24th CoNG. 2d SESS.] Model-cases Burning of the Post Office Building. Furniture, including cases for papers, stationery, and parchment Fuel Office seals and press Cost of record books and portfolios D. 2,000 00 Estimate to restore the loss in the Patent Office. 3,000 models, at $33 33 average From 5,000 to 6,000 drawings Record books Press and seal Recording patents and assignments Desks, book-cases, and other office furniture Total estimate $100,000 00 950 00 BURNING OF THE POST OFFICE BUILDING. IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, Mr. Knight made the following report : $2,000 00 opposite the end of the Post Office building lately occupied by the Patent Office and City Post Office, and but a few rods distant. I left the Department soon after dark on the evening of the 14th ultimo, and retired early to bed, being quite indisposed. Between the hours of 3 and 4 o'clock on the morning of the 15th, the cry of fire was heard. Still being very unwell, I requested one of my family to look out and inform me where the fire was, and learnt that no appearance of fire was visible, either from the east or west windows of my dwelling. The cry of fire was repeated at intervals, and in a few minutes Mr. Laurenson, a clerk in the Auditor's office, rapped at my door, and stated that the Post Office was on fire. I instantly left my bed, and, looking out a front window, saw no signs of fire on any part of the building, the east end being in full view. I dressed, and, on going out, observed smoke issu$156,100 00 ing from the eastern door. Passing round to the front, I observed smoke issuing also from the cracks in the windows of the principal room of the City Post Office, and perceived a light over the front door, evidently produced by the flame within. Not observing a single person, and having no means to extinguish a fire so much advanced in the combustible matter with which the City Post Office was filled, I thought it my duty to proceed to save the books of the General Post Office. I entered the passage at the west end of the building, and saw a light over the door which separated the City Post Office from the passage of ing them to inquire into the cause of the destruction by the Post Office Department, through the cracks of which fire of the building in which was the General Post Office, the smoke was forcing its way. I found Mr. Reynolds, a the City Post Office, and the Patent Office, report: watchman, in the passage, and Mr. Baldwin, a clerk in That the committee commenced the inquiry by address- the contract office, already in his room, preparing to reing letters to the Postmaster General, the City Postmaster, move his books. A few other persons soon joined us, and and the Superintendent of the Patent Office, from each of we proceeded to remove the books in every room on the whom answers were received, and are hereunto annexed. lower floor, after which an accession of force proceeded to We further proceeded by examining several persons who secure the files of papers and the furniture. While enwere first at the place of conflagration, but had not progressed gaged in removing the books, I twice observed persons atfar before it was ascertained we were following in the track tempting to open the door which led from the passage into of the committee of the House of Representatives, and the City Post Office, whom I requested to desist, lest the that all the persons we had examined, or were about to ex-smoke, if not the flame, should rush in upon us, and prevent amine, had already been examined, and their depositions taken, by the committee of the House. And believing that no information would be elicited which would not come to the knowledge of Congress through that committee, we therefore concluded it would not shed any light on the subject by proceeding further with the examination of those persons. But to suspend the investigation, and wait the development of some new fact or discovery of some other person possessing some knowledge or information of the matter referred to the committee, would better accomplish the object required by the resolution. But no such development or discovery having come to the knowledge of the committee, we therefore submit the statements of the Postmaster General, the City Postmaster, the Superintendent of the Patent Office, and, also, of the honorable Mr. Ruggles, of the Senate, James Summers, Samuel Crown, Henry Bishop, sen., and Cornelius Cox, as containing all the information obtained by the committee concerning the object of the inquiry aforesaid; all of which are appended to and make a part of this report. The committee cannot forbear remarking that the practice of placing ashes in and near the wood, coal, and other combustibles appertinent to the public offices, cannot be too strongly reprehended, and in their opinion such practice should be discontinued and abolished. our saving the books and papers. On their expressing a Having seen all the books sent out of the first story, I went up into the second. In the big room (so called) I observed Mr. Suter, principal pay clerk, busily employed, with several others, in carrying out the books of the Auditor's office. I passed through that room to the rooms of the appointment office, which adjoined the Patent Office, on the second story, and, as I believed, saw all the books of that office sent out. sioner of Patents, attempting to force open a closed window In the passage I observed Mr. Ellsworth, the Commisor door leading from the second floor of the General Post Office into the passage of the Patent Office. Apprehending that the smoke, if not the fire, would render it impossible to enter the passage of the Patent Office, and that the only effect of opening that avenue would be to cut short our exertions to save the contents of the General Post Office, I so intimated to Mr. Ellsworth. Instantly reflecting, Sin: In compliance with the request contained in your however, that he must feel it his duty to use all possible letter of the 20th ultimo, I proceed to give you all the in- means to save the books of his own office, I turned from formation in my possession in relation to the late destruc-him to renew my exertions. There were scuttles through tion of the Post Office building by fire. