away some marble wainscoting nearby to determine the cause of heat within the walls.

The investigation showed that water, heated by the flames, had seeped into the building walls, transforming nearby sections into a veritable "radiator."

It was considered possible that further investigation might show the need of more reconstruction work than at first estimated. The fire was the worst the capitol building had known in many years. The interior of both wings of the central section was destroyed by fire in August 1814, set by invading British troops.

Rebuilding was started in 1818 and completed in 1827 at a total cost of $2,433,844.

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The Capitol, like other government buildings here carries no insurance, although the building cost $15,000,000, and is valued, with the grounds, at $37,500,000. Insurance premiums, it is pointed out, would cost the government as much, at least, as the damage bills occasionally called upon to pay.

January 4, 1930, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Page 1, Column 1, Capitol Artist Denies Cigaret Cause of Blaze. Moberly Questioned by Architect Says Pail of Oil-Soaked Waste May Have Ignited—Damage Said to Exceed $3,000.
Washington, Jan. 4 (AP)--Charles Moberly, Capitol artist, in whose studio the fire began that licked the dome of the Capitol for a time last night, was questioned today by David S. Lynn, Capitol architect, but he threw little light upon the origin of the blaze.

Moberly, who was found unconscious in his smoke-filled room by firemen, appeared very nervous and said he did not know how the fire began, and told Lynn that he seldom used cigarettes, but smoked a pipe or cigar occasionally. The theory had been entertained that a cigaret, cigar, or match carelessly tossed away might have smoldered until it burst into flame.

Seek-Studio Visitor.

Lynn said he had learned that the alarm had been turned in by a man, named Hall, who had been in Moberly's studio before the fire originated. Hall, whose first name was not obtained, will probably be questioned sometime today.

Another theory that defective electric wiring might have started the fire was dispelled by the report of a fire inspector, who said that he had found the wiring in good condition.

Another possible cause took its place, however, when Moberly told Lynn that the fire might have begun from a pail of oil-soaked waste in the studio. He explained that he used the waste in cleaning and retouching pictures and said that in addition to being permeated with oil it contained certain chemicals used in retouching pictures.

Workmen Busy Early.

"It settles down to one of two things," Lynn said. "Either it was caused by spontaneous combustion or from some one smoking."

He added that the investigation was being continued and that it was too early for a detailed report.

A crew of men was put to work early today cleaning out debris in the ruined studio and they had not been on the job long before a crowd of curious and souvenir hunters gathered. The latter were warned away by police.

An inspection by the Capitol architect convinced him that there was no reason to raise the estimate of last night: which placed the damage at $3,000. He said there was no structural damage of consequence. Several portraits, most of them those of Justices of the Court of Claims, were damaged by smoke and water and some documents were damaged by water.

Flames Leaped High.

The fire was discovered at 7 p.m. Capitol police turned in the alarm. They sounded a five-call notice that brought every engine in the business and near-in residential districts.

Reaching the Capitol a multitude of difficulties delayed the firemen. Most of the doors were locked. Some companies threw ladders against the structure to fight inward, while others smashed the thick plate glass in the revolving door opening from the rotunda to the East Plaza— the entrance through which thousands of tourists pass annually.

Thousands at Scene.

Police reserves were rushed to the scene to assist the hastily mobilized Capitol police force in holding back
the crowd that surged over the broad East Plaza.

Of the thousands obtaining information about the fire over the telephone was President Hoover. It was only a week ago that he stood on the west balcony of the White House dressed in evening clothes and watched the fire in the executive offices. Last, night he instructed White House aids to obtain all information and they immediately had a phone connected with the office of Representative Garner. After firemen had smashed the east rotunda door they carried hose lines through the rotunda—the

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walls of which are decorated with many valuable oil paintings of events of early American history.

Capitol Model Damaged.

The artist's studio opened off a document room used to store bills, resolutions and committee reports. Some damage to these resulted, but practically, all were copies.

In Moberly's room the artist had a plaster model of the Capitol building. It was a duplicate. The original model is in Spain, having been sent there for the Seville exposition. Water and a fallen beam damaged the duplicate, while other debris damaged to some extent models of several other public buildings. Some portraits of justices of Federal courts, likewise, suffered from the water and smoke.

Firemen had the blaze under control in slightly more than 18 minutes after they put their first hose in action, but considerable time had been lost in reaching the fire because of the winding stairway to the top of the dome. The inconspicuous entrance to the stairway added to the delay, as the first group of firemen could not locate the door.

Third Fire Since August.

Practically all the spectators had left before Moberly was removed from a couch in Representative Garner's office to a hospital. He had been treated at the capital by Dr. George W. Calvert, a naval physician assigned to duty at the House of Representatives.

Moberly is 61 years of age. He has been a decorator at the Capitol for nearly 30 years and his paint brush had renovated many of the historic paintings on the walls of the Capitol as well as the designs along the corridors.

The fire last night was the third since August. The other two were blazing trash boxes ignited by carelessly tossed cigarettes. Bert W. Kennedy, the doorkeeper of the House, said today he had counted ten fires during his many years of service at the Capitol. That last night, however, was the first time in six years the city fire department had been called upon.

Quick Work by Firemen.

The fire was out within 45 minutes from the first alarm. On the west, Moberly's room adjoined a runway under the eaves of the wing. Immediately under the artist's room is the office of Representative John McDuffie of Alabama, the assistant House Democratic leader, while under McDuffie's office is the private office of Speaker Longworth.

The first Attending Physician of the Capitol, Dr. George Calver.

From the February 3, 1951, New York Times, A Doctor's Warning:

"On December 5, 1928, the House passed a resolution directing the secretary of the navy to detail a medical officer to be present near the House Chamber while that body was in session."

So, 7 p. m. Friday evening, January 4th, 1930, Congress was still in holiday recess, scheduled to reconvene the following Monday. What was Calver doing in the Capitol?

January 4, 1930, The Medina [NY] Daily Journal, Page 1, Columns 7 & 8, Capitol at Washington Damaged by Fire Last Evening, Blaze Raged For 45 Minutes and Flames Shot Above Dome.

Washington, D. C. Jan 3—Fire blazed for more than 30 minutes tonight about the dome of the Capitol of the United States. Originating in the room of a Capitol artist, it damaged the documents of the house and sent flames shooting toward the great figure of Liberty on its top, while thousands within the great parkways stood by in fear that the historical building would be destroyed.

More than twenty fire companies were called upon to fight the stubborn blaze which at first smouldered beneath the roof and then broke through to shoot shafts of reddish hue in to the air. The blaze could be plainly seen all along Pennsylvania avenue and from the White House itself, where a Christmas eve blaze burned President Hoover's executive offices.

Carl Moberly, the artist, was found almost suffocated and was removed to an office of the building, the Capitol officials immediately began an investigation to determine whether a carelessly tossed cigarette might have caused all of the damage.

In order to reach Moberly's room, firemen first battered through a locked revolving door at the east entrance of the rotunda through which thousands of tourists pass each year. Outside on the spacious east plaza of the Capitol dozens of fire engines, hook and ladder companies, fire pumpers, fire supply cars, fire aid wagons and police reserve patrol wagons were parked.

Beyond this hastily formed battery of fire fighting and first-aid apparatus, district and capitol police held back thousands of spectators who had been attracted to the Capitol. Here and there on the granite doorway over which those prominent in public life for more than a century as well as millions of ordinary American citizens have walked, were pools of water.

The fire was discovered by members of the Capitol Park Police.

Attaches of the Capitol said that if the fire had reached certain portions of the document room, valuable papers dating back to the time of George Washington would have been destroyed in addition to those of recent years which did suffer. Moberly had been in his, office for some time before the fire was discovered. Whether he had friends with him was unknown. He was alone when rescued.

January 4, 1930, The Titusville Herald, Page 1, Column 1, Twenty Fire Companies Quickly Respond and Confine Blaze To Document Room, By Associated Press

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3. — Flames shot skyward from the capitol of the United States tonight in a blaze more spectacular than that which ruined the White House executive offices on Christmas eve.

After 45 minutes of desperate work firemen extinguished the fire in the artists' studio on the top floor of the house side just to the west of the huge white dome. For a while destruction of the document room where historic records of the nation are stored was threatened. These were damaged by water and smoke.

Carl Moberly, one of the artists, was carried unconscious from the studio. Investigation of the cause of the fire late tonight was awaiting his recovery.

Flames shot from the roof upon the dome of the capitol as firemen sped from every corner of the city.

The firemen experienced great difficulty reaching the studio with water because of the small corridors and winding staircases to the fourth floor where it is situated. Twenty minutes had elapsed before water could be played from the long hose lines rapidly strung together.

Strung Over Ladders

Meanwhile ladders were reared up the white sides of the building, and over these more hose was stretched. David S. Lynn, capitol architect, and police immediately began an investigation to determine the cause of the blaze. It was said that a lighted cigarette might have been responsible.

The alarm was turned in at 7 p. m. by member of the capitol police force, whose attention had been attracted by smoke some time before the source was determined. A general alarm brought companies from all corners of the city.

Fire Chief Watson announced. the flames had been extinguished 45 minutes later. He estimated the damage as slight, and the figure was placed at $3,000 by Lynn.

Water Rushes Down

Water rushed down the stairways of all four floors, some seeping into the private offices of members of the supreme court and various representatives. Among these was the room of Representative McFadden of Pennsylvania, who went to the capitol. Representative Cramton of Michigan also was there.

The numerous figures in statuary hall and the oil paintings in the corridor, many of them depicting the history of America, were unharmed. Moberly—-who is 61 years old-—was removed to a hospital as soon as his condition warranted. Dr. George W. Calver, navy physician assigned to the house of representatives, said the artist was "in such a condition that anything he might say as to the origin of the fire could not be depended upon."

The fire tonight was the third since August in the structure where the legislative business of the nation is transacted. Then a carelessly thrown cigarette lighted a trash box on the south side of the building and only about a week ago another trash box was ignited in the house office building by a cigarette.

There was no damage at the other two fires, but they caused some excitement.

January 5, 1930, New York Times, Page 1, Blaze in Capitol Remains Unsolved, Architect Reports Cigarette or Spontaneous Combustion as the Probable Cause. Artist Tells His Story. Denies Smoking as Does Friend Who Found Him Asleep and Tried to Put Out Fire.

Washington, Jan. 4 -- The cause of the fire which last night threatened for a time to do serious damage to the historic Capitol building remained in doubt today. After an investigation David Lynn, architect of the Capitol, reached the conclusion that the blaze was started by a lighted cigar or cigarette butt dropped inadvertently in the studio room under the roof or from spontaneous combustion in some of the painting materials used there.

Mr. Lynn stated this opinion officially to Speaker Longworth and Vice President Curtis after he had examined Charles E. Moberly, the artist who, unconscious from smoke, was carried from the studio room soon after the flames were discovered. He reported at the architect's office in good physical condition this morning, Mr. Lynn said, despite his experience.

A friend of the artist, Sam Hall, told Mr. Lynn that, calling to see Mr. Moberly, he found the artist leaning over his desk in the studio, fast asleep. Hall did not wake him but picked up a paper and started reading. He smelled smoke and then saw it coming from under the thin partition which separates the studio from the reserve document storage room.

Mr. Hall found a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the flames, but failing, called to the operator of a small elevator that runs from the corridor off the rotunda and told him to sound an alarm. Meantime, Capitol police had arrived and they tried to arouse Mr. Moberly, who had been overcome with smoke. They carried him to the office of Representative Garner of Texas.

Mr. Lynn made public a written statement giving Mr. Moberly's version of his movements up to the time he was overcome. It read:

"Mr. Moberly states that he went to the studio between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the fire after doing some work in the Senate wing of the Capitol. He began working on drawings and putting away material and straightening up around the studio.

"Around 4 o'clock he fell asleep on his desk. He was awakened by a noise which sounded like some one trying to break in. He rushed to the inner door leading to the model room and opened it. The flames were so intense at this time that he was overcome and does not remember anything until he came to on a couch in Representative Garner's office. He states that the reason he stayed in the studio on this particular afternoon was because he lives alone and it was lonesome in his living quarters. He would rather remain in his studio and work to pass the time away.

"Mr. Moberly states that a tub of rags was near a wooden table in the model room. These rages were waste, soaked with oil. Fresh rags had been put there in the afternoon. He does not when the tub was last emptied. He states that it is customary to pour water into this tub to prevent fires, but does not recall that water was put in there on this particular day. He states that he did not place the rags in the tub, but that the other Capitol artist had been restoring some paintings with a special preparation composed of inflammable materials in the morning.

"Mr. Moberly further states that he is not a smoker and had not been smoking at any time during the day of the fire. No other person was in the studio after 4 o'clock, other than Mr. Moberly, he states, to the best of his knowledge and belief."

Mr. Lynn said that he asked Mr. Moberly about rumors that he had been drinking and was told by Mr. Moberly that he had "taken a couple of drinks about 12:30 but no more."

Mr. Hall also declared that he had not smoked while he was in the studio.

Most of the damage investigation today showed, was confined to the artist's quarters where the fire started and to which it was confined. Some documents in the storage room, nearest the studio entrance, were damaged by water and smoke, but none of them was considered of much worth. They were largely copies of printed documents which can easily be replaced. The total damage was not increased above the $3,000 estimate of yesterday. The government carries no insurance.

A number of portraits which Mr. Moberly and the other artist were retouching were counted as lost. Mr. Lynn still was uncertain as to the exact number destroyed. Among them, he thought, were eight or ten portraits of justices of the Court of Claims and perhaps two or three from the State Department.

The unveiling of the Capitol model

March 31, 1904

On this date, a model of the Capitol, designed to show the building with the East Front extension originally envisioned by architect Thomas U. Walter, was unveiled in the Rotunda.

The model of the Capitol was constructed in 1903 in an attic room in the Capitol. The model is more than 12 feet long and more than five feet wide.

On this date, a model of the Capitol, designed to show the building with the East Front extension originally envisioned by architect Thomas U. Walter, was unveiled in the Rotunda. For decades, Congress had ignored reminders that Walter’s plans for a central extension off the east side of the Rotunda were unfulfilled. Architect of the Capitol Elliott Woods estimated the cost of such as extension—which would project the building outward more than 100 feet and create needed rooms for committees—at $2.3 million. Woods had a powerful ally in Speaker of the House Joe Cannon of Illinois. In February 1903, Speaker Cannon declared on the House Floor his support for appropriating funds for an extension, noting that in his youth the building had reached "substantial completion—not full completion" and that despite its architectural grandeur the time had arrived "for the completion of this Capitol." Moreover, the project fit the national temperament which, as architectural historian Bill Allen has written, was "hospitable to ambitious civic improvements that would tout America's growing wealth, power, and self-confidence." The House was more cautious than Cannon, but appropriated $7,000 for studies and a model. Woods worked with the architectural firm Carrere & Hastings to develop plans. In the summer of 1903, French artist Emile Garet and a staff of four toiled on the top floor of the Capitol to complete the plaster model. When the model was unveiled the following spring, the Washington Post described it as "much admired as an excellent specimen of artistic workmanship." The following month Congress established a commission to consider the plans, but the East Front extension was not initiated until 1958 and completed in 1962. Today, the plaster Capitol model resides in the basement rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building.

January 5, 1930, The Huntsville Daily Times, Flames Lick at Capital Dome (DC); Grand Old Building Was Endangered But Damage Was Slight.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (AP)- The tongues of red flamed that leaped through the roof of the southwest wing of the capitol last night and licked at the side of the huge white dome had left today only a small blackened spot on the side of the building.

The vividness of the flame; the shrieking sirens of the apparatus; first thoughts that century old records, possibly the nearly nation-old structure itself, might be endangered had faded this morning and fast were becoming a part of the bulging history of Capitol Hill.

Officials were more concerned over the cause of the blaze that the damage wrought. They said the loss would amount to about $3,000 that the fire in no way would interfere with the convening of congress Monday from the holiday recess and that such documents and papers as were charred or water soaked were not a part of the permanent files.

The blaze, far more spectacular than that which destroyed part of the executive office of the White House Christmas Eve, originated in a room occupied by Carl Moberly, an artist who has decorated many of the long corridors in both the senate and house wings.

Moberly was rescued from the room in a partly suffocated condition. He was administered first aid in the office of Representative John Garner of Texas, the house democratic leader, and later taken to a hospital.

Today he practically had recovered and from him capitol officials hope to obtain some light on the cause of the fire. Several capitol employees suggested the possibility that a cigarette or a cigar started the blaze.

David S. Lynn, the Capitol architect, and Joseph G. Rodgers, the house sergeant at arms, reiterated this morning that they proposed to investigate carefully into the cause. Both were at the capitol last night before the flames were extinguished.

The fire was discovered at 7 p.m. Capitol police turned in the alarm. They sounded a five call notice that brought every engine in the business and near-in residential districts.

Reaching the capitol a multitude of difficulties delayed the firemen. Most of the doors were locked. Some companies threw ladders against the structure to fight inward while others smashed the thick plate glass in the revolving door opening from the rotunda to the east plaza – the entrance through which thousands of tourists pass annually.

As firemen strove to reach the flames thousands of Washintonians swarmed to Capitol Hill.

Police reserves were rushed to "the hill", as the site of the capitol is known in Washington, to assist the hastily mobilized capitol police force in holding back the crowd that surged over the board east plaza.

Of the thousands obtaining information about the fire over the telephone was President Hoover. It was only a week ago that he stood on the west balcony of the White House dressed in evening clothes and watched the fire in the executive offices. Last night, he instructed White House aides to obtain all information and they immediately had a White House phone connected with the office of Representative Garner.

The artist's room opened off a document room used to store principally bills, resolutions and committee reports. Some damage to these resulted but practically all were copies. More valuable records nearby were not marred.

In Moberly’s room, the artist had a plaster model of the capitol building. It was a duplicate. The original model is in Spain, having been sent there for the Seville exposition. Water and a fallen beam damaged the duplicate.

Firemen had the blaze under control in slightly more than 10 minutes after they put their first hose in action, but considerable time had been lost in reaching the fire because of the winding stairway just across the building from that used by tourists who climb to the top of the dome. The inconspicuous entrance to the stairway added to the delay as the first group of firemen could not located the door.

The fire was out within 45 minutes from the first alarm.

During the fire, those fighting from the inside could see the smoke that poured through a broken skylight drift up into the light played upon the dome and at times envelop on an American flag floating in a gentle breeze over the center of the west entrance. No one explained how the flag happened to be flying after sunset.

Practically all the spectators left before Moberly was removed from a couch in Representative Garner’s office to a hospital.

January 5, 1930, [Rochester] Democrat Chronicle, Page 1, Column 1, FIRE CAUSE AT CAPITOL NOT FOUND, Spontaneous Combustion or Careless Smoker Thought Most Likely Source, ARTIST ADMITS DRINKING, But Denies He Was Drunk; Friend Made Futile Effort To Put Out Blaze.

Washington Jan. 4 — (AP) — Completing his investigation of last night's spectacular fire in the artist's studio of the Capitol beside the majestic dome. David S. Lynn, architect of the building, said he was unable to determine whether the blaze had its origin with "a careless smoker or from spontaneous combustion."

Questioned as to whether Charles E. Moberly, the artist who was taken unconscious from the studio during the fire, had been drinking. Mr. Lynn said he had no reason to believe that he had been.

"He told me that he had had one or two drinks around noon, but none after that," Mr. Lynn said

His Version of Fire

As the architect constructed the scene from the stories of Moberly and Samuel Hall, a former Capitol policeman who twice called at the studio and was there when the fire started; it was about like this:

Moberly, who had been touching up decorations in the halls of the Senate wing of the Capitol, went to the studio between 2 and 3 o'clock and engaged in some work and in tidying up the place. About 4 o'clock, three hours before the first alarm was given, he fell asleep at his desk with his head on his arm.

Almost two hours later, Hall, who occasionally visited the artist and about whom Capitol officials said they knew little, called at the studio, climbing the long winding three flight below. He found Moberly asleep in his chair with his head on his desk. He left to get something to eat at a nearby restaurant and returned shortly after 4 P. M.

Moberly still was asleep and Hall sat down to read a newspaper, he asserted that he had not been smoking and that within half an hour or so he smelled smoke, investigated and found fire in the adjoining room where models of the Capitol are stored.

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Rushing into a nearby document room, he obtained a fire extinguisher and sought to put out the blaze, but was unsuccessful and notified the operator of an elevator in an adjoining hall. He then left the building, returning sometime later when he first was questioned by officials of the building.

Moberly's statement as given by Mr. Lynn was that he was awakened by a noise which sounded like someone trying to break in. Opening the door to the model room, he was greeted by smoke and flames and was overcome by fumes. He said he did not remember anything after that until he recovered consciousness. An attache in the office of Representative John Garner of Texas, to which he had been taken by firemen and police. Moberly still was under the care of Dr. George W. Calver, the House physician, who reiterated that he had treated the artist for partial suffocation from smoke and paint fumes and for a cut on the aide of his head. Lynn made a report of his investigation to Speaker Longworth and also will report to Vice-President Curtis. These two officials are custodians of the Capitol.

Working through the night and all of today, laborers removed all traces of the fire, cleaning out the brick-walled studio and model rooms, and recovering the skylights with which they are roofed. Some damage from water done to electric light conduits was removed and the building ready for the reconvening of Congress next Monday.

While nasty repairs were being made there, the superintendent of public buildings and grounds awarded the contract for rebuilding the White House executive offices, which were wrecked by fire on Christmas Eve.

False Baccardi Dialectics

January 5 1930, The Brooklyn Eagle, Page A2, Rum In Capitol Fire, Artist Admits He Took 2 Drinks Few Hours Before Studio Blaze—-Prober Says Various Versions Don't Jibe-—Will Continue Inquiry.

Washington, Jan. 4 — Congress, ever sensitive on the subject of drinking beneath the dome of the Capitol, has something new to consider to-night in the revelation that Charles E. Moberly, Capitol artist, in whose office last night fire originated, had at least two drinks at 12:30 Friday afternoon.

The fire did little damage. Mr. Moberly is 61, has been 30 years in Government service and is due for retirement on pension next August. The District of Columbia fire marshal will report that, the cause of the fire was either careless smoking or spontaneous combustion in a tub of oil-soaked painter's rags.

"I haven't any reason to believe that there was any drinking other than the two drinks which Mr. Moberly said he took early in the afternoon," said David Lynn, architect of the Capitol, to-night, in repudiating the suggestion that the fire originated from a cigarette or cigar tossed aside in the course of a drinking party. The exact origin of the fire, however, has not been determined.

Two Conflicting Versions.

"The information I have received has not convinced me yet as to the origin of the fire," Lynn added. "It was caused by spontaneous combustion or someone smoking. Mr. Moberly says he was not smoking. Samuel Hall a former Capitol policeman, says he was up there. He says he was not smoking. Hall is understood to have discovered the fire, but Captain Gnash of the Capitol police force says it was discovered by two of his sons,
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who were driving by the Capitol, who saw smoke issuing from the roof and sounded the alarm. Hall says, that as soon as he discovered the fire he went out and got a fire extinguisher and, tried to put the fire out. Moberly was sleeping at his desk.

Did Hall rescue Moberly how could the latter have been overcome by smoke if Hall was there?"

"That is still to be determined." said Mr. Lynn. "Things don't gee up exactly."

"Where did the fire start?"

"We haven't been able to ascertain this fact. There was a tub in the marble room in which oily rags were kept. If it started from spontaneous combustion it probably started in the tub, but we are not sure."

As to Drinking Evidence.

"Did you discover any evidence of drinking?"

"I personally have not."

"Have you any reports about drinking up there?"

"The House physician who treated Moberly said the artist was overcome by smoke."

"Did Moberly say he had been drinking?"

"Yes, he said he had been. He drinks.

An aide of Mr. Lynn remarked that Moberly said he had taken two drinks about 12:30 p.m.

"Did Mr. Moberly say, Mr. Lynn, that he took his last drink at 12:30?"

"No: it might have been his first drink."

"Was anyone else in the room other than Moberly and Samuel Hall?"

"No."

"Will Moberly be continued as a Capitol artist?"

"That is something I shall have to determine."

Refers to "Physician,"

"Did the House physician comment on the physical condition, of Moberly other than that he was suffering from suffocation?"

"You will have to get any information of that kind from the House physician. There is nothing more I can say at this time except I am continuing my investigation."

Dr. George W. Calver the House physician and a commander in the medical corps of the United States Navy, refused not only to amplify the statement he made last night but declined to be interviewed; saying he had many patients to attend to, and that he could not be disturbed." When advised that a large group of newspapermen were insisting on seeing him he sent out the following verbal message:
"I have nothing more to say other than that I treated Moberly for suffocation."

Moberly's version of the fire, as given out at Architect Lynn's office this afternoon, is as follows:

"Mr. Moberly states that he went into the studio between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the fire after doing some work in the Senate wing of Capitol. He began working on drawings, and putting away materials and straightening up around the studio.

Awakened By Noise.

Around 4 o'clock he fell asleep on his desk. He was awakened by a noise which sounded like some one trying to break in, He rushed to the inner door leading to the model room, and opened it. The flames of the fire were so intense at this time that he was overcome and does not remember anything until he came to on a couch in Representative Garner's office. He states that the reason he stayed in his studio this particular afternoon, was because he lived alone, and it is lonesome there. He would rather remain in his studio and work to pass the time away.

"Mr. Moberly states that a tub of rags was situated near a wooden table in the model room. These, rags are waste and soaked with oil. Fresh rags had been put there in the afternoon. He does not know how long before this day that the tub was last emptied. He states that it is customary to pour water in this tub to prevent fire, but does not recall that water was put there on this particular day. He states that he did not place the rags in the tub, but that the other Capitol artist had been restoring some paintings with a special preparation composed of some inflammable materials that morning.

Moberly Not a Smoker.

"Mr. Moberly further states "that he is not a smoker, and had not been smoking at any time during the day of the fire. No other person was in the studio after 4 o'clock either than Mr. Moberly," so he states to the best of his knowledge and beliefs,

Moberly and Samuel Hall, It was explained tonight that Hall came into the studio sometime prior to 6 P. M. and found Moberly asleep at his desk. Hall then went out to get something to eat returned—to the studio picked up a newspaper and started reading. When he discovered the fire, he rushed out to get a the extinguisher.

At that point. Moberly awakened, so it stated, threw open the door between the studio and the model room and was knocked unconscious when a wall.of same burst in his face. According? to this version, Moberly never knew Hall had been in his office

January 13, 1930, Time Magazine, "The Congress: Fire No. 2."
THE CONGRESS: Fire No. 2
Bright by night is the white dome of the U. S. Capitol, set like an enormous frosted wedding cake in the glare of encircling batteries of searchlights. Brighter than ever was the dome one evening hour last week when sharp flames leaped up through the Capitol roof.

A guard first spied smoke crawling out of cornices in the House wing close to the dome. Up four flights of circular iron stairs he raced to discover a roaring blaze in a room under the eaves used for storage of old Congressional documents. Also in the fiery room were the materials of artists who constantly retouch and restore the Capitol's decorations. On the floor, unconscious, lay Charles Moberly, 61, Capitol artist. He was dragged out, carried downstairs, revived.

A crowd as large as any for an inaugural gathered in the plaza to watch almost all of Washington's firemen subdue the fire.

The document room, tucked away behind corridors, was hard to reach. Firefighters scaled the walls, fought the flames downward through the roof. Cameramen's flashlights added to the radiance of the scene. Senators. Congressmen, Justices of the Supreme Court hustled "up the hill" from dinner to see their workshop burn.

Water leaked down on Associate Justice Edward Terry Sanford. who hastily spread a tarpaulin over his office desk and papers. The rotunda was a puddle ankle-deep. In 45 minutes the fire was out.

Damage: $5,000. David Lynn, architect of the Capitol and its official proprietor, found masses of government documents of no historic worth destroyed, a portrait of himself ruined. A falling beam had smashed a ten-foot plaster model of the Capitol.

Like many another, Architect Lynn suspected a match or cigaret butt had been carelessly thrown into inflammable oils, paints, papers. Still incoherent from inhaled fumes. Artist Moberly babbled that he did not smoke cigarets, only cigars, that, in fact, he did not smoke at all. Later he admitted that he had had "a couple of drinks" in the afternoon, had fallen asleep over his desk in the storage room. With him, he said, was a man named Sam Hall who had been reading a newspaper. When he awoke. Hall was fighting the fire.

Capitol rumor: The storage room, tucked off in a nook by itself, was used as a drinking place and general rendezvous by Capitol employes.

Suspicious citizens immediately linked the Capitol fire with that at the White House offices fortnight ago, spoke darkly of incendiarism. Both blazes had started mysteriously under the roof amid bales of documents at about the same evening hour when the buildings were deserted. Exclaimed Senator Vandenberg of Michigan after the Capitol fire: "This is more than a coincidence!"

The first Sergeant at Arms, Joseph Wheaton
May 12, 1789
On this date, the House elected its first Sergeant at Arms, Joseph Wheaton. As the chamber’s principal law enforcement official, the modern day Sergeant at Arms maintains security on the floor and for the House side of the Capitol complex. Mandated under the current House Rule II, the Sergeant at Arms also enforces protocol and ensures decorum during floor proceedings. The First Congress (1789–1791) adopted many of the traditions of colonial parliamentary bodies and the British Parliament, including the use of a ceremonial mace by the Sergeant at Arms to symbolize the national legislature’s power. The House declared on April 14, 1789, that, “A proper symbol of office shall be provided for the Sergeant at Arms, of such form and device as the Speaker shall direct, which shall be borne by the Sergeant when in the execution of his office.” The original House Mace was destroyed when British forces burned the Capitol in 1814. New York silversmith William Adams crafted the current mace in 1841. Crowned with an eagle atop of a globe, the current mace is comprised of 13 ebony rods bound by silver bands, representing the 13 original colonies.

Clerk of the House Patrick Magruder

May 24, 1813
On the opening day of the 13th Congress (1813–1815), Patrick Magruder of Maryland was elected to a fourth consecutive term asClerk of the House. But his fortunes changed when British forces sacked the capital city in August 1814. Popular and respected, Magruder first was chosen to serve as Clerk shortly after losing his House seat in the 1806 elections. In August 1814, Magruder was on leave for a protracted illness when British forces arrived. The invaders torched the Capitol, destroying much of the building, many congressional documents, and the holdings of the Library of Congress (at that time, the Clerk of the House was also the Librarian of Congress). Afterwards, Members were incensed that Magruder’s staff (then led in an acting capacity by his brother, George) had failed to save vital House records, including receipts and vouchers for congressional accounts. These had been locked in a desk and destroyed in the fire (apparently the only federal financial records lost to invading British forces). To clear his name, Magruder requested an internal investigation. House Speaker Langdon Cheves of South Carolina appointed a select investigatory committee chaired by Congressman Joseph Pearson of North Carolina. The committee discovered several financial discrepancies, including what it claimed to be nearly $20,000 in missing funds. Magruder addressed a letter to Speaker Cheves in December 1814 refuting the charges. But less than a month later, on January 21, 1815, Representative James Clark of Kentucky introduced a resolution to remove Magruder from office. Though the House postponed the vote for a week, Magruder resigned days later. In a letter to the Speaker, he professed "my entire innocence and ignorance of any misapplication of the public moneys," and further defended his brother by noting that he could have accounted for all his expenditures "had not the unfortunate conflagration of the Capitol destroyed his accounts." Patrick Magruder retired to his wife's family plantation near Petersburg, Virginia, where he died in 1819.

The burning of the Capitol in 1814
August 24, 1814
In the most devastating blow suffered by the U.S. during the War of 1812, British forces overran the capital city on this date setting fire to most major public buildings, including the U.S. Capitol. The attack occurred during a congressional recess, the House having adjourned for the session in April. When Members returned in September, Congress considered removing the seat of government from Washington. Fearing that a temporary relocation would become permanent, opponents killed the motion on the House Floor. It would take nearly five years to rebuild the House Chamber. One of the unintended consequences of the burning of the Capitol was the resignation of House Clerk Patrick Magruder. Magruder was not present in Washington on the day of the event and his two deputies mustered with local militia to defend the city. Despite these circumstances, Magruder was held responsible for the loss of many House records and he submitted his resignation on January 28, 1815

Thomas Jefferson’s library
October 10, 1814
On this date a joint resolution to purchase Thomas Jefferson’s library for the new Library of Congress was introduced in the House of Representatives. The British burning of the Capitol six weeks earlier destroyed the entire congressional book collection and many office documents. Former President and Continental Congress Delegate Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his collection for use by the House and Senate. After more than three months of deliberating, Congress purchased 6,487 volumes for $23,950. A few Members of the House opposed buying the collection because it contained controversial authors. According to the Annals of Congress, “The objections to the purchase were generally its extent, the cost of the purchase, the nature of selection, embracing too many works in foreign languages, some of too philosophical a character, and some otherwise objectionable. Of the first description, exception was taken to Voltaire’s works, &, co., and of the other to Callender’s Prospect Before Us.” Despite minor objections, the House purchased the books and the collection arrived in Washington, D.C., in early 1815, providing the reconstituted core of the library’s holdings.

An 1825 Library of Congress fire
December 22, 1825
On this date, the Library of Congress, then located in a room on the west side of the Capitol, caught on fire. Late in the evening Representative Edward Everett of Massachusetts noticed a suspicious light in the window near the library as he departed a Capitol Hill dinner party. Everett informed a Capitol Police officer who did not have a key to the library door and dismissed Everett’s concern. The Congressman returned to his nearby home. Other officers, however, saw the glow increase in intensity and summoned the Librarian of Congress, George Watterson, to the Capitol. Watterson and the police discovered a fire on the upper level of the library. Representatives Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Sam Houston of Tennessee arrived at the Capitol along with Everett to assist in fighting the growing blaze. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the blaze before it spread to the ceiling and other sections of the Capitol. After the smoke settled, firefighters determined the cause of the fire was an unattended candle. Damage was not as extensive as the August 1814 inferno, when the British destroyed the Capitol (and most of official Washington, D.C.). Listed among those items lost in the fire were duplicate copies of books and an expensive rug. This was the second blaze in roughly a decade and it prompted Congress to request Architect of the Capitol Charles Bulfinch to investigate flame retardant materials for the library and the Capitol as a whole.

One of the first efforts by the House of Representatives to preserve its records
June 06, 1900
On this date, the House of Representatives took its first step toward the longterm preservation of its records, by providing funding for document storage in a general appropriations bill. The new Clerk of the House, former Congressman Alexander McDowell of Pennsylvania, initiated the change. On January 23, 1899, McDowell presented a plaintive letter from file clerk Walter French detailing the immediate need for more and better storage space for the files of the House (H. Doc. 170, 55th Cong., 3rd Sess.) “The extreme heat in summer from the iron roof and the dampness in winter from the condensation of hot air coming against the cold iron of the roof render the place unfit for documents of such value,” French explained. “Portions of the shelving in the attic are of wood, and in the event of fire, would be entirely inaccessible as this attic can only be reached through this office and up three flights of narrow stairs.” However, Congress adjourned early and no action was taken to correct the storage deficiencies. On March 27, 1900, McDowell again presented the letter requesting more storage (H. Doc. 536, 56th Cong., 1st sess. [1900]). This time Congress acted swiftly, and the Appropriations Act included a provision for $1,500 for the transfer of inactive records to the Librarian of Congress. In 1901, 5,502 bound volumes of journals, miscellaneous documents, executive documents, bills, reports, committee books, and records of the Office of the Clerk from the 1st to 56th Congresses (1789–1901) were sent to the Library of Congress.

Early efforts to preserve the records of the House of Representatives
February 21, 1910
On this date in the 61st Congress (1909–1911), the House allocated $2,500 “for the better preservation of early files of the House” by means of H. Res. 403. The appropriation was accompanied by House Report No. 677, written by Massachusetts Congressman Joseph Francis O’Connell of the Committee on Accounts, describing the rapidly deteriorating condition of House records still kept in the Capitol’s attic. The space contained hundreds of bundles of the earliest records, which were piled to the ceiling in a narrow passageway. The papers were “neglected and decaying.” The report called for additional funding to classify and rejacket these materials, which included original bills and amendments, correspondence, memorials of state and territorial legislatures, petitions, and reports. The records covered “a variety of subjects and in themselves [furnish] a documentary history of some of the most important events in our history.” The report described the circumstances of a letter from Martha Washington to Congress consenting to the burial of PresidentGeorge Washington in the Capitol crypt. The letter had been cut from one of the bound volumes of original documents, but was later recovered. The committee recommended the deposit of all original papers and letters of historical value with the Librarian of Congress. After this initial transfer, the Librarian continued to accept periodic deposits from the House, but was eager for an alternative storage space. More than 40 years later, House records were transferred from the Library of Congress to the National Archives building and today are cared for by the Clerk of the House’s official archival staff.

The House Committee on the Library’s report on the condition of House Records
June 01, 1937
On this date, the House Committee on the Library recommended the “Transfer of Certain Records of House of Representatives to National Archives” (H. Rpt. No. 917, 75th Cong., 1st sess.) The report contained a comprehensive survey of the conditions of the papers of the House by the National Archives, emphasizing the disorderly state of the records and their rapid deterioration. Clerk of the House South Trimble opposed the transfer on the grounds that records did not have “historical interest” and the transfer “would serve no useful purpose, would be an unnecessary expense, and would make [the records] less accessible to the House.” As a result, the records remained in three locations in the Library of Congress, eight locations in the Capitol, and one depository in the Old House Building (now Cannon) until 1946, when noncurrent House records came under the purview of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. The committee concluded, “It would appear that the best interests of the Government and the People of the United States would be served by the preservation of the noncurrent records of the Senate and House in one centralized place that provides the best facilities available” (S. Rpt. 1011, 79th Cong., 2nd. sess.). The committee’s deliberations were implemented in the landmark Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. Section 140 (a)-(b) of the act provided for the physical transfer to the National Archives of the records of the first 76 Congresses (7,500 cubic feet of records), as well as the continuing transfer of committee records at the close of each Congress. The House retains ownership of its records and access to them is subject to House rules.

Adam Blake, Interregnum Hotelier of Congress Hall,

2012-02-07T14:07:00.000-05:00

This story is too sordid to go much into details. Suffice it to say that after the Congress Hall hotel property was purchased as part of the planned New Capitol parkgrounds, (in fact, this purchase by the City of Albany was the triggering event, which both allowed, and then supposedly obligated, the State to follow through with the plan,) and as the granite foundations of the building proper were dug out and then raised over the next several years, the hotel continued to function in its historic role as a sleep-over and committee central for the Legislature. Although now owned by New York State, on May 27th, 1868, it was nominally leased to Adam Blake, who rented the facilities back to the State, and Mr. Blake was said to have spent so much on repairs and maintenance that over the next nine years, he apparently never paid the State a dime. At one point, to facilitate nearby construction, a 15-foot portion in the rear of the Hotel was knocked down, causing the tenant hardship, but the state later rebuilt, and even expanded the structure for more official, short-term use.

By chapter 822, Laws of 1869, and chapter 492, Laws of 1870, Governor Hoffman had over $30,000 appropriated to turn a portion of the soon-to-be razed hotel into his "executive mansion." Other rooms were sub-let to the "New Capitol Commissioners, Regents of the University and Judges," on negligible terms. Located somewhere on the property remained "two houses occupied by Misses Winne," and not to cast aspersions lightly, but that would seem an awfully active and dusty a habitat in which to domicile maidens.

But at a point in 1875, scandal broke out in the newspapers, and the Commissioners of the Land Office who are named in this 1877 Assembly document---Vol. V., No. 41, transcribed below---were forced into the appearance of action. Made up of the top seven elected officials under the Governor, acting ex officio, this role increased their power of patronage, but apparently also their vulnerability. In the nearly 11 years covered, spanning May, 1865 to Jan. 1877, I count four Lieutenant-Governors, and Speakers of the Assembly; five State Engineer-Surveyors, and State Treasurers; six Comptrollers, and Attorneys-General; and seven Secretaries of State. But if their careers were brief, they were also recyclable, with yesterday's Comptroller or Secretary of State turning up as tomorrow's Governor or United States Senator.

But the real point I hope to convey to anyone out there reading this, was revealed to me in an examination of the document itself. Just when Attorney-General Daniel Pratt was about to take some vigorous action in the mid-1870's, I realized the document was missing pages 20 and 21, and I was left in the dark. Scanned from a usually trust-worthy source at the University of Michigan, it had been uploaded to archive.org in September, 2007. But the file had been wrongly dated within its title, as being "1831," which probably hinders searches. These two pages could have been carefully cut out of the book with a razor blade, without anyone noticing anytime in the last 140 years. Now I know with certainty of a location that's likely to carry something deliciously suppressible.

Another impressive lacuna turned up right before my eyes---so I've excerpted a section from the original page image for you can see for yourself:

When some fact is very troublesome, someone could attempt to get it blurred in the typesetting of a legislative document, but if a factual detail is omitted noticeably, like a form someone failed to fill out, you can only hope it isn't discovered, or it leaves a worse taste than an indigestible fact would have. Although these resolutions were "laid upon the table," by the Commissioners, that is a nicety that doesn't include erasure of what was considered,

Another technique would be called the insertion. This excerpt from a New York Times article states unmistakably that the originating New Capitol appropriation of $10,000 was unlawfully inserted into a legislative bill without one house considering, voting, or even knowing about it.

March 14, 1866, New York Times,

FROM THE STATE CAPITAL.; OUR ALBANY LETTER. Debate on the New Capitol Bill--Speeches by Messrs. Cochrane and D. P. Wood -- A Charge of Fraud, [extract]

The bill appropriating $500,000, to enable Commissioners, to be appointed by the Governor, to commence building a new Capitol, has occupied much of to-day's session in the House. It was supported in an able speech by Mr. Cochrane, of Albany, who exhausted all arguments against the inconveniences and defects of the old building, and the reasons which impel the people of Albany to ask for a new edifice more in keeping with the power, wealth and importance of the Empire State.

D. P. Wood, of Onondaga, replied with much earnestness and ability, arguing that taxation had already reached an unprecedented figure, and that the present was an exceedingly inopportune time to ask for a new Capitol. He argued that it was only sought to commit the State to the project by making an appropriation, however small, in order that it might be urged hereafter that the work had been commenced and must be gone through with. He estimated that, including the amount of town and county obligations for payment of bounties, which would, with interest, reach over thirteen millions to be raised this year, the annual tax for 1866, State and local, would amount to the enormous sum of $24,600,000. Was any tax ever before imposed upon the people of this State calling for twenty-four millions in a single year? Was this the time to build a new Capitol? Would an individual build a new house with an immense debt hanging over him? Mr. Wood further charged that a base fraud was perpetrated in the passage of the bill last year. As that bill passed the House, it simply located the new Capitol in Albany, but made no appropriation whatever. When it got into the Senate, however, by some manipulation, it contained another section, which the House never acted on, making an appropriation of $10,000. Mr. W. showed by the journals of the two houses that his charge was correct.
Progress was finally reported on the bill, which has been made the special order for next week, Wednesday. Had the vote been taken to-day, the Capitol Bill would have been defeated by a large majority. Such, however, was the condition of affairs last year, until a wonderful change occurred during the last few days of the session. Possibly a similar change may yet be brought about by the Albanians who are wonderfully clamorous for the bill, and who, it is charged, have raised the "sinews of war" to put it through.

The Assembly of the State of New York.

One Hundredth Session---1877

Volume V.---Nos. 40-49, Inclusive.

Jerome B. Parmenter, State Printer 1877

No. 41.

IN ASSEMBLY,

February 7, 1877.

REPLY OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO A RESOLUTION OF THE ASSEMBLY RELATIVE TO CONGRESS HALL BUILDINGS, WITH COMMUNICATION FROM THE BOARD OF LAND COMMISSIONERS.

Office Of The Secretary Of State,
Albany, January, 1877. To the Honorable George B. Sloan:

Sir.—The following resolution of the Assembly has been received st this office:

State Of New York:

In Assembly, Albany, January 15, 1877. Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to report to this Assembly, within ten days, the terms of the contract between the State and the tenant of Congress Hall, the amount ef rent received from him and the amount remaining due and unpaid, and the proceedings of the Board of Land Commissioners in relation to said contracts and accounts.

By order. Edward M. Johnson,
Clerk.

I availed myself of the earliest opportunity to lay this resolution before the Board of Land Commissioners who have custody of the records which furnish the desired information, and I am directed by that board to transmit to you the following report, in which will be found the terms of the contract now subsisting between the State and Adam Blake, the tenant of Congress Hall, so far as there is any, and the amount of rent received from him; the amount remaining due and unpaid as nearly as can be ascertained without an investigation of the validity of the counter-claims which have been made by Mr. Blake for damages and repairs, together with an abstract of all the proceedings of the Board of Land Commissioners in relation to said contracts and accounts.

I am, sir, with great respect,
Your obedient servant.

JOHN BIGELOW,
Secretary of State.

REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE RELATIVE TO CONGRESS HALL BUILDINGS.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on the 17th day of October, 1865.

Present — Hon. Thomas G. Alvord, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, Secretary of State; Hon. Lucius Robinson, Comptroller; Hon. George W. Schuyler, Treasurer; Hon. John Cochrane, Attorney-General; Hon. W. B. Taylor, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. George G. Hoskins, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Comptroller offered the following resolution: Resolved, That this board is willing that Congress Hall property, except so much thereof as may be in use for public offices, should be occupied for a hotel without rent, provided that it be kept by a suitable person, and that it be surrendered to the State at any time upon thiity days' notice.

On motion the resolution was adopted.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on the 14th day of November, 1865.

Present—Hon. Thomas G. Alvord, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, Secretary of State; Hon. George W. Schuyler, Treasurer; Hon. John Cochrane, Attorney-General; Hon. William B. Taylor, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. George G. Hoskins, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Secretary of State offered the following:

Resolved, That the Lieutenant-Governor be authorized to negotiate with Mr. H. T. Bradt, or any other person, for the use and occupancy of the Congress Hall property, in reference to the enjoyment of the same for the benefit of the State officers and members of the Legislature the coming session, on the best possible terms for their accommodation.

On motion the resolution was adopted.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Friday, the 4th day of May, 1865.

Present—Hon. Thomas G. Alvord, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Francis C. Barlow, Secretary of State; Hon. Thomas Hillhouse, Comptroller; Hon. Joseph Howland, Treasurer; Hon. John H. Martindale, Attorney-General; Hon. J. Platt Goodsell, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Lieutenant-Governor presented the following resolution: Resolved, That the Comptroller, Lieutenant-Governor aud Secretary of State be a committee on the part of the Commissioners of the Land Office to take charge of the Congress Hall property, and with power to confer from time to time with the Commissioners for building a new Capitol in reference to the plans for said building. On motion the resolution was adopted.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Wednesday, the 27th day of May, 1868, at 3 o'clock P. M.

Present—Hon. Homer A. Nelson, Secretary of State; Hon. William F. Allen, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. "Van R. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. William Hitchman, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Comptroller reported:

Resolved, First. That the action of the Comptroller be, and the same is hereby ratified and confirmed, and that the said premises, except the two houses occupied by Misses Winne, be rented and leased to said Blake upon the terms and conditions named, until the same shall be wanted by the State for the purpose of, and to make way, for the New Capitol, and the improvements connected therewith, or the Legislature otherwise order, the rent over and above the amount expended in repairs and improvements to be paid quarterly. Second. That the repairs and improvements be made under the direction of the keeper of the Capitol, who shall audit the bills therefor. Third. That in case Misses Winne 6hall surrender or yield up the possession of the two houses occupied by them, that the whole premises be leased to said Blake upon the terms proposed, and upon the conditions before named. Fourth. That the said lease, and right of occupation is not assignable, and shall terminate and cease upon a transfer or assignment thereof, or upon an under-letting by said Blake, of any part of said premises without the written consent of the Commissioners of the Land Office.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Wednesday, the 17th day of June, 1868, at three o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. Stewart L. Woodford, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Homer A. Nelson, Secretary of State; Hon. William F. Allen, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. M. B. Cliamplain, Attorney-General; Hon. Van R. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Lieutenant-Governor offered the following resolution: Resolved, That the connection between the Congress Hall and the end building to be occupied by Mr. Blake, be made through the rear hall of the building, and that the bakers be removed from the basement of the house now occupied by Misses Winne. On motion of the Treasurer the resolution was laid upon the table.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commicsioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Wednesday, the 4th day of May, 1870, at ten o'clock A. M.

Present—Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Homer A. Nelson, Secretary of State; Hon. William F. Allen, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. M. B. Champlain, Attorney-General; Hon. Van K. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Treasurer presented the following report:

The undersigned have examined the accounts of Adam Blake, for expenses incurred in repairs to Congress Hall building, and find his statement to correspond with the vouchers presented, and that he has expended on such repairs the sum of $12,500, and that the amount due for rent of said building from May 27th, 1868, to May 27th, 1870, is $5,000, leaving a balance of $7,500, to be applied upon the rent as it becomes due.