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, the floor at the end of the passages in the General Post My residence is on the east side of Seventh street, nearly | Office, next to the Patent Office and the City Post Office, Burning of the Post Office Building. through which the smoke was rapidly ascending from the door of the City Post Office, and I expected every instant to see it followed by flames. If Mr. Ellsworth had effected an entrance there, it would have been at the imminent hazard of his life, as his retreat was liable every moment to be cut off. I met with him again in the building, when he told me he could not even find a ladder by which he might enter the windows of the second story and save his books. On turning from Mr. Ellsworth the first time, I met Mr. Eliot, the chief examiner, who told me the doors in the third story were locked, and inquired whether he should break them. I answered in the affirmative, and followed him back through the big room and up into the third story, where I saw him and another gentleman forcing the doors of the rooms. [24th CoNG. 2d SESS. times deposited there in a box on the cellar floor, no circumstance has come to my knowledge making it probable that the fire originated from them. Nor do I know any circumstance tending to show that it was the work of an incendiary, other than the fact that those rooms contain. ing fuel were accessible from the street, and the absence of any other known cause. One of the watchmen of the General Post Office, then on duty in the lower passage, reports to me that he was first alarmed by the s:nell of smoke, as if from smothered fire, and, after examining sundry rooms in the General Post Office, discovered that the smoke came up through the cracks of a trap-door in the passage, close to the door of the City Post Office. Attempting to descend into the basement of the General Post Office, his candle was extinguished by a current of air mingled with smoke, when he gave the alarm by thumping at the door of the City Post Office, and crying fire in the streets. If there be any other point on which information is de sired by your committee, I shall be happy to give it as far as it is in my power. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, AMOS KENDALL. Chairman Com. P. O. and P. R., Senate. Hon. Jon M. ROBINSON, CITY POST OFFICE, Having observed, from the illumination of the street in front, that the flames had burst out, it now occurred to me that my family might not be safe, as the wind might drive the flames in the direction of my dwelling-house, which, though covered with slate, was connected with a porch, and was near other buildings not so secured. I found the street in front of the General Post Office abandoned, and the heat so intense that I could scarcely pass on the opposite side. The flames were pouring in torrents out of the windows of the City Post Office and of the Patent Office, and were just bursting from the roof above. There was a gentle wind from a southwesterly direction, which drove the smoke and burning cinders immediately over my dwellingWashington, D. C., Dec. 21, 1836. house and those in the vicinity. The flaming cinders had SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of already alighted in several places on the shingle roofs of your letter advising me that the committee of the Senate the opposite houses, and I gave up for lost the entire blocks charged with an inquiry into the causes of the late confla on both sides of Seventh street in the rear of the Post Of-gration of the Post Office building would be gratified to re fice. I sent my wife and children to a place of safety, ceive from me any information on the subject which might gave instructions to the servants, and leaving the house in tend to promote the investigation as directed by the Senate. charge of a few kind friends who volunteered to guard it, went out through a shower of fire, and returned by Fleft the office between 7 and 8 o'clock the evening before, Of my own personal observation I know but little. I street to the General Post Office. I again ascended to the enjoining upon the clerks, as was my habit ever since I third story, apprehending that there were books and pa- have been charged with the office, to be careful with the pers in that quarter not yet removed, but found the passage lights and fires. On the first alarm in the morning I reentirely abandoned, and so full of dense smoke, that it paired to the office; perceived a dense smoke issuing from could scarcely be entered without suffocation. Here ended the eastern part of the building, but saw no light or fire. my own efforts to rescue any thing from the building. The My first effort was to collect the clerks, with the view of flames were then making fearful progress in the lower entering the office to save the letters, &c. One of them passage, and had spread through most of the roof. (Mr. Kennedy) at length appeared, and admonished me Passing around to give such directions as seemed to be not to make the attempt, assuring me that it would prove required in relation to the guarding and preservation of the fatal. books, papers, and furniture, which appeared in various di- him and others, all of whom represented it as impracticaI persisted, notwithstanding, but was restrained by rections upon the side pavements and streets, I returned to my dwelling, which I found free from danger, the wind ble, and that repeated attempts had been made in vain, when there was less danger. This brief statement comhaving veered to the south, so that the cinders were fall-prises all the information on the subject, not derived from ing upon the open lot and upon the back parts of the others, that I possess. houses and on the out-houses upon the west side of Seventh street, which were well protected by the vigilance of their owners and occupants, aided by a few of the citizens. Early in the morning I caused all the books and papers which were lying in piles or scattered about the streets to be conveyed to my house and deposited in the parlors. The furniture I directed to be collected in an open lot, and a guard set over it, which was done. Of the cause of the fire, or the particular spot where it originated, I know nothing. I observed neither fire nor smoke about the basement of the City Post Office; but, having first discovered it above, it was natural that I should not look for it below. From the statements of the watch man who was on duty in the General Post Office, of the clerks of the City Post Office, and of other persons who made their observations ten or fifteen minutes before I did, my conviction is, that it originated in the basement, directly under the principal room of the City Post Office, and, when I first came out, had burnt through the floor. No fires were kept in the basement of the City Post Of fice, and although it is ascertained that ashes were some VOL. XIII.-Fƒ As to what I have heard in relation to it, I presume the committee would prefer to learn it from the sources from them to B. L. Bogan, Christopher Lansdale, Cornelius which I derived it. I would therefore respectfully refer of whom left the office at half past 2 o'clock in the mornCox, Samuel Crown, and James Summers-the first two ing of the fire, leaving the other three in charge of the office; to James A. Kennedy, a clerk in my office, John F. Callan, M. Callan, John Suter, Jacob Gideon, jun., Davis, John C. Rives, Robert S. Patterson, James LaurenGeorge S. Gideon, Samuel P. Walker, Dr. Alexander son, Thomas Donoho, and Lambert Tree-all of whom, living near, were early at the fire. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient PATENT OFFICE, December 21, 1836. SIR I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 20th instant, and, in obedience to the instruc 24th CoNG. 2d SESS.] Burning of the Post Office Building. tion of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, beg leave respectfully to state, that the section of the Post Office building assigned to the Patent Office, and under my official charge, comprised the second and third stories of the eastern part of said building, immediately over the City Post Office. I reached the Patent Office at a very early period of the recent conflagration, (about 4 o'clock, A. M.,) and made every personal effort to enter the office, but in vain. The same causes which prevented those who slept directly under it, in the City Post Office, rendered it impossible for me to enter, or to save any portion of public property under my charge. I beg leave respectfully to suggest to the honorable committee the names of honorable Mr. Ruggles of the Senate, Dr. T. P. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Steiger, and Henry Bishop, as persons who, either living directly opposite the Post Office building, or very early present at the conflagration, may perhaps be able to communicate some useful information to the honorable committee in regard to it. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, HENRY L. ELLSWORTH. Hon. Joux M. ROBINSON, Testimony of Mr. Ellsworth. I was awoke by Mr. Steiger a few minutes before 4 o'clock, on the 15th December, and arrived at the fire a few minutes after four. My first examination was to ascertain the place of the fire, with the hope of extinguishing it. The City Post Office was in flames, visible through window, and no one could enter it. I went around the whole building, and looked into the cellars as far as I could, but no fire was seen in any of them. I made an effort to reach the Patent Office by the usual door on the east side, but the smoke prevented me. I then made an effort to get into the Patent Office through the third story, as there was a window connecting the General Post Office and the Patent Office, through which window wood was passed into the Patent Office. Previous to my attempting to get into the Patent Office this way, one of the clerks had broken through an inner door of the City Post Office, and the smoke ascended so fast that I could not succeed in my object, although Mr. Steiger, Mr. Bishop, and myself, took up the carpet in Mr. Johnson's room to lay over the aperture through which the smoke ascended. I abandoned any further effort to save the Patent Office papers from the inside of the building, and next tried to get a ladder to enter the window on the north side of the building, but no ladder could be obtained. I ought to remark that, while examining as to the place of the fire, I met Mr. Kyle, superintendent of the building, and asked him if he knew where the fire was. He said he had been into the cellar, and passed along the passage until he came under the City Post Office, and that he saw fire dropping down upon the floor above on to the ground, and that there was nothing on the ground to