W. H. BRISTOL. VAN R. RICHMOND. On motion of the Comptroller, the report was agreed to.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Thursday, the 16th day of Jane, 1870, at eleven o'clock, A. M.

Present — Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. William F. Allen, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. Van R. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Treasurer presented the following preamble and resolution, which were adopted:

Whereas, In the progress of the construction of the New Capitol it has become necessary to take down a portion of the west end of the Congress Hall building, and

Whereas, It is proposed to make an extension on the south side of said Congress Hall building in connection with the work necessary to reinclose the same, and it is believed that much of the matter removed on the west side may be used advantageously in such extension, and. that the room is needed for the purpose of offices, committee rooms, &c, in connection with its present use, therefore

Resolved, That a committee of this board, consisting of the Comptroller and State Treasurer be, and they are hereby authorized in connection with the Capitol Commissioners to cause said Congress Hall building to be extended on the south to such distances, and in such form, as in their judgment will fully accomplish the purpose designed.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Saturday, the 6th day of August, 1870, at eleven o'clock, A. M.

Present — Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Asher P. Nichols, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol,Treasurer; Hon. Van R. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Treasurer offered the following preamble and resolution, which were adopted:

Whereas, The committee appointed by this board, under a resolution adopted June 16, 1870, in relation to certain improvements proposed to the Congress Hall building, having procured and presented plans of snch proposed improvements, therefore

Resolved, That the plans presented to this board being five sheets marked respectively A, B, C, D and E be, and they are hereby approved by this board, and the said committee are instructed to carry out the same with such modifications as in their judgment will be proper to carry out the end proposed.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Thursday, the 7th day of April, 1871, at one o'clock P. M.

Present — Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Asher P. Nichols, Comptroller; Hon.Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. M. B. Champlain, Attorney-General; Hon. Van R. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Treasurer submitted the following communication which was unanimously adopted by the board, and the clerk of this board was directed to transmit a certified copy thereof to the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means of the Assembly:

To the Honorable Committee of Ways and Means of the Assembly: By chapter 830, Laws of 1868, organizing the Commission of the New Capitol, it was provided that "the building known as Congress Hall buildings and the present Capitol and State Library building shall not be removed or disturbed until farther directions by the Legislature," upon the faith of the enactment, the Commissioners of the Land Office leased the property known as Congress Hall building to Adam Blake upon the condition that the same was put in good repair, and make such improvements as should be necessary for the occupation of the building as a first-class hotel, the expense of such repairs to apply upon the rent. Mr. Blake was already in possession of the property and had invested considerable money in furnishing the same upon an uncertain term. The rent was fixed at $2,500 per year for the portion he occupied, which includes all the building except that now occupied for the executive residence.

The buildings were then in such condition as to require immediate and expensive repairs; the duration of the lease was until the same should be required by the Legislature. Mr. Blake proceeded and put the building in repair and furnished the same suitable for a first-class hotel in compliance with his lease; it is represented to us that in the early part of the last summer, the Commissioners of the New Capitol considered it necessary to remove a portion of the west part of the main building and also the wing attached in order to greatly facilitate the construction of the walls of the New Capitol; by so doing they destroyed a portion of the dining room and the whole of the kitchen and cooking arrangements connected therewith, and also the total destruction of thirty-five bed-rooms and parlors, rendering the entire house nearly unfit for occupation while the work was going on. The rear of the executive mansion was exposed, rendering it inconvenient for its occupant.

Mr. Blake, finding the property nearly useless under his lease availing himself of such means as he had, and such means as he could command by his personal credit, proceeded to rebuild the part so removed, and in compliance with his lease to put the same in condition for a first-class hotel, relying upon the State thereafter to do him justice in the premises. It is represented to us that such expenditures has involved him seriously and deeply in debt for nearly its whole cost. Mr. Blake has presented his vouchers for his claims to the Commissioners of the Land Office. The Commissioners have no power to make any adjustment of the claims and have taken no official cognizance or action in the matter, while they are of opinion Mr. Blake was dispossessed in violation of his lease and in violation of law, yet this board has no power to make reparation of the claim.That authority is vested only in the Legislature. It is a simple case of a tenant wrongly dispossessed of the property held under his lease for which he could have a just claim for damages.

It may be mentioned that committee rooms were provided in the building in obedience to the requirements of the Legislature in the part newly erected, and that it has been the policy of former Legislatures and others connected with the work of the New Capitol, including citizens of Albany to preserve this property as a hotel for the accommodation of the public until the time should come for its final removal. Mr. Blake proposes to the Commissioners hereafter to pay an increased rental of $3,500, making the total rent $6,000 per year for the property in its improved condition. In the opinion of the Commissioners the case appeals strongly to the justice and liberality of the Legislature.

Respectfully, etc.
W. H. BRISTOL,
Treasurer.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Wednesday, the l0th day of May, 1871, at twelve o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Asher P. Nichols, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. Van R. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The State Engineer and Surveyor offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

Resolved, That it be referred to the Treasurer and Attorney-General to examine the accounts of Adam Blake for expenditures on Congress Hall building, and report the amount due to him to be paid as provided for per chapter 715, Laws of 1871.

The Treasurer offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

Resolved, That the Comptroller be authorized to draw his warrant in favor of Adam Blake for the sum of $20,000 on account of his expenses incurred in repairs upon Congress Hall building as per ehapter 715, Laws of 1871.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, the 17th day of June, 1871, at eleven o'clock, A.M.

Present — Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Asher P. Nichols, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. M. B. Champlain, Attorney-General; Hon. Van R. Richmond,

State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Treasurer presented the following report and account: We have examined the annexed account of Adam Blake for expenses incurred in repairing Congress Hall buildings, and believe them to be correct, and recommend the payment of the bill.

W. H. BRISTOL,
M. B. CHAMPLAIN,
Committee.

State of New York, To Adam Blake, For expenses incurred in repairing Congress Hall Building as per
following statement:

Paid Clemishire & Bryce, carpenters $10,366 87
J. Bridgeford, mason 5,238 00
J. Houghtailing, carpenter 471 81
Tucker & Crawford, steam and gas-fitting 2,503 05
H. McKeon, mantles 378 70
T. B. Franklin, roofing 876 50
John Palmer, painting 1,187 90
William Stott, trimming. 43 26
J. & J. Blackall, bell-hanging: 259 94
Branion & Bro., plumbing 1,675 07
J. H. Ingmire, papering 830 49
E. H. Seymour, carpenter 75 65
J. Strong, carpenter 300 00
J. McCann, gas-fitting 265 58
C. G. Palmer, carpenter 80 63
A. Weller, grates and ranges 412 79
L. Pruyn & Son, hardware. 106 60
A. McClure, paints 179 72
J. N. Parker, carpenter (2 32

Total $25,324 88

On motion the report was agreed to and adopted and the Comptroller directed to draw his warrant on the Treasurer jn favor of Adam Blake for $5,324.88, that being the balance due him upon said account.

On motion of the Treasurer it was

Resolved, That the buildings known as Congress Hall, be leased to Adam Blake until snch time as the same shall be required by act of Legislature, at an annual rent of $6,000 per year, subject to provisions of former lease.

At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Saturday, the 16th day of December, 1871, at twelve o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Asher P. Nichols, Comptroller; Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer; Hon. M. B. Champlain, Attorney-General; Hon. Van R.Richmond,
State Engineer and Surveyor.
The Treasurer offered the following resolution, which was adopted: Resolved. That the sum of $1,980.31 expended by Adam Blake in repairs upon Congress Hall buildings, and not included in former settlement as appears by vouchers, be allowed to said Blake to applyon rent of said buildings, and that the lease of said property commence on the 1st day of October, 1871, at the rental provided for bv chapter 715, Laws of 1871, subject to the conditions of the former lease.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Thursday, the 5th day of December, 1872, at twelve o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. G. Hilton Scribner, Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Francis C. Barlow, Attorney-General; Hon. William B. Taylor, State Engineer and Surveyor.

On motion of the Comptroller it was

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be added to the committee to whom was referred the matter of selling the furniture and disposition of the rooms of the Governor's house, and that said committee i*and they are hereby authorized to rent the Governor's house to Adam Blake for the sum of $1,500 per annum.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at toe office of the Secretary of State, on Wednesday, the 26th day of February, 1S73, at four o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. John C. Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Francis E. Barlow, Attorney-General; Hon. William B. Taylor, State Engineer and Surveyor.

A communication from the Assembly was read, asking for information regarding the length of time and the terms upon which the property known as Congress Hall is rented.

The clerk of the board submitted draft of report on the above communication, which was adopted and ordered transmitted.

* * * * * * *
ASSEMBLY DOCUMENT No. 68, 1873.

Reply of the Commissioners of the Land Office to a resolution of the Assembly relative to the length of time and terms upon which Congress Hall is rented.

STATE OF NEW YORK:

Department Of Secretary Of State, Albany, February 27, 1873. Hon. Alonzo B. Cornell, Speaker of the Assembly.

Sir.— By direction of the Commissioners of the Land Office I herewith transmit their reply to the resolution of the Assembly, adopted on the 19th day of February instant.
Very respectfully.

ANSON S. WOOD,
Dep. Sec. of State, and Clerk of Com. of the Land Office.

REPORT.

To the Honorable the Legislature:

The Commissioners of the Land Office in reply to the following resolution of the Assembly:

"Resolved, That the Commissioners of the Land Office report to this House, within five days, the length of time and the terms upon which the property known as Congress Hall is rented," submit the following:

The Commissioners of the Land Office, on the 27th day of May, 1868, rented and leased Congress Hall to Adam Blake for the term, "until the same shall be wanted by the State for the purpose of, and to make way for the New Capitol, and the improvements connected therewith, or the Legislature shall otherwise order;" the rental of the building, exclusive of that portion subsequently known as the Executive Mansion, was fixed at $2,500 per annum, the surplus over and above amount expended by said Blake in repairs and improvements, payable quarterly.

By the act, chapter 715, Laws of 1871, the rent was fixed not less than $6,000 per annum, in the discretion of the Commissioners of the Land Office; on the 5th day of December, 1872, the part formerly occupied as an Executive Mansion was leased to said Blake, upon being vacated by the Governor, for the annual rental of $1,500, making in all a total annual rental of $7,500. Albany, February 26, 1873.

Respectfully submitted,
JOHN C. ROBINSON,
Lieutenant-Governor.

FRANCIS C. BARLOW,
Attorney-General.

W. B. TAYLOR,
State Engineer and Surveyor.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land office, held at the office of the Secretar y of State, on Thursday, the 19th day of Match, 1874, at four o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. John C. Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Diedrich Willers, Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Thomas Raines, Treasurer; Hon. James W. Husted, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Treasurer presented the claim of the lessee of the Congress Hall property, Albany, for deduction from the rent to be paid by him to the State for said building.

On motion of the Comptroller, the claim was referred to the Treasurer and Attorney-General.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Tuesday, the 12th day of May, 1874, at four o'clock, P. M.

Present—Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Thomas Raines, Treasurer; Hon. Daniel Pratt, Attorney-General; Hon. Sylvanns H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. James W. Husted, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Secretary of State called for information whether Adam Blake, lessee of the Congress Hall property, in the City of Albany, had paid up the rent due the State therefor to the 1st day of May instant.

On motion of the Comptroller, the matter was referred to the Treasurer to report to this Board thereon.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Tuesday, the 8th day of September, 1874, at tour o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. John C. Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Thomas Raines, Treasurer; Hon. Daniel Pratt, Attorney-General; Hon. Sylvanns H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. James W. Husted, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Secretary of State presented the following report:

To the Honorable the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of New York:

The undersigned respectfully begs leave to report to your honorable board, pursuant to its resolution of May 12, 1874, referring to the treasurer, an inquiry in respect to payments of rent to the State by the lessee of Congress Hall.

That there are no entries upon the books of his office of any payments made to the State by said lessee on account of rent, and that no money payments have been made by him for or on account of the rent of said property.

The undersigned begs leave, however, to submit herewith a statement of the account of the said lessee with the State in respect to said property derived from an examination of the records of the land office, and showing the allowances made to said lessee by the State, and the amount, of rents due from time to time and still remaining due from him.

He deems it not inappropriate to call the attention of the board in this connection to a statement also submitted herewith showing expenditures made by the State for, and on account, of the building repairs, furnishing, fitting, &c, of Congress Hall, with a reference to the legislative acts under which the expenditures or payments have been made, showing a total outlay by the State for the maintenance, preservation and furnishing of the property of $70,564.19.

The attention of the board is called to the fact, however, that some portion of the outlays mentioned in the last statement have been made for furniture supplied to the Executive residence.

August 13, 1874.

All of which is respectfully submitted.
ABRAHAM LANSING,
Treasurer.

Adam Blake, Proprietor Of Congress Hall, In Account With The State Of New York.

1870. May 27. To rent to date at $2,500 per year $5,000 00
1871. October 1. To rent to date at $2,500 per year 3,354 16
1873. January 1. To rent to date at $6,000 per year 7,500 00
1874. January 1. To rent including that part
previously occupied by Governor Hoffman, $7,500, 10,000 00
$25,854 16
1874. May 1. To balance due for rent to date $11,364 85
1870. May 4. By allowance for repairs $12,500 00
1871. December 16. By allowance for repairs 1,989 31
Balance 11,364 85

Statement Of Expenses For Repairs And Rebuilding Portions Of Congress Hall:

1871. May 10 and June 17. Appropriated by chapter 715,

Laws of 1871, for materials and buildings including gas and steam fitting, painting, grates and ranges, papering, plumbing, bell-hanging, etc $25,324 88

Appropriation per chapter 822, Laws of 1869, for repairing, fitting and furnishing *25,000 00

Appropriation per chapter 492, Laws of 1870, for fitting and furnishing *5,750 00

( * Items expended in fitting up and furnishing a portion of Congress Hall building for Governor Hoffman, as an Executive mansion.)

Add amount allowed to Adam Blake for repairing, May, 1870, and December, 1871. $14,498 31

Total outlay $70,564 19

On motion of the Comptroller, the report was laid upon the table.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on "Wednesday, the 23d day of December, 1874, at two o'clock, P. M.

Present—Hon. John C. Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Deidrich Willers, Jr.. Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Daniel Pratt, Attorney-General; Hon. Sylvanns H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Secretary of State presented the following preamble and resolutions:

Whereas, Adam Blake, lessee of the State property in the city of Albany known as Congress Hall, has made no payment into the State Treasury on account of rent of said premises, and there remained due the State on the first day of May, 1874, on account of rent due, from him therefor, the sum of $11,364.85, exclusive of interest thereon from time to time; and, whereas, the further sum of $4,375 has accrued for rent of said premises for the period of seveu months, from May 1st to December 1st, 1874, making a total amount of $15,739.85, with the further sum of $625 to fall due on the 1st day of January, 1875, subject to deduction for outlays for such necessary repairs as are authorized in the lease (since December, 1871,) as may be approved and audited by this Board; therefore,

Resolved, That the Attorney-General, on behalf of this Board, make a demand upon said Adam Blake for said amounts of rent due, with the interest accrued thereon, and in case the same are not paid, that said Attorney-General bring an action against said Blake tor the recovery thereof, and take such steps as may be necessary, if any, to terminate the lease and occupancy of said property by said Adam Blake.

Resolved, That hereafter the rent for said premises be payable to the State Treasurer on the 1st day of each month.

Resolved, That hereafter no repairs or improvements upon said Congress Hall buildings, which would become chargeable against the State, be made, or charge therefor incurred, except upon the order and with the consent of this Board.

The State Engineer and Surveyor moved to lay said preamble and resolution upon the table. Carried. The Secretary of State voting in the negative.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Thursday, the 31st day of December, 1874, at two o'clock, p. M.

Present—Hon. John C. Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller ; Hon. Daniel Pratt, Attorney-General; Hon. Sylvanus H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor.

On motion of the State Engineer and Surveyor the preamble and resolutions relative to Congress Hall in the city of Albany, offered by the Secretary of State at the last meeting of this Board were taken from the table.

Whereupon the State Engineer and Surveyor offered the following resolution as a substitute therefor, which was adopted:

Resolved, That the Attorney-General, on behalf of this Board make a demand upon Adam Blake, lessee of Congress Hall, in the city of Albany, for a settlement on account of rent of said property, and for payment of balance found due the State.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, field at the office of the Secretary of State, on Thursday the 11th day of February, 1875, at four o'clock, p. M.

Present — Hon. William Dorsheimer, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State; Hon. Sylvanus E. F. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. Jeremiah McGuire, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Secretary of State presented the following preamble and resolutions of the honorable, the Assembly:

STATE OF NEW YOEK:

In Assembly, 1 Albany, February 10, 1875. Whereas, It has gone forth through the public print and has been made a subject of remonstrance in the municipal councils of this city, that the lessee or tenant of the premises known as Congress Hall, which premises are the property of the State, has been permitted to the detriment of the work on the New Capitol, to retain possession of them at an almost nominal rent, and even to omit the payment of the same, and whereas, it is publicly asserted that such omission or non-payment has resulted in a loss of many thousand dollars to the State, and that the occupation of the premises under such circumstances is in violation of the spirit and intention with which the property was presented to the State by the city of Albany, therefore

Resolved, That the Land Commissioners be requested to report to this Assembly, as early as possible, the facts and figures bearing on the case, with the reasons for such alleged undue concessions and stated non-payment, and such other circumstances as may serve to indicate a remedy for the loss and grievances publicly alleged. By order. HIRAM CALKINS,

Clerk.

Whereupon the Secretary of State offered the following resolution which was adopted:

Resolved, That it be referred to the Attorney-General, Speaker of the Assembly and Comptroller, to examine the records and proceedings of this Board, in relation to the leasing and maintenance of Congress Hall, in the city of Albany, and to submit to this board, for its consideration, at an adjourned meeting, to be held on Wednesday, the seventeenth inst., at'four o'clock, p. M., such facts in answer to the resolution of the honorable the Assembly, of the tenth inst., as are called for by said resolution aforesaid.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Wednesday, the 3d day of March, 1875, at four o'clock, P. M.

Present—Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Thomas Raines, Treasurer; Hon. Sylvanus H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. Jeremiah McGuire, Speaker of the Assembly.

The Attorney-General transmitted the following report:

The Attorney-General would respectfully report, that in obedience to your resolution of December 31, 1874, he presented to Adam Blake, an account of rent of Congress Hall, up to February 1, 1S75 — said account is herewith transmitted, and amounts to $17,570.11; that subsequently Adam Blake presented an account to the Attorney-General of rent due from him, and of certain deductions which he claim.* should be made from said rent for repairs and damages, rebate of rent, etc.; also certain bills against the judges of the Court of Appeals, Commissioners of the New Capitol and Regents of the University, for rent of rooms in Congress Hall; also certain vouchers, all of which are herewith transmitted. The balance duo the State as shown by the account of said Adam Blake, exclusive of said bills for rent, is $2,641.72; said bills for rent, amount to $2,903.90, leaving a balance due from the State to said Adam Blake, of $262.IS; as the resolution of December 31, 1874, did not apparently contemplate such a balance, the Attorney-General has been unable to comply with the terms thereof.

The Attorney-General finds that he has no authority to allow the claims of said Adam Blake for rebate of rent, damages, etc.; he also finds that many of the bills of said Adam Blake for repairs are unaccompanied by vouchers, and are not properly audited by the keeper of the Capitol as contemplated by the resolution of May 27, 1868; that many of the bills which are audited are for repairs not contemplated by said resolution of 1868.

The Attorney-General finds that he has no authority under your resolution of December 31, 1874, to enforce payment of any sum that may be due to the State, and he cannot accept a settlement of the account upon any basis presented by the account of said Adam Blake.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

DANIEL PRATT,
Attorney-General.

On motion of the Comptroller, the report was laid upon the table. The Secretary of State presented the following preamble and resolution:

Whereas, The Attorney-General has presented to Adam Blake, lessee of Congress Hall in the city of Albany, an account for rent due the State to the first day of February, 1875, and remaining unsettled (since the last settlement with said Blake in December, 1871) amounting to $17,570.11, to which amount is to be added the rent of said property for the month of February, 1875, of $625, making the total amount of rent unsettled on the first day of March, 1875, $18,195.11; and whereas, said Adam Blake has submitted claims as an offset to said rent for expenditures by him for repairs, etc., amounting to $8,285.64, a part of which accrued prior to the settlement with said Blake in December, 1871, together with claims for certain damages and rebate upon said rent amounting to $4,916.67, with a further claim of $2,903.90 for rent of certain rooms sub-let by said Blake to the Regents of the University, Commissioners of the New Capitol and Judges, the aggregate of said claims amounting to $16,016.21; and whereas, upon an examination of the claims presented for repairs, it is found that some of said claims accrued prior to last settlement with said Blake; some of them are unsupported by vouchers, while still others are unreceipted, and that a large proportion of said claims for gas-fitting, plumbing, paper-hanging, bills of locksmiths and bell-hangers, grate manufacturers, manufacturers of steam machinery, etc., etc., are not properly chargeable to the State as repairs under the terms of the lease, but cover movable articles not connected with the building, and should not therefore be allowed; therefore,

Resolved, That this board has no right or power to grant or allow any claim for rebate of rent or for alleged damages to furniture; nor can this board allow any reduction for rent of rooms sub-let by said Blake to the New Capitol Commissioners, Regents of the University and Judges, the duty of this board being limited by chapter 715, Laws of 1871, to the renting of the entire building, and being in no way authorized to settle claims for rooms sub-let by the lessee of said building.

* * * * * * * *

Resolved, That this board can only allow, in reduction of said rent, such of the claims as accrued for necessary repairs of the buildings since December 16, 1871, the date of the last settlement with said Blake; to wit, the sum of $

Resolved, That the Attorney-General make a demand upon said Blake for the sum of $ , and that upon payment of said sum into the State Treasury, and the execution of a receipt in full of all demands against the State for all moneys disbursed by said lessee on account of repairs or improvements of said building*, and the filing of said receipts with the clerk of this board, that the Treasurer be and is thereupon directed to balance the account of said Blake, on account of the rent of Congress Hall, with the State to March 1, 1875.

On motion of the Comptroller, said preamble and resolutions were laid upon the table.

* * * * * * * *

At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Tuesday the 29th day of June, 1875, at four o'clock, P. M.

Present — Hon. William Dorsheimer, Lieutenant-Governor; Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Thomas Raines, Treasurer; Hon. Daniel Pratt, Attorney-General; Hon. Sylvanus H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor.

The Secretary of State offered the following preamble and resolutions.

Whereas, the Attorney-General has presented to Adam Blake, lessee of Congress Hall, in the city of Albany, an account for rent due the State of New York, to the 1st day of February, 1875, and remaining unsettled (since the last settlement with said Blake, in December, 1871), amounting to $17,570.11 to which amount is to be added the rent of said property, for the months of February, March, April and May, 1875, of $2,500, making the total amount of rent unsettled on the 1st day of June, 1875, $20,070.11 with the further sum of $625 to fall due July 1, 1875; and whereas, said Adam Blake has submitted claims as an offset to said rent, for expenditures by him for repairs etc., amounting to $8,285.64, a part of which accrued prior to the settlement with said Blake in December, 1871, together with claims for certain damages, and rebate upon said rent, amounting to $4,916.67, with a further claim of $2,903.90 for rent of certain rooms, sub-let by said Blake to the Regents of the University, Commissioners of the New Capitol and judges, the aggregate of said claims amounting to $16,000.21; and whereas, upon an examination of the claims presented for repairs it is found that in addition to said claims which accrued prior to last settlement with said Blake, some of them are unsupported by vouchers while still others are unreceipted and that a large proportion of said claims for gas-fitting, plumbing, paper-hanging, bills of locksmiths and bellhangers, grate manufacturers, manufacturers of steam machinery etc., etc., are not properly chargeable to the State as repairs, under the terms of the lease, but cover movable articles, not connected with the building and should not therefore be allowed; therefore,

Resolved, That this board has no right or power to grant or allow any claims for rebate of rent of Congress Hall buildings or for alleged damages to furniture; nor can this board allow any reduction for rent of rooms sub-let by Adam Blake to the New Capitol Commissioners, Regents of the University and Judges, the duty of this board being limited by chapter 715, Luws of 1871, to the renting of the entire building, aud being in no way authorized to settle claims for rooms sub-let by the lessee of said building.

Resolved, That this board can only allow, in reduction of said rent, such of the claims as accrued for necessary repairs of the building since December 16, 1871, the date of last settlement with said Adam Blake; to wit, say the sum of $5,071.11.