burn-the fire came from above-he passed the cellar in which the Patent Office wood is kept, but did not say he saw any fire there. I After I had been at the fire, as nearly as I can recollect, about fifteen or twenty minutes, I saw Doctor Jones (of the City Post Office) earnestly calling for his clerks. He inquired of me if my messenger was there he wanted to ask him where and when he put ashes in the cellar. called Mr. Bishop, who was near by. He then told Doctor Jones, in my presence, that he had just been into the cellar in which the Patent Office kept their wood and ashes, and there was no fire in the cellar; and further said, that if either Doctor Jones or myself would go into the cellar, he would go in with us, and we could satisfy ourselves. SENATE CHAMBER, January 22, 1837. SIR: In compliance with your request to furnish you with a statement of what knowledge I have respecting the conflagration of the Post Office and Patent Office building on the fifteenth of December, I enclose a copy of my testimony, as taken down by the committee of the House in their investigation of the same subject, furnished to me by the clerk of that committee. It saves me the trouble of writing it out again. In addition to that I will state two or three circumstances which have fallen under my observation. A few years since I was in the clerk's office in Lincoln county, Maine, where all the records of deeds and probate and court records for the county were kept. It was in the spring, and a man was removing a stove which had, during the winter, been standing in the middle of the room. It stood about 10 or 12 inches from the floor, with about two inches of sand under it, retained within cleets, to protect the floor from the heat of the stove. On the sand being removed, I observed the floor to have been burned and charred in two places directly under the stove, each place as large as my two hands. I broke up and removed the charred board easily with my finger. The under floor board was but a little discolored, not charred. The floor had been ignited and gone out of itself, not finding in its progress any current of air to feed or blow it into a flame. Another case in my neighborhood was where a cookstove stood about a foot from the plastered ceiling. The laths took fire on the other side of the plastering, and the house came near burning down. It is not probable that the ceiling was at any time made so warm by the stove that one could not bear his hand upon it. Another similar instance occurred in the same place in a jeweller's shop, the stove standing 8 or 10 inches from the ceiling. Within a few rods of these a fire broke out on Sunday afternoon, in a store in which there had been no fire for 24 hours. It proved to have taken in the beam on which the chamber fireplace rested. The hearth on the beam was composed of three thicknesses of brick. I have been informed of two other like instances in the vicinity where I live. In each of these cases the heat of the fire was wholly insufficient to produce immediate combustion. It was only by the long and uniform communication of it to the combustible material, through the medium of a slow conductor, excluding the external air, that ignition took place. Under such circumstances, caloric acts slowly and chemically upon the fibre of the wood, producing a latent ignition, which gradually proceeds until the supply of calorie ceases, when its progress is stopped; or until it meets with a gentle current of air coming in through some crevice, which feeds and fans it into a flame. There is a certain combination of circumstances which will always produce this effect. The principal circumstances are those I have mentioned-a uniform supply of caloric passing through a slowly and steadily conducting medium in contact with the wood, excluding the external air, and continued for a considerable length of time. Burning of the Post Office Building. The stove in the City Post Office, I understand, stood upon a pavement of brick of a single thickness, resting on the floor, perhaps filled in between with mortar or sand. Were or were not the circumstances here combined precisely those which are shown to be sufficient to produce latent ignition? A crevice in the floor would supply the other circumstance necessary to produce open combustion. Had there been nothing on the floor, there would have been much less danger; indeed, none, except from coals falling on the floor. Sheet-iron or other metallic plate is a much safer material on which to place a stove, than brick, mortar, or sand. I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. JOHN M. ROBINSON, Chairman Com. of the Senate on Post Office, &c. [24th CoNG. 2d SESS. heat, till at last they burst into a state of combustion. The property within the bank is wholly uninsured. Testimony of the Hon. John Ruggles, Senator in Congress, December 30, 1836. I, John Ruggles, having been duly sworn, testify as follows: I board at Mrs. Carlisle's, at the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Seventh street, and was awakened by the cry of fire at the Post Office." I went as soon as possible to that building, and found, perhaps, half a dozen persons standing about it. Observing the eastern door open, I entered it and attempted to enter the letter-room of the city office, one leaf of the inner door being open about eight inches. In opening it, and attempting to enter, I found the heat so intense that I could not, and my hair and eye-brows were scorched. Standing at the door, and stooping so as to look under the smoke, I saw the fire burning about 20 feet from me, it might have been more, in an obilque direcProtection of the Bank of England