Resolved, That the Attorney-General make a demand upon Adam Blake for the sum of $15,000, and that upon the payment of said sum into the State treasury and the execution of a receipt in full of all demands against the State for all moneys disbursed by said lessee on account of repairs or improvements of said buildings, and the filing of said receipts with the clerk of this board, that the Treasurer be and is thereupon directed to balance the account of said Blake, on account of the rent of Congress Hall, with the State to June 1, 1875.

Resolved, That in case the rent of the Congress Hall property remaining due and unpaid be ndt settled and paid by the lessee into the State treasury on or before July 20, 1875, that the occupancy of the said buildings and property by said lessee be terminated, and that proceedings be taken by the Attorney-General to remove said lessee, and that the said buildings and property be thereupon leased during their maintenance by the State, upon public notice, to the highest bidder, and that sealed proposals therefor be thereupon invited.

Resolved, That hereafter, so long as the Congress Hall buildings are maintained by the State, that the rent therefor be payable by the lessee to the State Treasurer, on the first day of eacli month.

Resolved, That hereafter, while maintained and leased, no repairs or improvements upon said Congress Hall buildings, at the expense of the State, be made or charges therefor incurred except upon the order and with the consent of this board, declared by resolution duly adopted.

The Secretary of State moved the adoption of the said preamble and resolutions.

The Treasurer moved that the said preamble and resolutions be referred to the Lieutenant-Governor, State Engineer and Surveyor, and Attorney-General. Carried.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Thursday, the 31st day of December, 1875, at ten o'clock, A. M.

Present— Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State; Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller; Hon. Thomas Raines, Treasurer; Hon. S. H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. Jeremiah McGuire, Speaker ot the Assembly.

The Speaker of the Assembly submitted a statement, which was read as follows:

On the 27th day of May, 1868, the Commissioners of the Land Office, by resolution, leased to Adam Blake the property known as Congress Hall for an indefinite period upon the conditions therein provided. It must be assumed that the Commissioners had the power to perform what they then exercised. The lease in the main features has remained the same from that day to the present, the only alterations made relate to additional property included in the terms of the lease, and consequently an increased rental. By the terms of the lease Blake was to pay at the rate of $4,000 for the entire property, except the Governor's part, and $2,500 if the lessee did not occupy the part once occupied by the Misses Winne.

The term of the letting was so long as the buildings remained standing, or the State shall require the use and occupation of the same, or as expressed in the resolution of letting, "until the same shall be wanted by the State for the purposes of, and to make way for the New Capitol and the improvements connected therewith, or the Legislature shall otherwise order."

These provisions simply provide for the termination of the lease; so long as the lessee performed the commissioners could not put an end to the terms, but if it became necessary to remove the building in the erection of the New Capitol, or the Legislature should so order, then the lease was terminated. These are the only limitations upon the term, and these are upon the entire property, and not a part thereof.

By chapter 715 of the Laws of 1871, it is enacted that thereafter the property shall not be leased for a less sum than $6,000 per annum; this is not a grant of power, but a limitation upon the power of the Commissioners prohibiting or leasing for loss than the sum named. It is not very material to inquire whether, after the Commissioners had made the contract in question on behalf of the State, it was competent for the Legislature to alter its provisions either in respect to the amount of rent to be paid or in any of the conditions to be performed; the only right reserved to the Legislature was to terminate the lease at pleasure, a right which it has not yet exercised or assumed to do.

In 1873 the Legislature directed the tearing down and removal of a part of the demised premises, which was carried into effect by the agents of the State, about sixteen feet of the west part of the building being removed, to the consequent damage of the lessee. There is no right reserved in the lease to do this act. When the removal of the building, as an entirety, became necessary, it is stipulated that the term shall cease, not that the Commissioners of the New Capitol or the Legislature shall tear down the building by piecemeal, rendering it for a time untenantable, and greatly depreciating the value of the use and occupation.

The lessee claims that there should be an abatement of the rent in proportion as the value of the part removed bears to the value of the whole building. In the resolution before referred to, the power of this board to make the abatement is denied, and the implication therein is, that notwithstanding the spoliation of the property by the State, and if I am correct in the foregoing view, the unlawful eviction of the lessee by the lessor, of a portion of the demised premises, that the tenant is still bound to pay the entire rent; that this board has not the power to make any apportionment. The same rales of interpretation of the contract in question, and the same principles which regulate the rights of individuals in similar contracts, must be applied to and govern this.

It is a familiar and elementary rule that when a landlord wrongfully evicts a tenant from a portion of the demised premises, the entire rent is suspended until the tenant is restored to that portion from which he has been so unlawfully evicted.

In such case the tenant is absolutely discharged from the payment of the whole rent, in other words the obligations to pay rent ceases when the landlord enters and evicts the tenant from a part or withholds the possession of a part, and the tenant is not liable for any part of the rent under the lease, or for use and occupation of the part which he does occupy, until the landlord restores the whole of the premises demised. This principle is settled by numerous authorities and adjudications, ancient and modern, a few of which are referred to. 6 Bac. Abr. 49; Co. Litt. 148; 8 Cow. 728; 9 id. 135; + Wend. 423; 25 id. 445; 15 Mass. 268; 24 Wend. 445; Day on Land, and Ten. 443; 11 N. Y. 216; 24 Barb. 178.

So then we have the case before us; the State makes a lease with

* * * * * *

[Pages 20 and 21 are missing from this online copy of Assembly Documents, Vol V., 1877, so we can't know the Hon. McGuire's legal position---only that whatever it was, it didn't bear to stand the light of day.]

* * * * * *

be allowed therefor. That is a question the board must settle; and if it determines that the work was necessary, although not technically within the terms of the lease, I have no doubt of the power of (and there should certainly be a disposition) the board to allow all necessary and proper charges.

The people of this State do not ask Adam Blake to furnish apartments to their officers at his individual expense; neither do they desire such officers stored away in a dungeon or garret.

They have recently expressed their appreciation by increasing the salary of the Governor from $4,000 to $10,000 a year, and the Legislature, by permission of the same people, have more than doubled the salaries of the incoming members of this board ; and when a citizen of this State has furnished necessary, proper and comfortable quarters to the most important and overworked branch of the Government, the present Court of Appeals, the people do not expect, and will not tolerate any person in an attempt to deprive such citizen of his just and equitable rights.

I do not mean to be understood as recommending the payment, without examination, of all claims or charges which Mr. Blake has presented, or without the board being satisfied of their justice, validity and equity; what I mean to be undertood, is, that this board should allow the claimaut—

1. That Mr. Blake should be allowed a proper abatement of rent for the portion of the property taken by the State, and all proper damages sustained by him by reason thereof.

2. A just abatement of rent, on account of a portion of the rented property being occupied by certain State officers for public purposes.

3. That all necessary fixtures, work and repairs made, done or performed by Blake, should be allowed and applied upon the rent.

By so doing, the State will do justice, and the board, in my judgment, will keep within its legitimate powers and duties.

* * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Wednesday, the 10th day of May, 1870, at three o'clock, P. M.

Present— Hon. John Bigelow, Secretary of State; Hon. Lucius Robinson, Comptroller; Hon. Charles S. Fairchild, Attorney-General; Hon. John D. Van Buren, Jr., State Engineer and Surveyor.

On motion, which was carried, the clerk of the board was directed to make out and send to Mr. Adam Blake a bill for his occupancy of the Congress Hall property, and also to have prepared a full statement of the lease, &c., of said property.

* * * * * * *
Pursuant to the above resolution, the following bill was presented to Mr. Blake:

Albany, January 1, 1877. Adam Blake, to the State of New York:
For rent of Congress Hall,
from May 27, 1868, to October 1, 1871, at $2,500 per year $8,354 16
For rent from October first to January 1, 1873, at $6,000 per year $7,500 00
For rent from January 1, 1873, to January 1, 1877, at $7,500 per year....$30,000 00

Total. $45,854 16

Allowances for repairs thus far made:

May 4, 1870 $12,500 00
December 16, 1871 1,989 31
$14,489 31

Balance due for rent up to date $31,364 85

* * * * * * * *
Chapter 830.

An Act making appropriations for the support of government.

Passed, May 19,1868; three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and' Assembly, do enact as follows:

Hamilton Harris, John V. L. Pruyn, Obadiah B. Latham, James S. Thayer, Alonzo B. Cornell, William A. Rice, James Terwilliger, John D. Hudson, are hereby appointed Commissioners for the purpose of erecting a New Capitol, in place of the present Board. They shall proceed to take additional land, comprising Hawk street and one-half of the block of land adjoining such street on the west thereof, between Washington avenue and State street, in the name of the State, and lay out a street running through from Washington avenue to State street, of such width as they may deem proper, on the west end of the land so taken, which land is hereby appropriated for the purposes of such New Capitol and street, and declared to be taken for public use. The Commissioners are hereby authorized to take possession of the said lands and tenements; and if they cannot agree with the owner or owners for the purchase thereof, they shall cause application to be made to the Supreme Court for a writ of inquiry of damages, and such proceedings shall thereupon be had as is provided in the fourth article of title two of chapter nine of the third part of the Revised Statutes. The said Commissioners shall review the plans which have been adopted for the New Capitol, and may change and modify the same, or adopt others in their place, as they may deem advisable and proper; provided, however, that they shall not proceed to the construction of the said New Capitol unless they shall be satisfied that the expense thereof shall not exceed, when completed, the sum of $4,000,000. The building known as Congress Hall buildings, and the present Capitol and State Library buildings, shall not be removed or disturbed until further directions by the Legislature.

* * * * * * * *
At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on Thursday, the 25th day of January, 1877, at ten and a-half o'clock, A. M.

Present—Hon, John Bigelow, Secretary of State; Hon. Frederic P. Olcott, Comptroller ; Hon. Charles N. Ross, Treasurer ; Hon. Charles S. Fairchild; Attorney-General; Hon. John D. Van Buren, Jr., State Engineer and Surveyor; Hon. George B. Sloan, Speaker of the Assembly.

On motion of the Treasurer, the bill against Adam Blake, lessee of Congress Hall for rent, was referred to the Attorney-General for collection.

On motion of the Treasurer, the Secretary of State was authorized to answer a resolution of the Assembly, dated January 15, 1877, relative to Congress Hall buildings, and to transmit to the Legislature all proceedings of the Commissioners of the Land Office relative to said Congress Hall.

* * * * * * * *
Chapter 715.

An Act making appropriations for certain expenses of government, and for supplying deficiencies in former appropriations.

Passed April 26, 1871; by a two-third vote. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

For work done and being done with the approval of the Commissioners of the Land Office, in repairing and improving the Executive Mansion, Geological Hall and other buildings belonging to the State, and for fitting up committee rooms for the Senate and Assembly, the sum of $28,394.25, or so much thereof as may be necessary, said expenses to be paid by the Comptroller, upon vouchers approved by the Commissioners of the Land Office. Hereafter the lessee of Congress Hall shall pay an annual rental for said building of not less than $6,000, in the discretion of the Commissioners of the Land Office.

* * * * * * * *
Memorandum From Treasury. Paid Adam Blake for use of committee rooms for Senate and Assembly:

1871, May $250 00
1872, May 500 00
1873, July 500 00
1874, June 400 00
1874, April 176 23
1874, December 50 00
1875, April 68 25
1876, March 500 00

$2,444 40

* * * * * * * *

A LIST OF OFFICIALS SERVING AS COMMISSIONERS OF THE LAND OFFICE, AS REFERENCED IN THIS DOCUMENT:

Hon. John C. Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor;
Hon. Thomas G. Alvord, Lieutenant-Governor;
Hon. Allen C. Beach, Lieutenant-Governor;
Hon. Stewart L. Woodford, Lieutenant-Governor;
Hon. G. Hilton Scribner, Secretary of State;
Hon. Homer A. Nelson, Secretary of State;
Hon, John Bigelow, Secretary of State;
Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr., Secretary of State;
Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, Secretary of State;
Hon. Homer A. Nelson, Secretary of State;
Hon. Francis C. Barlow, Secretary of State;
Hon. Francis C. Barlow, Attorney-General;
Hon. John H. Martindale, Attorney-General;
Hon. Charles S. Fairchild; Attorney-General;
Hon. Daniel Pratt, Attorney-General
Hon. M. B. Champlain, Attorney-General;
Hon. John Cochrane, Attorney-General;
Hon. William Hitchman, Speaker of the Assembly.
Hon. George B. Sloan, Speaker of the Assembly.
Hon. George G. Hoskins, Speaker of the Assembly.
Hon. Jeremiah McGuire, Speaker of the Assembly.
Hon. Lucius Robinson, Comptroller;
Hon. William F. Allen, Comptroller;
Hon. Asher P. Nichols, Comptroller;
Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins, Comptroller;
Hon. Frederic P. Olcott, Comptroller ;
Hon. Thomas Hillhouse, Comptroller;
Hon. Joseph Howland, Treasurer;
Hon. George W. Schuyler, Treasurer;
Hon. Charles N. Ross, Treasurer ;
Hon. Thomas Raines, Treasurer;
Hon. Wheeler H. Bristol, Treasurer;
Hon. J. Platt Goodsell, State Engineer and Surveyor.
Hon. John D. Van Buren, Jr., State Engineer and Surveyor;
Hon. Sylvanus H. Sweet, State Engineer and Surveyor;
Hon. Van R. Richmond, State Engineer and Surveyor.
Hon. William B. Taylor, State Engineer and Surveyor.

March 28, 1877, Utica Morning Herald, Page 2, Column 3, THE CONGRESS HALL SCANDAL.

—The ways and means committee of the Assembly has adopted a bill, which it will report to that body, providing for the immediate demolition of Congress Hall, the "State Hotel" which obtrudes itself in front of they capitol at Albany. It is high time. The history or this hotel since it came into the possession of the State, is one uninterrupted scandal. At the time when this property was given to the State by the city of Albany in 1865, it was given in charge of the commissioners of the land office. This body leased the building to ADAM BLAKE in 1868, "so long as the same shall remain standing," for $4,000 a year rent, the cost of necessary repairs and improvements to be deducted from the rent. In 1870, it appears that BLAKE reported that he had spent $12,000 in repairs upon the building, and that he owed for rent $5,000, leaving the State indebted $7,000 to him. ln this same year, the progress of work upon the new capitol compelled the tearing down of the west end of Congress Hall. Thereupon BLAKE went to work and rebuilt on the south side the portion of the hotel demolished, and that land commissioners passed a resolution authorizing him to do so. In the supply bill of 1871, appeared an item appropriating $28,394.25 for work done in repairing buildings belonging to the State, and on the 10th of May the commissioners ordered the Comptroller to draw his warrant for $20,000 of this sum "in favor of ADAM BLAKE on account of his expenses incurred in repairs upon Congress Hall." In the June following BLAKE was given an additional warrant in the same account of $5,824 88, and in the December following, a third, of $1,080.31.

In 1874. It appeared from a report of Secretary of State WILLERS, that there were no entries on the books of the State Treasurer of any payments by BLAKE for rents and that the total outlay by the State for the maintenance, preservation and furnishing of the property had been $70,564.19. In 1876 it again appeared, in the proceedings of the land commissioners, that the amount due from ADAM BLAKE for rent from May 27,1868, to January 1, 1877, was $45,851.16; the allowance for repairs, $14,480.31; and the remainder due the State, $31,364.85.On the 25th of last month the board referred this bill to the Attorney General; and there the matter stands, awaiting the action of the Legislature.

It also appears from these several reports that BLAKE has been in the habit of charging the State for all his gas-fitting, plumbing, paper-hanging, fire-grates, damages to furniture, &c., and that many of his bills for repairs have been unaccompanied by any vouchers. It also appears that he has been in the habit of including,in his bills against the State, rent for rooms, used by legislative committees in the discharge of their duties. So that the State instead of getting any rent from Mr. BLAKE, has been paying him rent for the property, besides footing his bills whenever his household equipments need replenishing or refurnishing. Mr. BLAKE has not only paid no rent to the State, but the State is actually behind, in the sum of $31,361, after allowing this remarkable tenant all his remarkable charges.

Such a state of affairs requires some explanation, and the only reasonable one at hand is the fact that various of the State officers, as well as influential members of both houses of the Legislature, have been in the habit of boarding at Congress Hall. Whether Mr. Blake has given them their board as a consideration for their indifference concerning the outrage he was perpetrating upon the State, or whether he is a man of such sweet and fascinating manners that they are unable to say him nay, or whether there is some other influence at work, we are unable to say. It is a fact however, that time after time efforts to protect the interests of the State have been suppressed and defeated by the land commissioners. It is a fact that a bill similar to that which it is now proposed to introduce has been been defeated in the Senate after passing the Assembly. It is a fact that one of the late commissioners of the land office —ex-Speaker McGuire, is the attorney of BLAKE, and that this attorney actually has the affrontory to claim that because the State found it necessary to pull down a portion of Congress Hall, Mr. BLAKE was thereby released from all obligation to pay rent, and that the State on the other hand is legally bound to pay all Mr. BLAKE'S bills for repairs and upholstering. It is a fact also—-and this is really the most important fact in connection with the whole matter, that The expensive front of the new Capitol is in constant danger from fire, while this building—which is as dry as a tinder box—remains planted directly in front of it. Mr. Alvord has stated that the burning of Congress Hall would damage the new Capitol to the extent of a million dollars. All this risk the State is running year after year, in order that Mr. Blake shall not be disturbed in his commendable efforts to amass a fortune at the expense of the tax-payers.

We submit that it is time this Congress Hall job was brought to a summary conclusion. The State can never force a settlement with Mr. Blake until the building is pulled down. It used to be urged in the Senate that it was a great convenience to have a hotel 'on the hill' and the argument in regards to the danger by fire was answered by inserting an appropriation in the supply bill for building a brick wall between the hotel and the new building for the protection of the latter. The wall was to have cost $5,000, we believe, to be paid by the tax-payers, in order that Mr. Blake might continue a profitable business and languid Senators have a hotel 'on the hill.' For some reason the wall was never built, and the danger from fire continues. However convenient it may be to have a hotel 'on the hill,' we submit that experience has proven that the State cannot keep that hotel to advantage. If the suggested bill is again defeated, those who vote against it need not expect to escape the scrutiny which has hitherto avoided the Congress Hall job.

Gazetteer of the State of New York, 1872.

2012-02-07T05:27:00.001-05:00

Gazetteer of the State of New York : embracing a comprehensive account of the history and statistics of the state, with geological and topographical descriptions, and recent statistical tables , by Hough, Franklin Benjamin, Albany, N.Y. : Andrew Boyd (1872)

The Gazetteer carries this well-known rendering of the State Capitol---identified, as all proper architectural drawing must be, with at least a basic descriptor:---here, it is Fuller & Lavar; and thus we can date it after Arthur Gilman had bowed out officially, asking that his name be dis-associated from the project, It indicates a four-story building, as the narrative states, but little effort has been expended in the perspective to indicate a 55-foot decline across the site, as the land slopes from west to east towards the facing facade and the Hudson river. The narrative below states that what's been described variously as the ground, first, or basement floor, (take your pick) was 20-feet high, while the drawing hints at a drop-off of about half that, or maybe ten feet.

In the July, 1879, Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine, on page 20, is an illustration leading in an article by the Hon. Erastus Brooks, The Progress of New York, which shows a much-altered Fuller-esque design. It appears to have had an entire story lopped off in the curtain wall sections that alternate between the towers, while I'm not sure what has become of the Assembly Chamber. The more realistic depiction of the typography would indicate a radically different perception in the building's scale between the east and west fronts, and since the site was hemmed in by townhouses for the following 100 years, there really was no other way to perceive it.

It appears that Fuller was attempting to rein in the soaring costs by resisting the grandiose imperatives of the New Capitol Commissioners, which had led them into a monstrous hell-hole of a foundation. Fuller is shrinking the building's scale relative to that seen in a photograph showing a stereo-card taken of the $4,000 scale model, which was exhibited on site for many years, even if it ended up in an obvious abortion.

The main logic offered by the Commissioners for switching architects mid-stream was that a change in styles offered a reduction in costs. But in comparing the following two drawings, both done in a clear hand of Richardsonian Romanesque style, I think I found out who the real culprit was. The first is dated from the March 11, 1876, American Architect and Building News. It isn't realized---Richardson neglects any chimneys for the secondary heating and ventilating in the rooms, which was a requirement stressed from the beginning by the Commissioners.

But look what is happening in another image from a publication put out as part of Albany's bi-centennial celebration in 1886. Although the two curtain sections maintain their diminutive, almost domestic, status, the corner towers are shooting up while the central towers are growing lower and fatter, and the center section above the Assembly Chamber has gained an extra floor, with still enough attic space to hide all the crazy people you want! And look at the leveled ground surface. They've sunk the whole damn building in---and not because of quicksand either!

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

In Colonial times New York (or "New Amsterdam," of the Dutch period) was the seat of Government. During the Revolution the sessions of the Conventions which exercised supreme power, and afterwards the sessions of the State Legislature, were held at Poughkeepsie, Kings- ton, Albany and other places, but in 1784, were again restored to New York. In 1797, Commissioners were appointed to erect a building for the records at Albany, and the sessions of the Legislature having been held at New York, Poughkeepsie and Albany, as circumstances made it expedient, were finally fixed at the latter place in 1798. The public records were removed to Albany by an order dated July 31, 1798.

The Old State House— was begun in 1803, and finished in 1807, at the expense of the city and county of Albany, and State of New York.. It was used jointly by them until about 1832, when the State became the exclusive occupant. It stands at the head of State street, 130 feet above the Hudson, and has a park of three acres, enclosed in an iron fence, thickly planted with elms.

The New Capitol—

An Act authorizing the erection of a New Capitol was passed May 1, 1865, and work was commenced Dec. 9, 1867. The foundations have been brought up to the level of the ground floor, and six feet above the line of terrace, at a cost, including the land, amounting, in January, 1871, to $2,251,315.69.'

TrvoD, in Decemlior, 1775, tlie pnb- d titles and other inlerests otinoat vii. Avcie taken c.ii lioard tlie. ship •niaiiu-d iiri boiiid, witli :i elerk in Duchess of Gtinlon. and reiiiaiiied charge, niitil Noven.her, 17:!1. When retnmed to the cUy, they were Ibiuid so injnred. tliat tlie more Taliiable ones were, l)y order of the Legislature, transcribed iu 1798. The originals, although mostly iu existeuce, are now seldom, or never, referred to. 2 The building is of Nyack red freestone, 90 ft. broad, 50 ft. high, and was oiiginallv 115 ft. deep: but in 1854, 15 ft. were twlded to ihi- rrai. U cost over $120,000, of which the city paid !f ;u -''10. and the eonutv, $3,000. Besides a Senate and an .-is.s'.-iiihlv Chaiiibers, it contains the Executive Offlce, Adjutant-General's Office, rooms for the Court of .Appeals. anil various rooms, used lor legislative purposes. It will be taken down upon the completion of the new Capitol build- ing. The court room of the Court of .Appeals contains por- traits of Chanrciluis Lansing. Sundford. .Tones, and Wal- worth; Chief .Insure S|.ene.f. .\lnaliaiH Van Veehteu, Daidel Cady, etc. In llie Scniii.- Chamlu'r are i>c,itraits of Gov. Geo. Clinton, and Cuiunilius; in the Governor's room, one of La Fayette, and in the Assembly Koom, a copy of Stuart's Washington. 3

In 1863, the Senate referred the subject of a new Capitol to a Committee on Public Buildings, and under this resolution plans and estimates were invited, and a report made Mar. 1, 1864, in which it was stated that three plans had been offered. An act authorizing construction was passed in 1865, as above stated. It authorized the Commissioners of the Land Office, within three years after, to accept from the city of Albany, or the citizens thereof, a deed in fee simple and unencumbered, of a piece of land adjacent to the old Capitol, known as Congress Hall block, bounded by Washington avenue, Park place, Congress and Hawk streets. Congress street was to be closed, and the land between Congress aud State streets, east of Hawk, was taken. Three Commissioners were to be appointed by the Governor and Senate, to procure plans and specifications, and to have charge of the erection of the building. The city having complied with these terms, the location and site of the Capitol was confirmed April 14, 1866. The sum of $250,000 was granted April 22, 1867, aud a like amount May 19, 1868. By the latter act, Hamilton Harris, John V. L. Pruyn, and William A. Rice, of Albany; Obadiah B, Latham, of Seneca Falls; James S. Thayer, of New York; Alonzo B. Cornell, of Ithaca: James Terwilliger, of Syracuse, and John T. Hudson, of Buffalo, were named as Commissioners in place of Messrs. Harris, Pruyn, and Latham, who had been previously appointed. Power was at this time given to take the lower half of the blocks between Washington avenue and State street. The sites of the old Capitol and the State Library (included within the premises), and the buildings known as Congress Hall Buildings, were not to he removed until further order of the Legislature. The Board organized June 9, 1868, Mr. Harris being appointed Chairman, Mr. Pruyn Treasurer, and Mr. Terwilliger, Secretary. The site cost about $450,000, besides the $120,000 given by the city. Thirty designs were submitted, and no one of them proved fully satisfactory, although some were preferred before others, and premiums were paid to Fuller, Nichols & Brown, to Schultz & Schoen, and to Augustus Laver, $1,000 each; to Walter Dixon, and Harrison & Salltzer, $750 each; and to E. Boyden & Son, and Wilcox & King, $500 each. Mr. Arthur Gilman was employed to prepare a design and plans in conformity with instructions of the Board. These were presented Aug. 1, and at the same time three others were offered. After various proceedings and some disagreement with the Land Office, who had authority with the Commissioners in the selection of plans, a design submitted by Fuller & Gilman was adopted by the Board, November 13, 1867. They were approved by the Commissioners of the Land Office the same day, and by the Governor, December 7, 1867. On the 14th of August, 1868, Mr. Thomas Fuller was employed by the new commission as Architect. On the 10th of September, he submitted a detailed estimate of the cost of work and material, amounting to $3,924,665. The location, with reference to the grounds, was fixed December 4, 1868, and some changes were afterwards made in the details of plans. The grounds of Capitol Square, from Eagle street, to a new street on the west, are 1,034 ft. long, and 330 wide, containing 7.84 acres. The new street is 155 ft. above tide.

The excavations are, on an average, 15 ft. below the surface: the foundations are laid in concrete, and all the work thus far has been of the most solid and substantial kind. Limestone from Lake Champlain and the Mohawk valley, and gneiss from Hadley, Saratoga county, were principally used in the foundations, and granite from Dix Island, Maine, will be used for the external walls of the basement. The blocks of this material are of immense size, some of them weighing from twenty to thirty tons.

From details furnished by the Architect, we have prepared the following description of the internal arrangements:

The building will be 290 by 390 in size on the ground, covering nearly 2¾ acres, and the central central tower will be about 300 feet in height. There will be a large entrance hall upon each side. It will have a sub-basement, a ground floor story, 20 ft. high, and three floors above, each with rooms 25 ft. high.

The sub-basement will have various storerooms, engineers' offices, ventilating and heating apparatus, etc. In the 1rst or ground floor story of the east front, is a large central hall, and on the right and left grand staircase halls leading to the several floors. There are also in the first story, two restaurants, with various rooms, smoking, bathing, barbershop, etc., and several committee rooms, the later having an area together of 10,000 sq. ft. There is also from this floor upward, an open court, of 11,700 sq. ft., and two others, each 1,100 sq. ft., for affording light to the rooms above, and various air shafts, lifts and elevators.

The first principal story will contain the Governor's rooms in the south-east pavilion and neighboring curtains, including reception room, business rooms, rooms for private secretary, military secretary, etc., in all 4,500 sq. ft. The Adjutant-General's office, and different departments connected with it, will occupy the centre of the east front, with an area of 5,000 sq. ft. ; the Court of Appeals, the centre of the north front, and the various rooms connected with the court. The court room will have 5,400 sq. ft.; consultation rooms 1,000 ft.; and other rooms, 1,500 ft. The Attorney-General's rooms on the north side contain 1,000 ft. ; Secretary of State, in the northeast pavilion, 1,300 ft., and adjoining apartments 2,000 ft. Various committee rooms on this floor have an area of 5,500 ft. There is a central west entrance hall to this story. The next or principal floor above will contain the State Library in the east front, with a height of 50ft., and galleries; a Senate Chamber on the south side, also 50 ft. high, with 4,000 area, exclusive of galleries, and an Assembly Chamber on the north side, with 6,720 ft. area, exclusive of galleries, and 50 ft. high. Each will have adjoining rooms for presiding officers, clerks, post-offices, etc., and libraries for Senate and Assembly, each of 1,300 sq. ft. There will be a reception room in the north-west tower, 1,300 ft., and various other rooms for committees and other uses, together having an area of 4,500 ft. The galleries of the Senate and Assembly Chambers will have each an area of 4,300 ft., and on the same floor as the entrance to these are various committee rooms, document rooms, etc.

Few buildings, if indeed any, in the United States, will equal the new Capitol building at Albany, whether regard be had to imposing effect, elegance of detail, or massive solidity of structure. Besides the Capitol, the public buildings in Albany are the:

State Hall.

On Eagle street, opposite Albany Academy, with parks in front and rear. It was finished in 1842, and is of white marble from Sing Sing, in the Grecian style with an Ionic portico in front, and surmounted by a dome. It contains the offices of the Secretary of State, Canal Department, Comptroller, Treasurer, State Engineer and Surveyor Clerk of Court of Appeals, Department of Public Instruction, Banking Department, Insurance Department, Attorney General, Canal Commissioners, Canal Appraisers and Canal Engineers. It also contains the State Standards of Weights and Measures. The building is 88 by 138 feet, 65 feet high, in three stories, and cost about $350,000.

Geological and Agricultural Hall.

Built in 1855, on the site of the old State Hall, corner of State and Lodge street. The front portion contains the offices of the State Agricultural Society, and the rooms and collections of the State Museum of Natural History. The rear portion has a lecture room in the basement, and the Museum of the State Agricultural Society. All of these collections are free and open to the public. Among the more interesting articles in the museum is the skeleton of a Mammoth, found at Cohoes, Casts of Skeletons of the huge Mamalia of geological periods, Indian and historical relics, and valuable collections of plants, shells, insects, fossils, &.c. This Cabinet was begun in the course of the Geological Survey, and has since been greatly increased by special purchases and additions. By an act of May 2, 1870, it is in charge of a Director, and provision is made for a free course of scientific lectures.

State Library,

In the rear of the Old Capitol, and to be demolished when the new State House is completed. It is fire proof, with red freestone fronts, and was built in 1853-4, at a cost of $91,900. It is 114 by 45 feet, 2 stories, and was opened January 2, 1855. The State Library is under the charge of the Regents of the University, and was founded in 1818. It had at the beginning of 1871, 60,945 volumes in the General Library, and 21,911 in the Law Library. This exceedingly valuable collection has many objects of rare interest, among which may be mentioned costly series of volumes presented by foreign governments, the original Andre Papers, the original of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the manuscripts of Sir William Johnson and of Gov. George Clinton, a cabinet of coins and medals, and many rare and valuable works relating to early American History.

State Normal School.

The State Normal School, corner of Lodge and Howard streets, was built in 1848, at a cost of $25,000. It has an Experimental Department and it has always maintained a high reputation for the completeness of its course of instruction.

and an Arsenal.

Corner of Eagle and Hudson streets, in a valley where its architectural effect is lost. It was built in 1858, out of part of the funds arising from the sale of the State Arsenal in the Central Park, New York city.

REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS.

In the organization of the Legislative Department of the General Government, each State has an equal representation in one House, and a representation in the other based upon the number of inhabitants, deducting Indians not taxed, and such classes as by State law may be excluded from the right of voting, except for participation in rebellion or other crime. Under the Constitution as it was before the late war, representation was based upon the total population, (excepting Indians not taxed,) and three fifths of "all. other persons," by which term slaves were included. Direct taxation whenever imposed by the Congress of the United States, is based upon the returns of population in the same manner as that of representation. But such taxes have been laid only upon extraordinary occasions, and but three instances occur in the history of our National Government, when such an expedient was deemed necessary. The legislative power of the State in Congress, is exercised by two Senators, chosen by joint ballot of the Legislature, for a term of 6 years, and 31 Representatives, elected for 2 years by districts, according to the population as ascertained once in ten years by a census.

2012-02-06T21:45:00.002-05:00

Scribner's Monthly, December, 1879, Vol. XIX. No. 2. The Capitol of New York. pages 161-178.

Some previously unavailable historic resources relating to the building, and decoration, of the New York State Capitol at Albany, have recently made an appearance online. Most significant is a December, 1879 issue---Volume XIX., No. 2---of Scribner’s magazine, which contains a major 17-page article on the imminent opening of the first section of the Capitol building for Legislative use.

It turned up located, wrongfully cataloged, at the Internet Archive, as "The Century illustrated monthly magazine," published "1871," by Scribner in New York, and it occupied a lonely existence, as one of "1 edition record for of The Century illustrated monthly magazine. by an unknown author."

Adding to this mystery, a few years after the issue-date, starting with the January, 1887 Scribner’s, the magazine began anew sequentially---starting over at Volume I. No. 1. Since this way of serial record keeping duplicate the earlier volumes and number run, but not the date, it had the effect of creating two eras in Scribner’s history. The large number of late 19th-century Scribner’s issues found online, most uploaded by the University of Toronto, all date from this second series run. A handful of other low numbers show up tantalizingly in searches, like some listed by the Prelinger Library, "a private research library in San Francisco, open to the public," who describe their online activity as a work in progress.

A search I did within archive.org for "The Century illustrated monthly magazine," brought up a half-dozen others, which don’t appear to have ever been genuine, uploaded by entities like T. Fisher Unwin, Roy J. Friedman, and the Making of America Project, their hits return only sentiments---like "Yikes," and "Darn," and then "Fiddlesticks!"---they appear to be manufactured as diversity operations. The Scribner’s article appears to have been the preeminent plank in a wide public-relations effort timed with the public opening of the Capitol building, meant to turn the tide of criticism over the extravagant costs into a eddy of popular relief that it had all been worth it. The magazine's pages were illustrated with 22, pen-and-ink drawings, done by such well-regarded artists as R. Sayre, Francis Lathrop, and W.M. Laffan, while the waspy dean of New York's architecture critics, Montgomery Schuyler, who along with his wife---born a Livingston---represented two of the most ancient and illustrious families in Albany, penned the strongly supportive prose. That this publicity helped to make the opening a great success with the public is without question; and while the building continued to face criticism from professionals, the battle for the hearts and minds of the taxpayers seemed to be breaking their way.

Senate Chamber

2012-02-03T14:55:00.003-05:00

Facing Fireplaces, away from windows.

Facing Windows, away from fireplaces. Fixed valences in half-round lights. Fixed "reredos" blocking center window.

Fixed valences covering half-round window lights to either side.

Stained glass panel in half-round center window.

West Virginia, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Idaho....

2012-02-03T01:04:00.004-05:00

On January 3, 1921, the State Capitol in Charleston was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin and inexplicably rapid advancement.

"In 1870, Dr. John P. Hale, was given the contract for construction of Charleston's first capitol building and ended up paying most of the cost himself. That capitol was built in the Italianate style, with Romanesque details. The second capitol building in Charleston, and the topic of this discussion, was erected incorporating the 1870 capitol into the new structure. The 85 rooms of the new building housed all the departments of state government and were completely occupied in 1887. The so-called Victorian capitol was built in the Second Empire style, with a mansard roof, gabled wall dormers, and towers. In 1903, an annex was built across the street. This would become the library. The annex was torn down in 1967."

"Ammunition, bought by the West Virginia State Police two years before, was stored on the top floor of the building. The ammunition had been purchased for use in the coal field disputes which had threatened to erupt into civil war. Supposedly several machine guns and rifles were also stored in the Capitol. The heat from the fire set off the ammunition and sent onlookers running in every direction. Smoke could be seen for miles. While firefighters were fighting the fire, two men mounted one of the fire trucks and took off for a joyride around Charleston. Police chased the men and arrested them."

January 4, 1921, New York Times, Fire Ruins Capitol of West Virginia, Only the Shell Is Left of Handsome Brick Building at Charleston, Falling Roof Kills Two, Loss of Several Millions Covered by Insurance---Origin of Flames Unknown.

Special to The New York Times.
CHARLESTON, W.Va., Jan. 3.----The Capitol of West Virginia, together with priceless records of some of the departments of the State Government, was destroyed late this afternoon by a fire of mysterious origin. Only the brick shell remains of the once stately building.

The loss amount to several millions of dollars, which is covered by a blanket insurance policy of $6,000,000 on all the State buildings.

The fire started in the small record room over the office of the Secretary of the Public Service Commission.

Two men were killed at 5 o'clock when a section of the roof fell in. The dead are: Edward Spencer, an electrician, and Howard Pauley, fireman.

Fire Chief W. W. Graham, Policeman William Lacey and Fireman Oscar Thaxton were injured. Chief of Police John Charnock had a narrow escape. The chief and some of his men were in the Tax Commissioner's office pitching records out of the windows. As they started down a ladder there was a roar and a cloud of smoke as part of the roof fell.

The firemen said that another man was with them and that he was buried beneath the debris. His name could not definitely be learned. There were reports that he was Charles Walker of Huntington.

The fire started about 2:30 o'clock on the fourth floor of the Capitol, which is seldom used, except for the storing of records and stationery. The office of the Public Service Commission gave the alarm. By the time the Fire Department was able to pour water on the building it was doomed.

E. E. Winters, Chief Railroad Inspector of the commission, narrowly escaped being buried alive. He played a stream of water on the blaze from a small hose and remained at his post until his face was scorched. Winters gained freedom by descending a back stairway which was burning.

One of the losses was in the burning of the Museum of the State Department of Agriculture, which, it is said, cannot be equaled in any agricultural department of the country. The old clock in the tower, whose weights were of many tons, is a complete loss.

In a statement tonight, Governor Cornwell said:

"Of course, this fire is little short of a calamity to the State because of the records that have been destroyed in the various departments, which will occasion inconvenience to many persons. It cannot be ascertained just yet how much of the records of several of the departments was saved or what will be the state of those in the various vaults.

"The monetary loss will not be great. We have insurance on all the State buildings, in a blanket policy, for all the insurance companies will carry. The total insurance carried is approximately $6,000,000. So it will be seen that the State can collect all it is entitled to for this building, based, of course, upon its valuation.

"I will call a meeting of the State officers tomorrow morning to make arrangements of the legislative session. My thought now is that the Senate can be housed in the Young Men's Christian Association building and auditorium and the House of Delegates in the armory. Those buildings are close together and will do very well in an emergency such as this.

"The biggest trouble will be to find room for the various departments, some of which have a great many clerks and stenographers. The Chamber of Commerce has offered its services in the matter. There are no vacant buildings or offices in Charleston, but offers are already coming to me from private citizens, from churches and elsewhere, and I am quite sure that all of the departments will be functioning again in a few days."

William Briggs, a prisoner in the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville, three weeks ago predicted that the State Capitol would be destroyed either by fire or a bomb explosion, according to a prominent Charleston attorney who refused to be quoted. Briggs did not predict the date.

Officials are working to determine the origin of the fire.

Compare the Times' early reporting with the following settled facts:

"On January 3rd, the West Virginia State Capitol caught fire and burned for several hours in Charleston. Charlie Walker died in the blaze and four others were seriously injured. Among those seriously injured was Charleston firefighter, Oscar Thaxton, and in March of 1922 succumbed to his injuries." Source: Charleston Fire Department History Page

Whatever mysterious Charlie may have been, he wasn't a fireman. And while Thaxton lingered, apparently, Spencer and Pauley somehow sprang back to life. It's hard to reconcile the fire department's excuses with the visual evidence as seen in the photographs. Just put the goddamn fire out!

How does one person in a corridor on the second floor of a busy state government office building, see smoke issuing from an upstairs attic on a busy Tuesday afternoon without anybody else becoming aware of it independently, if not simultaneously? We need a new kind of Aesop's fable for this---similar to the boy who cried wolf, but flipped reversed---like The Girl Who Saw Smoke, But, Darn It! I Could Have Been a Hero!.

"By the time the Fire Department was able to pour water on the building it was doomed," sounds very, very familiar in the New York Times.

The West Virginia Legislative Web Site describes a much different process in rebuilding their state capitol than what New York's insanely grandiose and criminally corrupt Capitol builders underwent, even if those Hillbillies have to gloss over that little fire business. Ammunition for the State Police stored in the attic with all the people's priceless documents? DuPont has always been good for one thing---bombs! And not quiet ones either!

Table of Contents
›The Early Capitol Locations
› Planning the Capitol Complex
› West Virginia Executive Mansion
› Building the Capitol:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
› The Architect's Description
› Biographical Sketch of the Architect
› Capitol Building Commission Members
› The West Virginia Capitol: Project of Five Governors
› Mythological Figures in the Carved Heads
› Summary of Facts Concerning the Capitol
› Glossary of Architectural Terms Used
› Bibliography and Photographic Credits

Unfortunately for the Governor though, the insurance only paid out $500,000, and not the $6,000,000.

A tidbit: "A temporary wood-frame building, located on the future site of the Daniel Boone Hotel, was erected in just 42 days and became known as the ‘‘pasteboard capitol.’’ This 166-room building experienced the same fate as its predecessor when on March 2, 1927, it was completely destroyed by fire. During this time however, groundbreaking for the building we all know today had already been completed on the west wing in January 1924,and this first phase was completed in March 1925; the east wing was built between July 1926 and December 1927, so the new state capitol was already well under way."

View of the two completed wings - March 1930

There are two kinds of architects and interior designers in this world: The inferior beings who have to parley kickback schemes to advance their professional careers, and those with enough innate talent to stay above the fray by keeping their hands clean. Cass Gilbert was a very wise choice for the West Virginians, who we can absolve for the relatively minor insurance fraud.

View of complex from north - March 1931

However, the 1903 Annex across the street from the Charleston Capitol---where the state library, the public archives, and all the museum collections other than their mighty agricultural holdings rode out the interlude of disaster safely---wasn't "torn down in the 1960's." It was another case of a fire-proof building, which was also destroyed later by flames:

"Moving into the annex after the state archives were vacated were the offices of the State Bureau of Labor, the State Board of Children's Guardians, and the Adjutant General. When the capitol's main unit was completed the annex was completely given over to the city of Charleston for its public library, and this building served Charleston's citizens until the mid 1960s, as it was also destroyed by fire. The National Bank of Commerce now stands on the site of the venerable annex building, a facility that preserved many of the records the state possesses that document our early history."

With joy-riders stealing fire-trucks in mid-response; a state-prisoner talking like a cherry-Kool-Aid-lipped Cassandra to his I-must-remain-prominent lawyer; and a private physician ending up paying for vast public works out of his personal pocket, it sounds like reality nearly came unstiched back in 1921. Or 1911? Or was it 1912? Or 2001. Not to worry: It won't be such a close call the next time around.

This Is What Fire-Proof Construction Looks Like.

2012-02-02T16:08:00.002-05:00

New York State Capitol Floor Plans.

2012-02-02T05:39:00.011-05:00

April 15, 1876, American Architect and Building News,

1st Floor

2nd Floor

3rd Floor

Altered Assembly Chamber, as published in American Architect and Building News, Dec. 14, 1878, page 197

4th Floor

Below, from Cecil Roseberry's "Capitol Story" (1982) page 24; captioned: "Main floor plan as laid out by Fuller and Gilman. Note the Tower Hall, the Central Court, and the suite of Governor's offices along the left side."

Also from Cecil Roseberry's "Capitol Story" (1982) page 64: "Portion of 3rd floor plan." As fleshed out here, however, Roseberry removes the two mighty furnace flues in the northwest and southwest corners of the "Grand Central Court," leaving the massive corner piers, big enough to be small rooms, as solid masonry features. Since the boilers for heat and steam-power were removed from the Capitol basement to a remote facility shortly after the building opened that would have made sense in the 1960's and 1980's. So why did Paul Mercer and Vickie Weiss put these flues back in on the floor plans they published in 2011? What else have they "dicked" with on the plans, I wonder?

Third Floor:

Fourth Floor:

And look how much bigger the Western "Million Dollar" Staircase got from Fuller & Gilman's original plans for the feature. Later architects stole a good 12 feet of width from each of the flanking "open courts," originally designed to provide the light and air occupants complained about a lack of. Since this stairway was one of the final constructions in the 1890's, one might think planners would have minimized its realization so late in the game, maybe even realizing that the populace had always preferred taking elevators to hiking up the equivalent of eight flights of stairs---but instead they doubled-down on psychological effect---such as that which appears to have resulted from hoards of mutant mud-wasps building their nests in every available nook and cranny.

Walter Arndt: My Hero.

2012-02-01T07:35:00.004-05:00

From the: 1910 The New York Red Book

Albany Legislative Correspondents

The Associated Press
John F. Tremain, Manager
Edward R. Ankler
Frederic T. Cardoze
George H. Boothby
S. C. Dermott
Frank E. Vaughn

United Press Associations
Jos. J. Judd, Manager
F. J. Lockner
Robert A. Delaney
H. E. Cole

Albany Times-Union, F. A. Tierney
Albany Times-Union, Harry Gott
Albany Evening Journal, W. H. Brainerd
Albany Evening Journal, John C. Crary
Albany (Evening?) Journal, William H. Owen
Albany Argus, George E. Griffin
Albany Argus, H. W. Smith
(Albany) Press-Knickerbocher, John Roger
Albany Freie-Blatter, Albert Kaestner

Brooklyn Standard-Union, Joseph J. Early
Brooklyn Citizen, George M. Janvrin
Brooklyn Eagle, Chas. F. Kerrigan
Brooklyn Times, H. F. Guest
Brooklyn Freie Presse, Otto Cruewell

Buffalo Times, W. A. Marakle
Buffalo Express, S. H. Evans
Buffalo News, F. G. Whiston
Buffalo Commercial, H. W. Smith
Buffalo Courier, J. E. MacBride

Glen Falls Star, J. T. McNally
Little Falls Times, Harold J. Hichman
Lockport Sun, A. E. Hoyt

New York American, J. E. MacBride
New York American, Louis D. Lang
New York Herald, W. H. Brainerd
New York Herald, Don Martin
New York Evening Journal, Samuel J. T. Coe
New York Evening Mail, H. C. McMillan
New York Evening Post, W.T. Arndt
New York Evening Sun, W. E. Harg
New York Sun Bureau, Jos. L. McEntee, Manager
New York Press, P. T. Rellihan
New York Times, W. Axel Warn
New York Tribune, F. W. Crone
New York World, Fred W. Wose
New York World, Louis J. Seibold
New York World, Chas. S. Hand

Rochester Democrat Chronicle, W. A. Marakle
Staats Zeitung, Franz Richter
Syracuse Post Standard, Fred W. Wose
Troy Record, George W. Franklin
Troy Press, E. C. Cuyler
Utica Press, E. C. Cuyler

January 2, 1932, New York Evening Post, Obit,
WALTER T. ARNDT
One of New York's most useful citizens is lost in the death of Walter Tallmadge Arndt. With the background of a wide and exact knowledge of public affairs gained in his years of distinguished service as Albany correspondent of the EVENING POST, he fought valiantly in one position after another for higher standards in politics and government. If his most notable activities were those in connection with his duties as secretary of the Citizens Union, he also played an important part in the Constitutional Convention of 1915 and in the historic work of the State Reorganization Commission, of which he was secretary. At the time of his death he was secretary of the Committee of One Thousand. In all these places he displayed a practical ideality which left its impress not on upon legislation but also upon the framework of government and was a dynamic force in enlightening public opinion.

The story of the Arndts: the life, antecedents and descendants of Bernhard Arndt who Emigrated to Pennsylvania in the Year 1731, By John Stover Arndt, Philadelphia: Christopher Sower Co., 1922; page 370.

"[U]ntil a wonderful change occurred during the last few days of the session."

2012-01-24T18:15:00.000-05:00

March 14, 1866, New York Times, FROM THE STATE CAPITAL.; OUR ALBANY LETTER. Debate on the New Capitol Bill--Speeches by Messrs. Cochrane and D. P. Wood -- A Charge of Fraud, [extract]

The bill appropriating $500,000, to enable Commissioners, to be appointed by the Governor, to commence building a new Capitol, has occupied much of to-day's session in the House. It was supported in an able speech by Mr. Cochrane, of Albany, who exhausted all arguments against the inconveniences and defects of the old building, and the reasons which impel the people of Albany to ask for a new edifice more in keeping with the power, wealth and importance of the Empire State.