against fire. tion to my left. There was a hole through the floor about The recent fire in the printing department within the the size of a small centre table. I saw it burning round Bank of England, and the vast importance of their being the edges of the hole distinctly, and some fire blazing up a full assurance of safety for the enormous amount of secuthrough the hole. I noticed no object about the fire. rities and moneys deposited in this national establishment, is my impression that I met a person at the door passing may render the following account of the means of protec-door I had an impression that water had been thrown toout from the letter room with a bucket; and while in the tion against any accident from fire, which the bank possesses within itself, interesting to the public generally. In corroboration of the opinion of Mr. Ruggles, he requests the following statement, in regard to the recent fire in the Bank of England, may be hereto annexed. In the first place, the entire building is erected in a manner cautiously designed to prevent the spread of fire. In every department are strong rooms for the nightly lodging of books, moneys, and securities, and closets within these rooms, which, together with the rooms themselves, are deemed to be perfectly fire-proof. There is a nightly guard of 32 soldiers sent from the tower, who have each his assigned post within the building. There are, besides, a number of the porters, of the principal clerks, and of other officers of the establishment, constantly resident within the walls of the building. A nightly watch of the confidential officers of the bank, who take turns in rotation, is rigidly required. A general survey of every department and office of the building is made by those gentlemen, who are on duty thrice in the course of every night, namely, at ten o'clock, at midnight, and at four o'clock in the morning. Occasional surveys of the more important apartments are made in the intervals between these stated times, of more or less extent, according to circumstances, and the degree of vigilance of the gentlemen whose turn it is to keep watch. It was to this wise precaution that the timely discovery of the recent fire is attributed. There are seven very excellent fire-engines kept within the bank, which are monthly inspected by the maker, and there is in every department a good supply of fire-buckets. In each of the yards of the bank are capacious tanks, judiciously placed, and kept constantly filled with water. The only deficiencies seem to be the not having two or three resident porters practically acquainted with the management of engines, and the want of pickaxes, saws, and crow-bars, to tear up timbers, floorings, or partitions, which might catch fire. It ward the fire, but did not reach it, and, from the distarice, I Of the cause of the late fire, upon a careful resurvey, no doubt could exist. The aperture cut through the flooring by the workmen, and which was supposed by the clerk of the works to have caused the fire, by the fall of some accidental spark, was found to be wholly untouched by fire, so that no doubt can exist but the iron hearth had, for many days past, been allowed, by the accumulation of burning cinders, to become thoroughly "saturated with heat;" and iron being a powerful retainer and conductor After the fire, Mr. Cox, a clerk in the City Post Office, of heat, the strong beam that passed under the hearth, and described to me the location of the large stove in the letterthe ends of the girders which rested thereon, were gradual-room, which corresponded very nearly with the location of ly undergoing a process decay, from the constant action of the fire, as I saw it. 24th CoNG. 2d SESS.] Burning of the Post Office Building. At any time within 15 or 20 minutes after I arrived at the building, an engine in order, with an efficient company, and a supply of water, would, in my opinion, have extinguished the fire with but little difficulty. I did not notice any smoke issuing from under the platform of the east door when I first arrived at the building; there might have been without my perceiving it. Some ten minutes after I arrived, I looked along at the basement windows in front of the building, as far as the City Post Office door, and along the eastern end of Seventh street, and under the platform of the east door, in order to see if there was any fire in the cellar. I saw none, and did not notice smoke at any of them. I looked at the windows at a little distance, and it was so dark that I was unable to see whether the windows were or were not closed by shutters. JOHN RUGGLES. Statement of James Summers. I have been called the "watchman" of the City Post Office, but the labor I had to perform differing materially from that of watchman, it may be necessary to explain that my duties, through the fore part of the night, were to assist in preparing the mails for delivery; that, upon closing the east door, which was usually done about 10 o'clock, P. M., I was at liberty to retire to rest; but the arrival of several heavy mails after that hour being calculated to disturb my repose, I but seldom retired before midnight. The duties of receiving and delivering all the mails that came in or left the office during the night devolved also upon me. Thus was I employed until about five or six months preceding the fire, when I was required to leave the labors of the office, and to select such a position in my room every night as would enable me to see all persons coming into or leaving the office until the east door was closed, and to receive and deliver the mails through the night, as above stated. On the night of the conflagration I retired to