D. P. Wood, of Onondaga, replied with much earnestness and ability, arguing that taxation had already reached an unprecedented figure, and that the present was an exceedingly inopportune time to ask for a new Capitol. He argued that it was only sought to commit the State to the project by making an appropriation, however small, in order that it might be urged hereafter that the work had been commenced and must be gone through with. He estimated that, including the amount of town and county obligations for payment of bounties, which would, with interest, reach over thirteen millions to be raised this year, the annual tax for 1866, State and local, would amount to the enormous sum of $24,600,000. Was any tax ever before imposed upon the people of this State calling for twenty-four millions in a single year? Was this the time to build a new Capitol? Would an individual build a new house with an immense debt hanging over him? Mr. Wood further charged that a base fraud was perpetrated in the passage of the bill last year. As that bill passed the House, it simply located the new Capitol in Albany, but made no appropriation whatever. When it got into the Senate, however, by some manipulation, it contained another section, which the House never acted on, making an appropriation of $10,000. Mr. W. showed by the journals of the two houses that his charge was correct.

Progress was finally reported on the bill, which has been made the special order for next week, Wednesday. Had the vote been taken to-day, the Capitol Bill would have been defeated by a large majority. Such, however, was the condition of affairs last year, until a wonderful change occurred during the last few days of the session. Possibly a similar change may yet be brought about by the Albanians who are wonderfully clamorous for the bill, and who, it is charged, have raised the "sinews of war" to put it through.

Phelps, The Capitol At Albany

2012-01-12T22:24:00.001-05:00

The Funeral of Old Tammany

2012-01-10T09:51:00.000-05:00

The sort of thing the New York State Library should have been filled with if had it ever been a "real" library, legitimated foremost by a proper focus on chronicling and protecting the political history of the State. Instead, it was the whim and the feeding trough of a revolving door of self-aggrandizing gangsters, originally at the service of a landed aristocracy, then in cahoots with robber barons and corporate thieves. Given the balance of corruption that is America's two-party politics, it's doubtful any attempt was ever made to document criticism of the system, unless of course, it was to gather up all the original and primary sources and then torch them in the night, and then sing gleefully about it a few weeks later at an annual political roast held by a group of Albany legislative journalists.

Title: The Funeral of Old Tammany. Printed Broadsheet, published in New York, by H. R. Robinson, circa 1836.

For sale by James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, in New York City. Price: US $1250.00

The Funeral of Old Tammany. Printed broadside showing a funeral procession with the hearse in the lead being driven by the editor of the Courier and Enquirer. Among the mourners are also the editors for The Times and The Truth Teller. From various of the mourners are inscriptions inside balloons. To the right in the background is a view of Tammany Hall with a flag at half mast. Printed under the title is "This mournful ceremony took place in the City of New York on the 10th day of November 1836. The lamented individual had been long subject to a vast complication of disorders, whic[h] though combatted with great skill and perseverance by, Doctors, Humbug, Monopoly & Office, at last carried him off. The symptoms became extremely alarming on Robinson, H[enry]. R

The comments of the mourners include a fireman in the background asking "Who killed Old Tammany?" Another fireman beside him answers "James Gulick." This is a reference to the excitement of the election of Tammany opponent James Gulick, deposed Chief of the Fire Department, to the office of Register. Relatively little is known about Henry R. Robinson. He was located at 48 and 52 Courtlandt Street in New York in 1836-7, where he worked largely as a caricaturist. His primary output was graphic humor and political cartoons, and he drew on stone most of the unsigned prints he published. His cartoons "are important, and spirited, have long speeches in 'balloons,' often appear colored, but are sometimes difficult to understand without delving into detailed history of the politics of the times." (Peters, American on Stone, pp. 337-8.) The only known historical reference to Robinson is in Frederick Hudson's History of Journalism in America (1873), which notes that Robinson "lined the curbstones and covered the old fences of New York with his peculiarly characteristic caricatures during Jackson's and Van Buren's administrations . ." Image area is approx. 19 1/4" l x 11 1/4", in 27 1/4" x 15 3/4" frame. . Some minor chipping, trimmed with minor loss to text, inked stamp in upper right corner above Tammany Hall ("From the United States Bazaar. No. 324 North Market St. Albany N.Y."), otherwise a very nice piece. See A History of American Graphic Humor, pp. 171-2. Bookseller Inventory # 234396

January 4, 2012, Associated Press / Albany Times Union, Key NY document from 1775 on display at Capitol, by Chris Carola,

I Don't Know What the Naked Intergenerational Male Thing In Masonry Is All About, But I Think It's Hot.

2012-01-10T08:09:00.000-05:00

Draper's Mentally Ill Education Building. "The Wall Between Church and State."

2012-01-10T08:03:00.000-05:00

Designs

2012-01-09T02:22:00.012-05:00

At what stage did the fifth-story windows in the corner towers get built with the three pairs of small square windows in each face along with that fat band of masonry that looks almost like a balcony?

As built, it differs from the symmetrical treatment of five windows as seen on the plan below. All the work was ripped out subsequently

The American Architect and Building News, March 11, 1876

SERIAL ARCHIVE LISTINGS for The American Architect

American Architect and Building News. (Boston: James R. Osgood & Co.) Various issues- 1876-1878.
Library of Congress Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room.

American Architect and Building News. NA1.A322 Microfilm 05422 (1876-1908) MicRR

2012-01-08T19:25:00.004-05:00

Fate of the New York State Collections in Archaeology and Ethnology in the Capitol Fire.

2012-01-08T18:10:00.019-05:00

January-March, 1911, American Anthropologist, Vol. 13, Part 1, pages 169-171. Fate of the New York State Collections in Archaeology and Ethnology in the Capitol Fire.

— In the New York State Capitol conflagration of March 29 the archeological and ethnological collections of the State Museum were almost totally destroyed by fire and water. The collections were installed in vertical wall and square alcove cases about the corridors at the head of the western staircase. The location seemed to insure singular protection from fire, there being nothing inflammable in the vicinity save the molding that held the cases together. The damage seems to have been done by the long sheets of flame that burst through from the large corridor windows of the library bindery on one side and of the Education Department offices on the other. The immense amount of inflammable material there fed the flames once established and the draft caused by the breaking of the heavy plate windows that opened out into the hall about the staircase carried the blast directly against the cases, shattering the glass and exposing the specimens within. The archeological cases suffered most from breakage brought about by the crumbling of the sandstone ceilings that had been subjected to the intense heat.

The falling of the ceilings in great blocks broke the shelves that had so far resisted the fire and spilled the specimens into the water and debris. The continual dropping of masses of cracked rock from the walls made work of rescuing valuable objects most hazardous. However, despite the choking smoke, the sudden blasts of heat, and the falling walls the majority of the more valuable articles, untouched by the fire, were carried to safety. The ethnological exhibits consisted principally of three large collections; one made by Lewis H. Morgan before 1854 and embracing some 200 objects, the Harriet Maxwell Converse collection of about 350 specimens, and the collection made by Arthur C. Parker embracing nearly 200 rare objects, exclusive of silver ornaments. The famous Morgan collection of old Iroquois textiles and decorated fabrics went up in the first blast of flame, and the cases were burned to their bases. About 50 Morgan specimens were in the office of the archeologist of the museum for study purposes, and fortunately have been preserved. The Converse collection of silver articles was rescued intact.

Many of the less inflammable objects were rescued during the fire and carried out of the danger zone. None of the wampum belts of the Six Nations was injured.

One of the odd features of the calamity was that hardly a single object connected with the ceremonies of the Iroquois totemic cults or the religious rites was injured. The hair of the 30 medicine masks that hung in a line across the westernmost cases was not even singed.

Of the 10,000 articles on exhibition, including about 3500 flints, only 512 have been identified by their catalog numbers. One thousand other articles, more or less ruined by the action of flame and water, will entail a great deal of work to identify. In this connection it is interesting to note that catalog numbers applied directly to the surface of the stone, bone, or clay specimen with waterproof ink, withstood the action of fire and water better than the numbers painted on white varnish or on paper labels. Even when the object had been considerably heated the ink number on the surface was still legible. Paper labels proved valueless especially those with typewritten numbers. Those with numbers written in waterproof ink came through better. Arthur C. Parker.

March 27, 2011, Associated Press / Huffington Post, 1911 Fire Commemorated In NY, by Chris Carola,

Beach Studio, Remson, New York.

2012-01-08T17:26:00.010-05:00

The following image was from an engraving done of a retouched photograph, which was published in Harper's Weekly, February 1865. It may be considered a progenitor of the faked smoke elements in the Capitol images, and as well at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution_Building

The Castle was the first Smithsonian building, begun in 1847 by architect James Renwick, Jr., whose other works include St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, also in Washington D.C. Renwick was selected by a unanimous vote following a design competition in 1846. A cardboard model of Renwick's successful design survives. Renwick was assisted by Robert Mills,^[3] particularly in the internal arrangement of the building.^[4]

Despite the upgraded construction, a fire in 1865 caused extensive damage, destroying the correspondence of James Smithson, Henry's files, two hundred oil paintings of American Indians by John Mix Stanley, and the contents of the public libraries of Alexandria, Virginia and Beaufort, South Carolina, confiscated by Union forces during the American Civil War. The ensuing renovation was undertaken by local Washington architect Adolph Cluss in 1865-67. Further fireproofing work ensued in 1883, also by Cluss, who by this time had designed the neighboring Arts and Industries Building. A third and fourth floor were added to the East Wing, and a third floor to the West Wing. Electric lighting was installed in 1895.^[3]Initially intended to be built in white marble, then in yellow sandstone,^[4] the architect and committee finally settled on red Seneca sandstone from the vicinity of Seneca Creek in Montgomery County, Maryland. The sandstone was substantially less expensive than granite or marble, and while initially easy to work, was found to harden to a satisfactory degree on exposure to the elements. The East Wing was completed in 1849 and occupied by Secretary Joseph Henry and his family. The West Wing was completed later the same year. A structural collapse of partly completed work in 1850 raised questions of workmanship and resulted in a change to fireproof construction. The exterior was completed in 1851. By 1852 Renwick's work was completed and he withdrew from further participation. Gilbert Cameron took over responsibility for interior work, and all work was finally completed in 1855.^[3]

State Regains Houdon Bust of Washington.

2012-01-07T09:19:00.022-05:00

"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."---Franklin Delano Roosevelt

You may want to start reading at the bottom of this blog, with a New York Times article published on a Thursday preceding the Monday in 1929 when the Binghamton Press broke a story about the "recovery" of a missing bronze bust of George Washington, which had vanished from New York State's possession 18 years before, looted in 1911 following an apparent incendiary act which destroyed much of the historical and legislative record housed in the State Capitol at Albany. In the Times' article, the newly-elected Governor, Franklin Roosevelt announces a proposed $100 million bond initiative to build a campus of state office buildings in downtown Albany. A tactic to sweeten the plan appears to be his inclusion of a $3,500,000 public amenity, a structure to house a public art museum, as part of the multi-block redevelopment. Then in what can only be described as very odd timing and synchronicity, four days later Roosevelt is again in the press depicted on the receiving end of a proffer of the prodigal artwork's return at the hands of a retired legislative reporter from another newspaper, the New York Evening World, who acts as both the agent of the object's return, and as an intermediary with a condition--that whoever had expropriated the bronze, their identity must remain a secret---from the press, public and law enforcement, in any event---even should this public-spirited volunteer face criminal sanction for his effort.

The man, Irwin Thomas, worked as a legislative reporter in the Capitol at the time of the fire 18 years earlier, where Roosevelt also was present as a newly elected 28-year-old State Senator leading an insurgent charge against the entrenched Tammany machine's choice of a hand-picked U.S. Senator. That implausible dynamic went on for over 70 days, and some observers speculated that on the morning of the fire a "boozy" Democratic caucus in the Assembly Chamber lasting well past midnight might have played an accidental role in starting the conflagration. The New York Times article covering that evening's caucus is datelined March 29, 1911, 1:30 A. M. and says the legislators "adjourned at 12:50 o'clock this morning until 10 o'clock to-day." The fire took lite about half an hour after the Times' correspondent had filed his story and presumably left home for bed.

The Binghamton Press has Roosevelt responding to the art work's return by saying, "'I shall place [the bust] in my office at the capitol until we get a state museum, where it will have a proper place. I was here during the capital fire and remember the loss of the bust. The state appreciates its return.' The Governor expressed his thanks and said he would have it placed in the Executive Chamber in the Capitol until a State Museum should be erected." The Times writing the following day, carried a verbatim message: "the Governor expressed his thanks and said he would have it placed in the Executive Chamber in the Capitol until a State Museum should be erected."

Roosevelt was ignoring the fact that there already was a publicly accessible State Museum occupying a full floor in the State Education Building next door to the Capitol. And both the Binghamton Press, which said the piece "had not been destroyed as supposed," and the Times' summation that the "general opinion leaned to the more charitable view that the valuable bust had been melted to a lump by the heat," ignore a crucial piece of evidence contained in a news photograph that the iconic bronze had indeed survived the fire unscathed. Although many news reports mention the extensive looting of valuables from the Capitol in the aftermath of the blaze, no paper mentioned a word in print about the disposition of this famous bust.

Perhaps that was because it had to have been an inside job---lifted by either a fireman, a National Guardsman, or a pertinent government employee, who were the only people having access to the scene of the actual destruction. Its representation in a news photograph in the first place seemed calculated to serve as a coded talismanic signal, and both that miscue, and the resulting silence, point to an enmeshment of the news media with the political establishment they cover. Not a single newspaper dared hint at what would appear to be obvious questions concerning a possible case of arson, which taken together adds up to a vast conspiracy to defraud the taxpayers of millions of dollars, but more importantly, a manipulation of the authentic historical record, and hence, the very nature of reality.

None of these players could fall into the category of a "useful idiot" where a dense denial might force an unwilled participation into the intricacies of a deceptive plot. But this exposure of one of the biggest names in our national history as being a prime player in a very crooked game leads directly to other examples of similar crimes, and inextricably to the unaddressed arsons that took place on September 11th, 2001. What comes next, pray tell? More Jewish or Dutch lightning?

February 4, 1929, Binghamton Press, State Regains Houdon Bust of Washington.
Famed Sculpture, Stolen at Capital Fire, Found Near Binghamton. HIDDEN ON A FARM
Irwin Thomas of Evening World Restores Rare Work to Gov. Roosevelt.

After being buried in a farmyard near Binghamton for a decade and a half, a valuable Houdon bust of George Washington, stolen during the state capitol fire, March 29, 1911, was brought to Govenor Roosevelt today by Irwin Thomas, Legislative correspondant of the New York Evening World.
Mr. Thomas learned three years ago that the bust, said to be worth more than $10,000 had not been destroyed as supposed but had been carried out of the blazing building during the excitement.
He questioned relatives of the supposed "collector" and learned the bronze had been given into the custody of a farmer about 18 miles from Binghamton. He went there and persuaded the custodian he should return the "white elephant" into the keeping of the state.

The name of the man who held the bust during all those years is kept secret by Mr. Thomas, who said to the Governor when he turned the art treasure over at the mansion today:

"If I am charged with receiving stolen property, I shall expect executive clemency."

The bust was identified today by Dwight Gooway, Legislative Librarian, [the Legislative reference section was headed by William E. Hannan during this period.] as the one which stood in the old library prior to the fire. He was greatly interested in this find, as was Governor Roosevelt.

"I am mighty happy to get this back," said the later, "I shall place it in my office at the capitol until we get we get a state museum, where it will have a proper place. I was here during the capital fire and remember the loss of the bust. The state appreciates its return."

A bust of Lafayette by Houdon was sold in New York City last week for more than $9,000. It is believed the Washington bust is worth more than $10,000 and that its desirability has been enhanced by its queer recent history.

Jean Antoine Houdon came to the United States with Benjamin Franklin in 1775, especially to make the Wahington bust. The one returned by Mr. Thomas is made from life and is one of a handful extant. t was made at Mount Vernon.

The man who took the bust from the capitol, it is understood, tried unsuccessfully to dispose of it with New York City art collectors, but they refused to take the stolen piece.

If you study these two images closely you'll see that when the firemen's faces are turned away from the camera so is the face of Washington. Likewise, when the firemen face the camera the bust has been turned to face as well, which indicates a self-conscious art direction not in keeping with spontaneous news photography at the epicenter of disaster.

And for the historical record--the Houdon bust of George Washington sat on top of the telephone booth near the main entrance to the Central Reading room. It looks as though it were brought down and set on the table in preparation for heisting it if nothing else.

Finally, Mercer and Weiss have been of some use to the truth. This development could easily have slipped down the memory hole, coming as it did in a coda eighteen years after the Fire That Dared Not Speak Its Name. Nobody could confuse such abject thievery with souvenir or relic hunting. That such a prominent and symbolic object went quietly missing is evidence that the state capitol was open to be stripped of anything of value in the aftermath of the higher-level arson with its painfully obvious agenda. No trespasser took a fall for this systematic looting of the treasures therein, but at least someone had to give something back nearly two decades later.

The yellowed images are from 'Sparks! From the New York State Capital Fire, a two-bit pack of misspelled "Sovenir Views" which came out shortly after the fire, and which, say Mercer and Weiss, with their high-level academic positions and utter lack of irony, "remains one of the chief sources for research on the fire." I might have preferred the official findings resulting from a promised full-scale investigation, which didn't happen.

Adding insult to injury, Mercer and Weiss report that "In 1941, [the bust] was returned to the state library, [where it] is now prominently displayed in the Manuscripts and Special Collections research room."

February 5, 1929, New York Times, ROOSEVELT ACCEPTS WASHINGTON BUST,
He Thanks Newspaper Man for Recovering Houdon Life Cast Stolen in 1911 Fire. IT WAS IN STATE LIBRARY. Statue, Traced to Binghamton Barn, Will Be Kept in Executive Chamber of the Capitol. RECEIVES LONG-LOST BUST.

ALBANY, Feb. 4.--Missing for eighteen years and long ago given up as destroyed in the Capitol fire of 1911, the famous life cast Houdon bust of George Washington was returned to the possession of the State today.

It was put into the hands of Governor Roosevelt at the Executive Mansion by Irwin Thomas, legislative correspondent for The New York Evening World at the time of the fire. He traced its possessor and compelled its return.

The bust formerly stood on a pedestal in the State Library, which was located on the third floor of the Capitol. One night in the Winter of 1911 fire broke out inthe library and many articles of value disappeared in the resulting confusion. Governor Roosevelt was a State Senator at that time.

General opinion leaned to the more charitable view that the valuable bust had been melted to a lump by the heat. Even those associated with activities at the Capitol had long since forgotten the incident, however, when Mr. Thomas three years ago was informed that a man had carried away the bust in his arms.

On one vacation the newspaper man retraced the thief's course. He learned that after the unlawful possessor had unsuccessfully sought to sell the bust, he had become afraid and had caused it to be hidden in a barn near Binghamton, N. Y.

Mr. Thomas forced the surrender of the bust to him in Albany last week. When he brought it to the Executive Mansion today and related the story of its recovery, the Governor expressed his thanks and said he would have it placed in the Executive Chamber in the Capitol until a State Museum should be erected.

The Washington bust is stamped with the words, "Houdon life cast." It is supposed to be an exact resemblance of the first President and noticeably differs from the more idealized portraits of him which are commonly seen.

The sculptor, Jean Antoine Houdon, came to the United States from France in 1788 and was the President's guest at Mount Vernon. A marble statue of Washington, which he also fashioned, is in the Virginia State Capitol at Richmond.

January 31, 1925, New York Times, $10,000,000 PLAN STATE OFFICES,
Commission Recommends to Governor Group of Buildings Crowning Capitol Hill. INCLUDE NEW MUSEUM. Five-Story Structure. Cost $6,500,000 Would Be Principal Unit. $100,000,000 IS INVOLVED. Program Calls for $10,000,000 Bond Issue Every Year for Ten Years If Voters Approve.

ALBANY, Jan. 30.—The expenditure by the State of $10,000,000 for a group of buildings on, which with the Capitol as their center, would dominate the city and crown Capitol Hill with a display worthy of the Empire State, in addition to furnishing needed office facilities for expanding activities and checking the encroachments of business, is recommended to Governor Smith in a report, made public today, by a special commission which has been considering such a project for a year.

A five-story office building of classical design to match the Educational Building and to cost, with land, $6,500,000, and a structure to house the State Museum, now located in the State Library section of the Department of Education Building, are included in the project which would involve the purchase by the State of an entire residential block to the south of the Capitol building and the better part of two blocks to the north and west. The proposed museum would cost, with the site included, $3,500,000, according to an estimate furnished by the commission.

$100,000,000 Bond Issue Involved.

Ability of the State to carry out this proposal without delay is contingent on the willingness of the present Republican Legislature to lend its approval to the $100,000,000 bond issue for permanent improvements which had been urgently recommended by Governor Smith. The Republican Assembly of last year fell in with the Governor.

An Awesome Reception.

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To hear the tape recording that you'd listen to if you were walking through a self-guided tour of the actual Capitol, play the following link in a new tab while silently reading the text below to yourself. You'll hear a testy female narrator; an earnest current "State Architect" of New York, Jim Jamieson; as well as a crusty actor giving voice to the artist William de Leftwich Dodge. Their effort at rationalizing the appalling architecture and weird interior decoration only makes matters worse, in what was a doomed fiasco starting in the dome's planning stages, as evidenced by the mess of allegorical nonsense. The subsequent re-purposing of this space by modern political occupants seems a lost cause at justifying something that looks both expensive and half-aborted, which is the reality of the Capital building at Albany.

LINK: Governor's Reception Room.

Stop 16: Governors' Reception Room

NARRATOR:
This is one of the most beautiful and colorful spaces in the entire Capitol, with a history to match. Originally, it was meant to be an open space, part of a domed tower that never got built. Plans were made to remove the floor you're standing on to create a 40-foot-high rotunda with murals, meaning you would have viewed the ceiling above you from much farther away. Again, here's Capitol Architect Jim Jamieson

JIM JAMIESON:
"They hire William de Leftwich Dodge, to paint murals. He paints these murals over a period of years from 1920 to 1925, even though they're actually not installed till 1929. That should be a buzz year – 1929 – because now we have the murals installed, but we have the Great Depression. There's not enough money to complete the project. So even though the ceiling and murals are in, they never remove the floor. So we're in the top half of what should be a two-story space, in an area where the floor should be removed, but it's not."

NARRATOR:
The Dodge murals consist of 25 paintings on canvas that are attached to the plaster and four decorated areas that were painted directly onto the plaster—the bright blue sections with flags and stars. The murals depict the military history of New York and commemorate battles with the English, the Dutch, the French, the Iroquois, through to the Civil war and World War One. The artist used his daughter Sara as the model for the central figure: the spirit of New York and the Goddess of Harmony—a symbol of both war and peace. In her memoirs, Sara recalls her father saying:

ACTOR:
"The subject is the history of New York State, treated allegorically. In the central ceiling panel is a fourteen-foot female figure representing New York, with one hand on the state's shield and the other on a sword. She is supposed to be symbolic of all industrial, educational, humanitarian, and militaristic activities. I don't know how in thunder I'm going to put all that in one damn figure, but that will be the idea."

NARRATOR:
If you look around the central figure, you will also see the representations of the five nations of the Iroquois. Additionally, naval battle scenes are painted in gray in the corners. They hang above images of Theodore Roosevelt, Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery, Civil War General Kemble Warren, and the Unknown Soldier. Today this room serves as the Governor's Reception Room for visitors and guests of the Executive Chamber. Beyond the glass doors is the working office of the Governor and his staff.

Think of the collective mind that was halted from building a high tower due to an unstable foundation, which would then conceive of taking out the very floor beneath them---as if the Capitol needed yet another grandiose spectacle of wasteful utilization. Remember that this is all taking place a few years after the destruction by arson of the State Library in the western wing, after which the grand, 50-foot high central reading room was subdivided into two floors, whose rooms on each had been an unwieldy 25-feet high. This sort of mentation seems to place the expenditure of an appropriation ahead of the rational objective of creating something beautiful and long-lasting, And though they're loath to admit it, here is a shrine to comeuppance.

The 82nd Annual State Library Report, for 1899, on page 62, quotes H. H. Bender, the Superintendent of Public Buildings, who had been directed by the State Legislature to report on the Library's current and anticipated space needs in the Capitol. Although the Library had occupied its quarters for barely a single decade, the winds of political change seemed about to blow:

"It should be borne in mind that if the location of the state library is changed from its present quarters, all the metal shelving, book cases, elaborate carving, and special appliances, extending, as they do, through two or more stories, with numerous galleries, must be removed and the regular floor levels of the building carried through the space they now occupy, to adapt those quarters to other purposes; and that but an inconsiderable proportion of such fixtures and appurtenances could be utilized elsewhere."

An article in the Corning, N.Y., Evening Ledger on April 28, 1949, describes a $5,000,000 job underway to renovate "the massive old state capitol," which practically rebuilt the "third, fourth and fifth floors of the 66-year-old building," and principally consisted of "installing mezzanines throughout the three floors to utilize some of the space which up to now has been unused because of extremely high ceilings." The writer explained that the "Representatives formerly had been crowded into huge, high-ceiling "workrooms" throughout the building."

[Original source. April 28, 1949, The Evening Ledger [Corning, N.Y.] Page 14, Push $5,000,000 Job Of Renovating State Capitol, by Bill Davidson, with a transcript of text at Google Docs.]

On the Surface, the State Can be Such a Strict Sugar Daddy.

2012-01-06T22:41:00.007-05:00

It's no wonder that the little people have to sometimes sacrifice their scruples if they choose to succeed. It's all a Ponzi scheme anyhow, rigged for only the top one-percent to glean the glory returns. As for the rest of us, barring cooperative Masonry perhaps, we get war, poverty, incarceration, or just ennui. Let's make a fundamental change in this system for the better, shall we?

July 18, 1901, Wyoming County Times, Laws of New York State--By Authority.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

For painting and other incidental repairing necessary to the preservation of the buildings and premises in charge of the superintendent of public buildings, and to be expended in his discretion, the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. For additional new flooring, painting, concreting, furnishing and further necessary labor and expenses, for the completion of the improvement and betterment of Geological and Agricultural hail, to be expended in the discretion of the superintendent of public buildings, with the approval of the state architect, the sum of four thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. For the repairing, improvement and renovation of the toilet room on the first floor south side of the capitol, and the ladies' toilet room adjacent thereto and for the necessary repairing of other toilet rooms in the capitol, the sum of, two thousand six hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. For repairing the sidewalks and driveways about the executive mansion, and for furnishings to replace those worn out or broken, the sum of three thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. For raking out joints and caulking and pointing up the same and for cleaning the granite work generally on the. east, north and south approaches of the state capitol, the sum of three thousand dollars or so much thereof as may b e necessary. For compensation of the secretary to the trustees of public buildings, one thousand dollars. For carpets and furnishings for the senate chamber, the lieutenant-governor's anteroom, the senate finance committee room, one passageway and three lobbies connected with the senate, the sum of four thousand two hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. For alterations, additions, building of cases and partitions, plumbing, decorating, furnishing, electric lighting and all other necessary labor and materials, to equip rooms in the state capitol for the state tax commission, the state commission of prisons, the fish, forest and game commission, the civil service commission, the department of labor and the state architect, made necessary by the consolidation of state departments, the sum of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. For extending a mezzanine floor over the assembly elevators, in the state capitol, connected with the rear lobby of the assembly chamber, and raising the present cases therein, and all other necessary labor and materials, the sum of ten hundred and. fifty dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

July 19, 1901, Penn Yan Democrat, State Laws, No. 4. Page 2, Column 5,
Building.

For salary of janitor, nine hundred dollars; watchman, eight hundred forty dollars; two messengers at six hundred dollars and five hundred forty dollars respectively; clerk, four hundred eighty dollars; and for services of elevator men, porters, laborers and cleaners, for the care and cleaning of the regents office, college and high school departments, state library and other rooms occupied by the university of the state of New York in the basement, on the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the capitol, eight thousand five hundred dollars; for power and for running two elevators and for necessary repairs, fittings and supplies, to be paid on vouchers duly authenticated by the regents as for their other expenses, five thousand five hundred forty dollars; for new shelving and for new card catalog case, two thousand dollars.

Column 6, State Library.

For salary of senior librarian, two thousand four hundred dollars; law librarian, two thousand one hundred dollars; education Iibrarian, two thousand one hundred dollars; reference librarian, two thousand dollars; director's assistent, one thousand eight hundred, dollars; sociology librarian, one thousand, eight hundred dollars; archivist (manuscript division), one thousand two hundred dollars; sub-librarian (reference) one thousand two hundred sixty dollars; head cataloger, one thousand two hundred dollars; head classifier, one thousand two hundred dollars; sub-librarian (accession), one thousand two hundred dollars; one assistant, one thousand two hundred dollars; two assistants, nine hundred dollars each; two assistants, eight hundred forty dollars each; three assistants and one shelf clerk, seven hundred twenty dollars each; one clerk, six hundred sixty dollars; four clerks, one messenger and one page, six hundred dollars each; one clerk, five hundred forty dollars; one sub-cataloger and six clerks, four hundred eighty dollars each; seven clerks, three hundred sixty dollars each; and for temporary services and for keeping the library open evenings and holidays (except July and August), and for maintaining the duplicate department, and for fittings supplies, printing, and for other expenses pursuant to chapter three hundred seventy-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-two, three-thousand two hundred dollars, of which sum not more than two thousand dollars shall be used for temporary services; also fees of one thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be received in this account, involving no expense to the state under section forty-nine of chapter three hundred seventy-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-two.

For books, serials and binding, pursuant to chapter three hundred and seventy-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-two, eighteen thousand seven hundred dollars, of which sum not more than thirty-six hundred dollars shall be used in paying for services of binders and other persons necessarily employed in binding books. For the state medical library, for books, serials and binding and other expenses of maintenance exclusive of salaries, pursuant to chapter three hundred seventy-seven of the laws of eighty hundred and ninety-one, two thousand dollars. For books to be lent free to the blind of the state, one thousand dollars

September 12, 1906, The Wyoming County Times, Page 6, Column 6,
Supplement, State Laws No. 4.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

For the compensation of the secretary to the trustees of public buildings, one thousand dollars ($1,000).
For the extraordinary repairs and ordinary maintenance of the senate house at Kingston, to be expended in the discretion of the superintendent of public buildings, three hundred dollars ($300), or as much thereof as may be necessary.
For painting and other incidental repairing and furnishings necessary to preserve and renew the buildings, premises and property in charge of the superintendent of public buildings, and to be expended in his discretion, five thousand dollars ($5,000), or so much thereof as may be necessary.
The sum of fifty thousand dollars (re. $50,000), being the unexpended balance of an appropriation made by chapter seven hundred and twenty-eight, laws of nineteen hundred and four, for lighting and necessary fixtures and appliances therefor, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby reappropriated for the same purposes.

For new carpets or other suitable covering for the floors of the senate chamber and lobbies, and the assembly chamber and lobbies, six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars ($6,250).
For repairs to veranda and roof of the executive mansion, one thousand dollars ($1,000).
For replacing the water pipe system in capitol park, one thousand two hundred dollars ($1,200).
For removing about thirty-two feet of masonry from the top of the main capitol tower, forty-eight thousand dollars ($48,000).
For removing the present columns and piers on the first floor of the assembly staircase and replacing—the same, fifty thousand dollars ($50,000)

September 12, 1906, The Wyoming County Times, Page 6, Column 1,
Supplement, State Laws No. 4.

For the purchase for the state library thirty-nine original muster rolls and lists of men in the service of the New York colony during the French and Indian war and prior to the Revolutionary war, five hundred dollars ($500), or so much thereof as may be necessary.

September 12, 1906, The Wyoming County Times, Page 6, Column 2,
Supplement, State Laws No. 4.
STATE ARCHITECT.

The sum of one thousand and eight dollars and sixteen cents ($1,800.16), being a portion of the unexpended balances of the appropriations made by chapter seven hundred and two of the laws of nineteen hundred and four and chapter seven hundred of the laws of nineteen hundred and five, for services of employees of the state architect's office, is hereby reappropriated for compensation of employees in said office during the current fiscal year.

For services and expenses of expert engineer in making examination and report on ventilation of the assembly chamber, adjoining rooms and corridors of the capitol, three hundred and fifty dollars ($350), or so much thereof as may be necessary.
The sum of one thousand dollars, being a portion of the unexpended balance of appropriation made by chapter six hundred and ninety-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred and five for services of assistant chief draftsman in the office of the state architect, is hereby reappropriated for draftsmen and tracers in the same office.

August 5, 1910, Auburn Weekly Bulletin, Page 8, Column 2,
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

For extending the inclosure on the west side of the entrance corridor of the State street side of the capitol, eight hundred dollars ($800), or so much thereof as may be necessary.
For the purchase and installation of one feed water filter and grease extractor in connection with the steam plant of the capitol, under the direction of the superintendent of public buildings, six hundred dollars ($600), or so much thereof as may be necessary.
For the payment of premiums for fire insurance on the executive mansion in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the term of three years, four hundred thirty dollars ($430), or so much thereof as may be necessary.
The sum of one thousand five hundred fifty-six dollars and fifty cents (re. $1,556.50), being the unexpended balance of an appropriation made by chapter four hundred, thirty-three of the laws of nineteen hundred nine for the rewiring of the executive mansion and all incidental expenses in connection therewith, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby reapproprtated for altering, improving and enlarging the capacity of a portion of the electric wiring in the capitol including the installation of cables, to be expended in the discretion of the superintendent of public buildings.
For reimbursing the general salaries fund of the superintendent of public buildings the sum of three thousand five hundred dollars ($3,500), being the amount expended therefrom for the cleaning and restoring of the senate and assembly staircases and that part of the western staircase above and including the fourth story level, in the capitol.

August 5, 1910, Auburn Weekly Bulletin, Page 8, Column 2 ,
TRUSTEES OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000), or so much as may be necessary is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for continuing the construction of the state educational building at Albany, now under contract, to be expended pursuant to the provisions of chapter six hundred seventy-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred six, as amended by chapter thirty of the laws of nineteen hundred eight.
The sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the acquisition of a site and for the construction and equipment of a power house, coal pockets, conduits, for furnishing heat, light and power to the state capitol and state education building at Albany, to be expended pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirteen, laws of nineteen hundred ten.
The trustees of public buildings are hereby authorized to enter into contracts for an amount not to exceed in the aggregate the sum of six hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($625,000) for furniture, equipment and decorating for the state education building at Albany, to include book-stacks, book cases, lighting fixtures, decorating, sculpture and for such other expenses incidental thereto as may be necessary, of which amount the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purposes herein mentioned, to be expended pursuant to the provisions of chapter six hundred seventy-eight, laws of nineteen hundred six, as amended by chapter thirty of the laws of nineteen hundred eight.

A Terrace That Looks Like a Cross Between a Flying Buttress, a Slalome, and a Sumo Wrestler.

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Versailles Complex: An Infilade of Nine Rooms That Ran for 300 Feet; with Ceilings 30 Feet High. Apres Moi?

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Senate Finance Committee Room. No. 31.

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Page 57 top.

Joseph Gavit avails himself of some fireproof document storage, finally.
Page 32, Mercer and Weiss: "In 1896, Joseph Gavit, the 19-year-old son of an Albany engraver, joined the state library staff as a junior clerk in the shelf section. Some 50 years later, having risen to the position of associate librarian, he retired from state service. For much of his career, he was superintendent of the stacks and was reputed to know personally where every book in the library was to be found. His intricate knowledge of the collections and workings of the library were put to the test in the aftermath of the fire. As the first library employee on the scene, his eyewitness accounts, written in the succeeding months and years, are invaluable in understanding the events of March 29, 1911, and afterward."

New York State Library 81st Annual Report, 1898,

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1898 Annual Report, Volume 81,

Western Approach State Library End of Capitol.

Room 35 Central Reference Room, Looking Southeast.

Room 35. Central Reference Room, Looking North.

Room 51, Library School. Study Room, Looking Northeast.

Room 59 Home Education Department. Traveling Pictures

Room 55, History Division, looking southeast

M. W. Robert Judson Kenworthy; William Judson Minor; and (Herman) Leroy Fairchild;

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May 20, 1911, Albany Evening Journal, Page 10, Column 1, Fraternal News.

Calender for next week:
Monday---Masters lodge No. 8. Work. Entered Apprentice.
Tuesday---James Ten Eyck lodge No. 233. Work. Master Mason. Temple chapter No. 5. Work. Mark Master.
Wednesday----Wadsworth lodge No. 417. Work. Fellow Craft.
Thursday — Washington lodge No. 35. Work. Master Mason. Albany Sovereign Consistory reunion, 19th to 32d. inclusive.
Friday—Capital City No. 242. Work. Mark Master.

Among all the institutions known to man at the present day, Freemasonry and the power behind it are the only ones that undertake with clear intelligence to define man's duty to himself and to his fellow men, and to point out the lines of self-protection, liberation, and higher evolution by exact ethical formula, free from all dogmatism, superstition, fear, or any other motive whatever. Freemasonry thus stands as the epitome of human wisdom, and of man's highest achievement at the present time.

Next Thursday evening the annual meetings of the lodge, council and chapter of Scottish Rite Masonry of the Valley of Albany, for election of officers and other important business, will be held at Scottish Rite hall, Masonic Temple. Every member of those branches of masonry should be present and take part.

The appointment of M. W. Robert Judson Kenworthy, grand master, will be announced about June 1.
The new chapel of the Masonic Home, Utica, will be dedicated on St. John's day, Saturday, June 24, and it is expected that the fraternity will be present in large numbers. The grand master, M. W. Robert Judson Kenworthy, will perform the service, asisted by his associate officers. The members from this, the seventeenth district, ever loyal to the fraternity and the grand master, will no doubt attend in greater numbers than at any ceremony in the past, and due notice will be given later as to full arrangements.

Petitions for Kaa-Rheu-Vahn Grotto No. XX, M. O. V. P. E. R. are being sought for by many of the younger members of Masonry. As any master Mason is eligible for the order no doubt a large class will be ready for the session of May 29. The grand monarch, Prophet Hatch of Rochester, and assistant prophets will be present to witness the work, and at the close a banquet will be served.

In an effort to verify the precise spelling of "Kaa-Rheu-Vahn Grotto No. XX, M.O.V.P.E.R.," which the atrocious text of the Albany Evening Journal provided by FultonHistory.com left exceedingly unclear, I came upon the following biographical entry for William Judson Minor. I don't know if it's necessarily pertinent, although I felt a half-synchronicity---certainly with the shared "Judson" middle names. There could very well be a history of Satanic necrophilia at The Little Church Around the Corner. I wouldn't put it past the thin blooded Mayflower descendants, the original religious freaks kicked out of Merry Old England, and for good reason. Given the unreal niceties found here in the projection of public image, to know the truth, we must first understand the sound of lies. The acronym stands for--The Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm,--founded in Hamilton, New York in the summer of 1889, by Leroy Fairchild, who most likely is Herman Leroy Fairchild, although the Wikipedia entry doesn't note any role in Masonry. Said to reside in Hamilton, Herman Leroy was an "Early Promoter and Defender of Meteorite Impact Cratering." In other words, this Fairchild may be the original earth daddy of Area 51! The Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm, was originally named the "Fairchild Deviltry Committee."

"Encyclopedia of biography of New York, a life record of men and women whose sterling character and energy and industry have made them preëminent in their own and many other states," (1916) Page 248, MINOR, William Judson, Progressive Man of Affairs.

There is always valuable lessons to be gained in perusing the life histories of such men as the late William Judson Minor, for many years a progressive man of affairs of New York City during the generation that has just past. His life forcibly illustrated what energy, integrity and a fixed purpose can accomplish when animated by noble aims and correct ideals. Wherever he was known Mr. Minor held the unequivocal esteem of those with whom he came in contact, for he was a man whom to know was to trust and admire, owing to his many commendable attributes of head and heart, and when "the reaper whose name is Death" gathered him in his sheaves he was greatly missed by a wide acquaintance. Whether as a business man, sportsman or churchman he was always the high-minded, straightforward and genteel gentleman, adhering strictly to the sublime precepts of the Golden Rule ; therefore he merited the high esteem in which he was universally held.

Mr. Minor was bom at Cairo, Greene county. New York, November 13, 1844. He was a descendant of two excellent old families of the Empire State, being the son of Oliver P. and Laura Eliza (Lennon) Minor, of English and Irish ancestry. The father devoted his active life to general agriculture pursuits.

William, J. Minor received his early education in the common schools of Cairo, growing to manhood in his native community. In later life his education was greatly enlarged by wide miscellaneous home reading and by contact with the business world. During the Civil War he offered his services to the government, becoming a member of a military organization and remained ready to lend what assistance he could to the Union. When a boy he assisted his father with the work on the farm, the elder Minor dying when the subject of this sketch was twenty-two years old, whereupon the latter left the homestead and went to New York City where he secured employment in an undertaking establishment and there learned the embalming business, later engaged in the business on his own account at No. 112 East Twenty-ninth street, remaining in the undertaking and embalming business until his death, being very successful and becoming one of the best known men in his line in New York, maintaining an extensive and modernly equipped establishment.

For many years Mr. Minor was closely identified with the Church of the Transfiguration, the famous "Little Church Around the Corner," of which Dr. Houghton is pastor. It is located on Twenty-ninth street, near Fifth avenue. He was the official "sexton" of this wealthy Episcopal congregation, and as such had charge of all entertainments, weddings and funerals there. He was active in the general work of the church and took a deep interest in religious affairs. He was well versed in the Bible and his daily life was that of a man of high religious sentiments. He was charitably inclined and took delight in assisting the needy and helpless. He was personally acquainted with many of the noted men of the country during his day and generation, and everyone always reposed implicit confidence in him, knowing him to be a man of high principles. He was quiet and unassuming, yet a genial, companionable man who made friends easily. He never was known to meddle, always attending strictly to his own business.

Mr. Minor was a prominent Odd Fellow and Mason, the former lodge presenting him with a very fine regalia and a beautiful loving cup. He belonged to Warren Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also the encampment and veterans of this order; also Excelsior Lodge, No. 1905, Free and Accepted Masons; Amity Chapter, No. 160, Royal Arch Masons; the United States Council, Royal and Select Masters; Palestine Commandery, No. 18, Knights Templar; Mecca Temple, Azim Grotto, No. 7, M. O. V. P. E. R.; Masonic Veterans, Masonic Club, and he was a member of the Greene County Society, Nassau Driving Club, New York Driving Club, Road Drivers' Association of New York City, the New York State Driving Club, and the Undertakers' Society.

On November 21, 1909, Mr. Minor was married in New York City by Dr. Houghton in the Church of the Transfiguration, to Elizabeth Wood, a daughter of Laurin and Elizabeth (Cole) Wood, of English ancestry and Revolutionary stock. Mrs. Minor's progenitors came to America on the "Mayflower'' in 1620. She was of great assistance to her husband in his work, at the same time has always been active in church affairs and is a deep Bible student. She is a charity worker and known to a large circle as a helpful, kind, generous and noble character. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Minor was without issue.

The death of William J. Minor occurred after a brief illness, on Sunday, December 3, 1916, in his seventy-third year. Among the many tributes to his memory was the following letter of condolence received by Mrs. Minor from W. Gartrell, secretary of the Nassau Driving Club:
MINEOLA, New York, December 29, 1916.
Mrs. W. J. Minor:
Be it and it is hereby resolved, That the members of the Nassau Driving Club on the ninth day of December, mourn the loss of a brother, W. J. Minor, and tender their deepest sympathy to the bereaved widow, trusting that she will be able with Divine help and strength to bear the sorrow with fortitude and patience, and assuring her that the virtues of the deceased will ever be cherished in the memories of the members of this club.
Mr. Minor was an expert amateur driver and his hobby was fine horses. He won ten cups as prizes on the speedway. We quote, in part, as follows from an article on the death of the subject of this memoir, which appeared in one of the leading turf publications of America:

The death of William T. Minor, last Sunday afternoon, after a short illness, came as a distinct shock to his many friends in light-harness circles in this city (New York), and the news of his demise brought much sadness and regret to all those who had valued his friendship as a fine gentleman, a good fellow-sportsman and a keen lover of the light-harness horse.

For a number of years Mr. Minor's health had been slightly failing, and during the past year he had given up driving in the matinees on that account, but it did not prevent him from taking an active interest in local light-harness affairs.

For many years Mr. Minor has been a notable figure in local amateur racing in this city, and with his favorite pacer, "Hiram Abiff"—a horse that he loved as much as any man can love a horse—he started in various races on the New York Speedway, the Parkway track, at the Empire track and finally at the Mineola track. Although during the last ten years of his activities as an amateur driver, (Mr. Minor was more than seventy years old) his skill as a reinsman was as keen as that of a professional driver of younger years, and many of the ribbons and cups that he won were secured as much through his ability as a reinsman as through the merits of the horses he drove.

While Mr. Minor owned a number of fast horses, his pacer, "Hiram Abiff," was his favorite, and although the son of "A. L. Kempland," he had had an extensive racing career before Mr. Minor secured him, his speed abilities and his endurance never waned. Like his departed master, "Hiram Abiff" was on the firing line at all times, never willing to give up the battle right to the wire. Mr. Minor used him to drive summer and winter and there was never a time when both were not ready for a spirited race.

Other horses that Mr. Minor owned were as follows: "Starmoor," a handsome black stallion with which he won many ribbons on the Speedway and other horse shows, and "Nellie R.," a former Speedway cup winner.

According to the web site dreamwater.org 'hiramdiscovered,' even though the name sounds Jewish, "Hiram Abiff," was the King of Egypt, circa 1554 BC. The page's self-description says: "This Masonic site offers 'Light' not found on many other Masonic sites. It investigate the origin of the 'Brotherhood' from Enoch to Jesus."

Labor News.

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May 20, 1911, Albany Evening Journal, Page 10, Column 2, In Labor Circles,

Wednesday night's meeting of the Central Federation of Labor was one of the most exciting sessions ever held by that body. It was also of gravest import to organized labor of this city, as it may result in the formation of a second central body in Albany. The trouble has been brewing for the past two or three years, but the situation became active a few weeks ago when electrical workers came to Albany from New York and displaced the Albany electrical workers who were employed at the capitol after the fire. The claim is made by the Albany men that these outsiders were not union men. If they were, the Albanians ask, why was it necessary for them to organize a union in this city before they could obtain recognition from organized labor? War was immediately declared against the two Albany Unions of electrical workers, and the climax was reached when Organizer Pierce of the American Federation of Labor at Wednesday night's meeting of the General Federation notified that body that its charter was revoked. The central body lost its charter because it deliberately refused to unseat the two Albany locals, and seat delegates from the new local. The matter was threshed out by the delegates. Organizer Pierce for the A. F. of L. and Vice President Myers for the Albany unions.
Secretary Dillon reported concerning the Danahy memorial fund. Over 3,000 circulars and letters have been sent to the unions of New York state. Responses are coming in every day, and the amount received to Wednesday was about $230. The boilermakers reported progress in their strike.

September 13, 1911, Albany Evening Journal, Page 1. WHALEN MAN KEEPS JOB ON CAPITOL WORK. Contractors Reinstate Edward Donnelly, Who Lost His Place Because He Was Against McCabe.

Callanan & Prescott, the firm which has a contract to reconstruct the state capitol, reinstated a man today who trains with the Whalen faction of the Democratic party. Edward Donnely is the employe. He was discharged a few days ago by the superintendent. This action followed a threat which it was declared had been made by Max Kurth, McCabe leader in the fourteenth ward, to the effect that unless he worked for the McCabe interests in the primaries Donnelly would lose his place.
When this report reached James J. Nolan, of the state excise department, the Whalen leader of the fourteenth, a protest was made to Callahan & Prescott. The firm granted a hearing to-day and Messrs. Kurth and Nolan were present. On the presentation of the case by Mr. Nolan the firm ordered Donnelly reinstated and he reported for duty again this afternoon. The contractors took the position that the work under their direction should not be made a matter of politics.

October 26, 1911, Albany NY Evening Journal, Page 13, Column 1, WILL GO TO LAW FOR FRED LUBY, United Spanish War Veterans Are Indignant at His "Suspension" at the Capitol.

NO COMPLAINT HAD BEEN PREFERRED AGAINST HIM
Committee Called on Superintendent Bowe and Read the Law to Him---Legal Steps Taken and Department Headquarters Notified.
Capt. Frank R. Palmer camp No. 28, United Spanish War Veterans, held a special meeting this week at which the case of Fred Luby, a veteran of the Spanish War, who had been "suspended" from his position as elevator man in the state capitol without any charges being preferred or without a hearing was taken up. Mr Luby has been operating an elevator in the east end of the building for about nine years, and two or three days before his dismissal was removed to an elevator in the west end of the building, which was to be abandoned on account of the repairs being made in the burned portion.

Parapraph 22, section 1, chapter 264, laws of 1910, states that "no person holding a position by appointment or employment in the state of New York having served in the army of the United States during the late war with Spain shall be removed from such position except for incompetency or misconduct shown after a hearing upon due notice upon stated charges, and with the right to such employe or appointee to a review by a writ of certiorari. If the position so held shall become unnecessary or be abolished for reasons of economy or otherwise, the said employe holding the same shall not be discharged from the public service, but shall be transferred to any branch of the said service for duty in such position as he may be fitted to fill, receiving the same compensation therefor, and it is hereby made the duty of all persons clothed with power of appointment to make such transfer effective."