bed about midnight. The driver who carries the Southern mail to the steamboat, rang me up about three o'clock, A. M. The mail was delivered to him; and after passing out at the door, looking around, and discovering no human being except the driver, nor aught else to attract attention, I returned, closed and locked the door, and retired to bed, where I soon fell into a profound sleep. About one hour after, I was aroused by Mr. Crown, a messenger, who slept in the postmaster's room, and who, upon entering my chamber, exclaimed, with a voice indicating much alarm, "Good God! Mr. Summers, where does all this smoke come from?" I immediately sprang out of bed, and perceiving my room filled with a dense smoke, which I knew, both by smell and color, proceeded from the burn ing of pine wood; and our coals being kindled with pine, my first research was to ascertain whether the smoke might not proceed from a burning chunk fallen from the grate, and rolled towards the fender. Finding nothing amiss about my fire, I immediately went into the room where the messenger slept, to examine his fire; but, upon entering it, found he had none. Disappointed in these researches, and now, for the first time, alarmed for the safety of the building and its valuable contents, I hastened out at the east door, where I immediately discovered the smoke issuing from a window directly under the platform. Stooping under the platform, I perceived the smoke passing obliquely to my right, but could see no fire. While prosecuting this examination, Mr. Crown suddenly spoke of Mr. Cox's danger. Knowing that he was unusually hard to wake, and therefore greatly alarmed for his safety, I ran into my room, and rang the bell with great force. He soon after appeared in his night clothes, and greatly alarmed. P'erceiving the density of the smoke to be rapidly increasing, I again went out and crept further under the platform, in order to ascertain the location of the fire; but, although | I could then distinctly hear the roaring of the flames, I could not see it. An effort had been made, both by Mr. Crown and myself, to alarm our neighbors by the cry of fire, as soon as it was known to be under the building. And now, aware of the increasing danger, and that our force was inadequate to a successful attack on so formidable an enemy, we commenced a more general cry. I then crossed over 7th street, passed the opposite row of buildings, and with loud cries endeavored to alarm their inhabitants; but sleep apparently seemed to hold the dominion; not a window was hoisted, nor voice from within heard. I again returned to the Post Office, and passed along the south side to the west end, where I was asked by some person from within, "what was the matter?" I answered, the Post Office is on fire. I then ran down 7th street to Pennsylvania avenue; and in passing up the avenue, I met with three black boys, who, at my request, assisted in giving the alarm. I continued up the avenue to 10th street, pass. ed up 10th to E, and then along E to the office. forming this round I awoke many persons. On my arrival at the office I found a number of persons engaged in moving the furniture and books of the General Post Office: and perceiving through the window blinds that the flame had made its way into the City Post Office, and all hope of extinguishing the fire at an end, I joined and continued in the labors of removal until the close of the scene. In per JAMES SUMMERS. The deponent further says that there was no plaster or ceiling over head in the cellars of the Post Office building; the floor joists, or timbers on which the floors laid, were totally uncovered. At the time he first passed out at the east door of the Post Office, and saw the smoke issuing from under the great step-stone, or platform, he passed round the corner to the south side of the building, but did not see or discover any smoke or fire coming out of the south windows of the building; the window under the platform was open, and the windows on the south side were closed. The wood in the cellar of the City Post Office was packed from the ground up to the floor. JANUARY 27, 1837. JAMES SUMMERS. Statement of Samuel Crown. Samuel Crown, of Washington, D. C., testifies and says that he is the messenger to the City Post Office, and remained in the office all the night of the conflagration of the General Post Office, which took place on the morning of the 15th of December last; that he makes the fires for said office. On the morning of the 14th of December, this deponent took up the ashes in the fireplace in said office, where there had been a fire on the day previous, and carried the ashes and deposited them in the passage in the cellar under said office, about equidistant from two door-ways opening from said passage into the wood-rooms of said Post Office, which were then occupied with wood and coal for the use of the office; there were openings also on the north side of said passage, one occupied as a wood-room, and the other leading up stairs into the room occupied as the Post Office. The ashes were placed on the ground of the cellar, and against the brick partition wall. The ground of the cellar was damp at the time; the ashes were cold when taken up, and no fire seen in them; there was about one barrel of ashes on the ground at the time he deposited the ashes, as above stated. This deponent says that he was in the office until thirty-five minutes after two o'clock on the morning of the 15th, when he retired to his bed, in the southeast corner room, commonly occupied by Doctor Jones. This deponent was awake at three o'clock, and heard the Southern mail when it left the office. Some time afterwards, about |