A committee was appointed to call on John Bowe, superintendent of public buildings, to see what could be done. The committee called on Mr. Bowe Tuesday morning, and asked him to reinstate Mr. Luby. He stated that he could not do this. The committee asked Mr. Bowe if there were any charges preferred against Mr. Luby, or if any complaint had been made against him, and he stated there had not. The committee then read to Mr. Bowe the law as quoted above and asked him if he would grant to Mr. Luby the rights to which he is entitled under the law, and he absolutely refused to do so. Legal steps have already been taken in the matter, and department headquarters of the United Spanish War Veterans notified.

The Spanish War Veterans will fight to a finish against such ruthless trampling of the rights which the law accords them. They understand that this suspension is really a discharge. Four other men also were laid off. All are Republicans.

Criminal Malfeasance.

2011-12-26T16:32:00.002-05:00

August 5, 1890, New York Times, REPAIRING THE CAPITOL. MANY DEFECTS DISCOVERED
-- THE GOLDEN CORRIDOR A THING OF THE PAST.

ALBANY, Aug. 4. -- The restoration of the north central section of the Capitol is well under way, with prospects of its completion by Fall. The work was begun none too soon, for bad workmanship, together with frost disintegrations, had rendered six of the granite dormer windows and the heavy stone balustrade at the base of the steep roof over the Assembly Chamber unsafe, and the mass was ready to fall apart. These have been reset and made secure.

One of the greatest defects was found in the construction of the gutters. These were carved out of granite and the joints cemented. By degrees the water worked its way through the cementing, and as a result the walls were damp continually and frescos and expensive decorations were ruined. Commissioner Perry had just finished lining all the gutters with copper, and hopes thereby to preserve the walls from further damage. When he constructed the west end the gutters of it were all protected with copper.

The big chimneypieces in the Senate Chamber contained flues 8 inches square. These have been enlarged during the Summer to openings 18 inches by five feet. These, it is considered, will be sufficient to remove the vitiated air from the chamber and keep it pure. In other parts of the building the smoke flues have been enlarged and ventilating ducts and shafts cut in the solid masonry floors and walls, measuring from 8 to 10 inches to 5 by 6 feet. There was heretofore almost an entire absence of any ventilation.

The golden corridor, whose beauties were extolled during the early life of the Capitol, remains only in memory. Its space, with a little of that which was in the room originally set apart for the Court of Appeals, has been made into six spacious committee rooms. The corridor on the second floor floor north was broken by the old Court of Appeals room. Now it is carried continuously from east to west ends of the building.

In the execution of this work, which necessitated the tearing away of many hundred cubic feet of masonry, two discoveries were made. One was that the wall on the north side of the open court was never "tied." Experts who examined this wall at different times gave decisions that it was forced out by the pressure of the original stone ceiling of the Assembly Chamber. This proved to be not the fact. Now that the fractured work has been removed, it is shown that the wall was crowded out by the great east and west walls of the Assembly Chamber, which stands at right angles. These walls extended from the big arches in the golden corridor up to and on a line with the roof trusses.

It is evident that the weight of these walls was so great as to compress the arches, and thereby force the walls out. Four large wrought-iron tie rods extending through the granite wall of the court and connected with the four great plate girders which carry the Assembly floor, will hereafter hold the wall in position without doubt.

The Governor's Message, 1867.

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January 8, 1867, The World: New York, Page 4, Column 5, THE NEW STATE CAPITOL

Governor FENTON'S message devotes ten lines of nothings to the subject of the erection of the new Capitol at Albany. As ten million dollars are to be used in the construction, it might be expected that the finest building of the kind in the country, and one fit for the seat of government of such a State as NEW-YORK, would be the result. The Capitol at Nashville, confessedly the most pretentious outside of Washington, cost but two millions; yet such a course has been pursued as to bar the competition of all architects whose designs are worthy consideration.

The Commission to whom was entrusted the construction advertised last year for specifications, the highest price attached to which was only three thousand dollars, and no assurance was given that he whose design was accepted should be appointed the architect of the building. In this miserly attire the embryo capitol has gone a-begging among the principal architects of the country. They refuse to consider such an impecunious proposition.

The American Institute for architects, among whom are included some of the best in the country, and to whose members are attributable such structures as our recent Academy of Music, that in Philadelphia, Mr. STEWART'S residence, the buildings at Jerome Park, and all constructions whose reputation is national, have unanimously issued a circular to the effect that the terms offered by the Capitol Commission are such as no capable designer can afford to entertain. They state to Hon. HAMILTON HARRIS, the Chairman of the Commission:

According to the established custom of business in our time, a building worth three millions of dollars pays to the architect employed to design it at least a commission of three per cent., one third of which would be due when the design and specifications, upon which the cost can be estimated, are fully prepared. This would probably amount, in the case before us, to a sum of thirty thousand dollars.

As a result of this short-sighted policy, we understand that the Commission has received no plans commensurate with the purposes of the new Capitol, but are inundated with ambitious specifications from inferior architects. The enterprise of securing fit designs seems to have died before it was born, from the miserable penuriousness we have indicated.

If the Legislature has time to spare from the congenial and compatible duties of governing New-York City, reconstructing the South, and repealing the neutrality laws, it would be well could they shake some common sense into the Capitol Commission, and arouse them to the fact that the new building will require more breadth and expenditure in design than the construction of a candy store or the erection of a Freedmen's schoolhouse.

More Freemasonry Bashing. It Didn't Start With Me.

2011-12-26T08:39:00.006-05:00

(Where's Jimmy Buffett when you need him?)

June 19, 1871, New York Times, THE NEW CAPITOL.; Preparations for the Laying of the Corner-Stone.
A Chapter from History Sketch of the Old Capitol. Origin of the New Movement and its Progress.

ALBANY, N.Y., Thursday, June 15, 1871.--The near approach of the time when the corner-stone of the new Capitol is to be laid invests with some interest the proceedings that marked the construction of its predecessor, the present well-known building.

Up to 1804 the people were satisfied that the old structure, on the corner of Broadway and Hudson streets, in the City of Albany, was sufficiently capacious to do all of the business necessary to run the State of New-York, and they, therefore, made no movement toward superseding it by a better. In that, however, the citizens possessed themselves with the idea that the building was not large enough to properly honor the assembled wisdom of the State of New-York, and they therefore moved the Legislature to pass a law appointing Commissioners to proceed and build a State-house that should properly accommodate the demands of the State. This bill entitled "An act making provisions for improving Hudson River below the City of Albany, and for other purposes," was passed on the 6th day of April, 1804. It named John Tayler, Daniel Hale, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, (then Mayor of Albany,) Simeon De Witt and Nicholas N. Quackenbush, Commissioners to project and erect a building suitable for the public purposes of the State, and for the Courts and offices of the City of Albany. It authorized the levying of a tax upon the County of Albany of $3,000, and upon the City of Albany of a like sum. This is explained by the fact that at this time the building was intended to be built by and belong to the Corporation of Albany. The bill further authorized the managers of lotteries, created in "An act for the encouragement of literature," to raise the sum of $12,000, in addition to the sums already provided, and when such sum was raised to pay it over to the Commissioners. Each Commissioner gave a bond in the penal sum of $30,000 to the people of the State to faithfully perform his duties under the act, and to account every six months to the Controller. They were also empowered to sell the old State-house.

Having now a certain capital on which to proceed, the Commissioners proceeded to engage their architect, one HOOKER, and to make estimates of the probable cost of the venture. The amount upon which they finally proceeded appears in an estimate in the handwriting of Simeon De Witt, filed in the office of the State Engineer, to have been $120,000. Ground was broken, and for two years the work went on. On the 7th day of March, 1807, the available money having been expended, the Commissioners report to the Legislature as follows:

AMOUNT REQUIRED IN CONSTRUCTION OF THE STATE-HOUSE.

To inclose building...$16,000
To complete interior...$20,000
Portico...$6,800
Total...$42,800

This proposed a wooden cornice and roof, and if the work was done in stone and slate, then $10,000 additional would be needed

AMOUNT RECEIVED BY COMMISSIONERS.

From sale of City Hall...$17,200
Tax on City and County of Albany...$6,000
Given by Corporation of Albany...$10,000

This sum of $33,200 had already been expended, and there only remained provided for by law, the $12,000 authorized to be raised by lottery. The Commissioners report that not less than $30,000 more will be required. The report goes on to say that the work could have been done for a less sum if brick had been used instead of stone, but that the Commissioners would have considered that they had erred in their duty had they used less substantial material. That the State has as yet made no contribution, the whole burden of the building so far, except the $3,000 taxed upon the County of Albany, having been borne by the city. The Commissioners close by asking further aid, and saying that the strictest economy had marked the construction of the work. This was referred to a Committee composed of Messrs. Rudd, C. Platt, Sheldon, Van Olinda and Roseboom, on the 27th of March, 1807. This Committee asked to be discharged from further consideration of the report. This was done, and upon motion, a joint Committee were appointed, and they recommended that the State advance $20,000 to the Commissioners, to be repaid by a lottery. This was done, and the pot was kept boiling for a while longer.

On the 24th of March, 1808, the Commissioners made the following detailed report of the sums received by them:

From tax on City of Albany...$3,000
From tax on County of Albany...$3,000
From Corporation of Albany...$10,000
From sale of Court-house...$17,200
From proceeds of lottery...$12,000
From the State, to be reimbursed by a lottery...$20,000
From extra donation by Corporation of Albany...$4,000
Total...$69,200

They estimate that $25,000 more will be required, and state hat if that sum is given by the State the City of Albany will level and beautify the grounds about the building. This was referred to a committee, and on the 29th of March, 1808, they reported a bill, which was passed on the 8th of April, giving the $25,000 required on condition that the corporation of Albany secure to the people of the State the use of such apartments in the new buildings as the Legislature may require for public purposes, and that they further execute a bond to the people of the State, in the penal sum of $50,000, to faithfully perform such act; and also, that the Corporation of Albany immediately proceed to level and ornament the grounds. This was evidently done, for on the 11th day of March, 1809, the final report of the Commissioners is made, and they say nothing of any neglect by the City of Albany. The report is as follows:

Expended in erecting the State-house, furnishing, &c....$97,000
On hand in money and material...$3,000 00

and closes by saying, that the furniture to be used will vary in quality, so that no estimate can be made upon the additional amount required to complete the work. The report is signed by John Taylor, Chairman Board of Commissioners.

The Legislature in the Supply bill of 1809 appropriated $5,000 to complete the furnishing of the building. This failing to accomplish that result, on the 30th of March, 1809, the last act relating to the erection of the old Capitol was passed, and $5,000 was appropriated to finally end the job. Up to the date of this act the building had been known as the State-house, it now became known as the Capitol. According to these figures the entire cost of the building, furniture and all, was not less than $110,000. The Capitol building remained the property of the city until about the time the present City Hall was built, when for $20,000, and the privilege of quarrying marble from the Sing Sing Works, the city sold its interest to the State. Very little is said about the corner-stone of the Capitol building, and it is impossible to find any record of its situation or contents. In the Albany Gazette of April 23, 1806, the following appears:

"Yesterday the corner-stone of the new State-house, to be erected in this city, was laid by Hon. P.S. Van Rensselaer, in presence of the Chancellor, Judges of the Supreme Court, members of the Corporation, State-house Commissioners, and other respectable citizens. The site upon which this edifice is to be erected is at the head of State-street, on the west side of the public park. It is to be built of stone, is 100 by 80 feet, on an improved plan, embracing much elegance with convenience and durability."

And this is all that was said in the papers of that day of the laying of the corner-stone of the venerable building now the head-quarters of the Tammany organization. It was not considered necessary in those days to call in the Masons to perform the duty that lay directly in the province of the Mayor, as Mr. Van Rensselaer then was; and it is very unfortunate that Mr. Hoffman does not feel qualified to perform a duty which he, as the representative of the people, is justly called upon to perform.

The history of the new Capitol, since the time when it became an established fact by the action of the Legislature, may not be uninteresting. Certainly the vast sums of money already spent to bring it to a position when the first layer of superstructure may be laid interests the taxpayers of the State. The quarrels over appropriations, the jealousies of Commissioners---all these things have been frequently written; but now they are all to be buried under the corner-stone, and the work go on to an early completion. On the 27th day of January, 1865, the Senate adopted the following resolution, and thence-forward the building of a Capitol became a State burden:

Resolved, That a select committee of three be appointed by the President of the Senate, to ascertain by correspondence or otherwise, with the City of Buffalo and other municipalities of the State, on what terms the grounds and buildings necessary for a new Capitol and public offices can be obtained, and that said committee report as soon as possible.

On the Committee were appointed Wm. Lamibeer, Jr. C. J. Folger, O. M. Allaben, who, on the 16th of February, 1865, sent to the different cities and towns in the State a circular, stating the nature of their appointment, and asking that reports be made from different portions of the State of the premises available for the purposes of a new Capitol, the cost and ease of procuring building materials, facilities of travel, statistics of health, size and population of town, and other matters. An answer was required as early as the 1st of March. This was sent to the Mayor of the cities in the State and to two hundred villages. It not bringing the desired responses, another circular was sent on the 11th of March, asking that the request be attended to, and that the replies be sent in by the 20th inst. Further saying that a meeting would be held by the Committee on the 22d of March to hear any parties interested. On the 30th of March the Committee reported that they had received numerous letters in reply to their circular, that the City of New-York offered a site on the Battery, City Hall Park, Tompkins-square, Mount Morris-square, Central Park or Washington Heights, and to erect, free of expense to the State, all the necessary buildings, and to furnish a plot on Fifth-avenue one hundred feet square, opposite the Central Park, and to erect an executive mansion thereon. Yonkers tendered three beautiful sites for Capitol and State-houses, Saratoga Springs offered sites and such a sum of money as the State should think proper. The village of Whitestown proposed to donate any quantity of ground. The City of Albany offered the square known as the Congress Hall property. Buffalo, Oswego and Utica declined to have anything to do with the matter. The village of Athens, better known as the end of Vanderbilt's White Elephant Railroad, made liberal propositions, and one Alonzo Greene appeared before the Committee and made arguments in its favor. The strongest argument being that he was the only person who had attended the call of the Committee. The Committee say that if the capitol is removed they consider that the City of New-York is the proper place for it, but they doubt the propriety of its removal; and conclude with a recommendation that the bill for the erection of a new Capitol in Albany be passed. The Committee publish in an appendix twenty-four communications from different portions of the State. One from Margaretville. Delaware County, breaks into verse and opens thus:

"Amid the wilds of Delaware,
From politics and war afar, Encradled by the snow-clad hills,
And culled by trickling mountain rills,
There sleeps a little village white,
And from that pretty town I write.
What is its name? Well, if you will,
The people call it Margaretville."

This writer goes on to say that the postman, as usual, went his rounds that afternoon with a letter directed to the village President. The place had no President, and so the postmaster must break the seal. Then comes the picture of Margaretville, as the centre of hurrying crowds and the hope of future Legislatures. This fades away as the material questions of the Committee are appreciated. The poet offers everything:

"Take what you will--we'll naught refuse--
Pay when you will, and as you choose;
Or, like Van Rensselaer of old,
Possess the lands and keep your gold."

Closing with an appeal for the health of the Governor and the State officers who are to be saved by the air of Delaware, the poet subsides.

The other communications are tame and commonplace. On the 1st day of May, 1865, the Legislature passed a law providing that when the City of Albany shall donate to the State the plot of ground known as Congress Hall Block, then the Governor is authorized to appoint three Commissioners, who shall proceed to procure plans, &c., at the expense of the City of Albany, for a proper building to be used as a Capitol. The building to be located on the site of the present Capitol. Ten thousand dollars were appropriated by the State for general purposes. The city having made the donation of the property in the following February, the Governor appointed Hamilton Harris, Jno. V. L. Pruyn and O. B. Latham Commissioners. On the 14th of April, 1866, a bill was passed that stated that, inasmuch as the City of Albany had complied with the terms of the original act, the site of the Capitol is hereby ratified and confirmed. No money was appropriated this year. On the 23d of April, 1867, the sum of $250,000 was appropriated, followed May 19, 1868, by another amount of $250,000, and an increase in the Commission of five members, namely: J. S. Thayer, A. B. Cornell, W. A. Rice, James Terwilliger and John T. Hudson.

Constant quarrels had existed since the forming of the Commission between Messrs. Harris and Latham, resulting in memorials from the latter gentleman to the Legislature, in which he charged waste of public money, &c. This, however, did not avail anything, and in 1869 the Legislature appropriated $400,000 for buying lands and proceeding in the construction of the building. There had been a constant endeavor upon the part of the people from several localities to effect a change of location after it was found that the new Capitol was a certain thing, and bills were introduced to change the site, at every session. Endeavors to block the appropriations, &c., were the common labors of the Assembly. On the special bill of 1870 to levy a tax to raise $1,300,000, this opposition became very strong. But the danger blew over, and the appropriation was made. Up to this time, therefore, the account stands:

Appropriated by chapter 210, Laws 1863, to buy lands...$70,000
Donated by the City of Albany...$6,000
Appropriated by the State for plans, &c., 1865...$10,000
Donated by City of Albany, (Congress Hall) 1866...$65,200
Appropriated by chapter 445, laws 1867...$250,000
Appropriated by chapter 830, laws 1868 $250,000
Appropriated by chapters 645 and 824 laws 1869...$400,000
Appropriated by chapter 492, laws 1870...$1,300,000
Total...$2,351,200

Amount paid for land...$410,200
Expenses of building to Jan. 1, 1871...$1,941,000

This year the Legislature appropriated $650,000 and appointed a new Commission, composed of W. A. Rice, H. Harris, W. C. Kingsley, E.A. Merritt, Delos De Wolf and C. Depew. The Superintendent claims that he can finish the work so that the Assembly of 1874 can hold their sessions in the building, only asking for money. The law of 1868 limited the expenditure to four million dollars, but since the corner-stone rests on two million dollars, it is hardly possible that the intention of that body will be carried out. The Masons over the State are making every preparation to have the ceremonies of the 24th the most august that have ever illustrated the records of the country. Every Lodge in the Commonwealth will be represented by a committee, and the uniforms will be as gorgeous as the possibilities of Masonic properties will allow. At first a feeling of opposition developed among the anti-Masons of the State, but as the show is of no political significance, and the Order claim to have officiated at the inception of Solomon’s Temple, it has been judged best to let them go on and play their play.

This Shit Doesn't Stop.

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And who the fuck is paying for it?

December 18, 1873, The Sun, Page 1, Column 5, A GREAT WORK BEGUN.
Laying the Corner of the New Bridge Across the Hudson at Poughkeepsie.

POUGHKEEPSIE, Dec. 16.--An immense concourse witnessed the laying of the corner stone of the proposed bridge to cross the Hudson at this place, A special train reached here from Hartford about noon, bringing the Major of that city and representatives of the Common Council and about one hundred of Hartford's influential citizens. The fast train up on the Hudson River road brought leading Pennsylvania Central Railroad folks, including J. Edgar Thompson, Mr. A. L. Dennis, John J. Blair, A. Carnega, [Carnegie perhaps?] G. F. McCandlaas, J. H. Lindville, and others.

At noon a grand procession was formed of all the military and civic societies--George Parker, Grand Marshal--and marched to Reynolds's Hill, where the corner stone was to be laid. Here thousands had congregated to witness the ceremonies, which were conducted by Grand Master James W. Husted of Westchester. The exercises were entirely Masonic, and similar to those which surrounded the laying of the corner stone of the new Capitol at Albany, After the corner stone was laid cannon were fired and the bells of the city were rung. The procession moved up town again, and there the distinguished guests were tendered a banquet at the Opera House. The welcome speech was made by Mayor Eastman. The Opera House was handsomely decorated, and the tables, which were provided for three hundred persons, were loaded with good things. After the speech-making and eating the most of the guests returned to their homes on the early evening trains.

When completed this bridge will save over one hundred miles of railroad track between the New England States and the Pennsylvania coal fields. The entire length will be about one mile, of which about half--a trifle less than 2,500 feet--is over the channel of the river, and the other half consists of approaches, being mainly on the east side. The height of the bridge from the water to the bottom chord of the huge trusses is 130 feet, and the trusses themselves will be about sixty-five feet high, so that the entire elevation of the track above high water mark will be nearly two hundred feet. There will be four piers in the channel, and one on each side close to the bank, so that the main bridge will consist of five immense spans, each five hundred feet long. The land approaches will be made up of shorter spans.

A Glaring Impropriety

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The Sun., June 27, 1871, Page 2, Column 1, A Glaring Impropriety

At the laying of the corner-stone of the new Capitol at Albany, last Saturday, an impropriety was committed which admits of no excuse but a want of perception of its nature and extent on the part of the persons concerned in it. A private organization, known as the Freemasons, were not merely permitted to be present as spectators, but were invited to perform and did perform their peculiar rites as a part of the public ceremonies of the occasion. We have nothing to suy against Masonry as an institution, nor against its symbolic observances; but that its votaries should be thus officially recognized by our State authorities, is a thing of which all the rest of the commuuity has a right to complain.

If the Masons were, as they profess to have originally been, bona fide workers in stone and mortar, it would undoubtedly be fitting for them to do something like what they did on Saturday. They, and all the other mechanics whose skill and labor will be employed in erecting the new Capitol, might properly participate in the formal commencement of the building. But it is notorious that they are not masons at all, and that the technical jargon they make use of has only an allegorical meaning. Grand Master Anthon is a lawyer, who never did a day's mason work in his life; and the other Worshipfuls and Most Worshipfuls, who assisted him, are as innocent as he is of practical experience in the trade. They went through the form of applying the square and the level to the stone, but they would probably be puzzled to tell whether it was really well laid or not, notwithstanding their glib declaration that it was all right. The whole concern is secret and quasi-religious in its nature, and it is a gross assumption for it, on account of its name, to claim a prominent part in a ceremony of such general interest as the laying of the corner stone of a State Capitol.

Besides, there is a strong feeling of opposition to Masonry among a large and influential class of our people. The Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches formally condemn it as inconsistent with true religion, and other denominations view it with distrust if not with enmity. It was an open affront to all these citizens to thus conspicuously honor the object of their dislike. It is an if an Orange Lodge should be invited to assist in laying the cornerstone of a corporation building in this city. The other faction might well say that this was an insult to them, and so may the anti-Masons say of the prominence just given to the Masons at Albany. The whole thing was a blunder, which we hope will never be repeated.

Is it Wise?

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June 3, 1871, New-York Tribune, Page 4, Column 2, Link:

A dispatch, the, the other day, announced that the corner-stone of the new Capitol at Albany was to be laid with the ceremonial of the Masonic Order on their honored day, the anniversary of St. John the Baptist. There are some reasons why such a programme may seem at first view appropriate. The Freemasons are a large and powerful body, embracing a great many of our most trusted and honored citizens, having no political affiliations, and generally respected for their charitable deeds and useful purposes. Their gorgeous regalia and impressive ritual add a splendor to all public observances in which they take part, and under their auspices we may be sure that the beginning of the new State House will be honored with becoming parade. But is it wise to place the matter in their hands?
If it had been proposed that the Right Rev. Horatio Potter, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New York, should lay the corner-stone, with a procession of his Clergy in surplices and stoles; or that Dr. Conroy, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Albany, should bless it with holy water and incense and the sign of the cross; or that the Presbyterian General Assembly should take it in charge, and appoint some of their leading divines to conduct the ceremonies, all parties and denominations would have objected. The Capitol is built for the whole people, without distinction of politics, creed, or opinion. The Freemasons, highly as they are esteemed, do not represent the whole people. To the majority their rites are incomprehensible. To a number not inconsiderable, especially among the Roman Catholics and Episcopalians, the order is, on general principles, offensive. Intrusting the ceremony to them seems to us scarcely less unwise than it would be to give it to a religious denomination, or the Sons of Temperance, or the Ancient Order of Hibernians, or the Anti-Slavery Society, or the Union League Club.
We say here no word against the Freemasons. The praise of their goods deeds is in the mouths of all men; if there are features of their organization to which some good citizens have objected, the time is long past since these were the topic of political dispute or any general bitterness. But we are sure that the most zealous Masons will agree with us in holding that this is an affair that can only be properly conducted by those fairly representing all the people of the State. It is not a work for any benevolent organization, howver holy, for any political party, however pure, for any private association whatsoever, however numerous and honored. It is the work of the people of the State, through the officers holding the certificate and seal of their elections.