UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This is a little tour I give of the United Sates Senate and the Capitol building. When I came to Washington D.C. in 1989, from Wyoming, I could never have imagined being a tour guide.

When I arrived out there, I was penniless and homeless. It was not all that bad, you would be amazed how big a car becomes under such circumstances but by the grace of God and my magnetic personality, I soon had a job here in the United States Senate as a "Door Attendant". As bad as this title sounds, the job was lots of fun and highly educational. As a door man I was to be a "student of decorum". All I did was stand in front of the doors leading into the Senate Chamber and look good (which is easy for a McBride).

But I soon learned that door attendants for the United States Senate obtain certain privileges. Such as working for one hour then receiving one hour off, all day long. So as you can imagine I became quite bored at using my off times just lounging around talking with those tiresome men a.k.a. Senators. So I proceeded to learn as much of the history of that old building as I possibly could.

This entailed being thrown out of more than one VERY restricted area. I also came back late from more than one subterranean excursion. Yet over the almost two years that I was stationed over at the Senate I learned vast amounts of information concerning the Capitol.

As time wore on Senator Wallop learned of my exceptional driving skills.

Yes, that's right. The esteemed Senator needed a chauffeur to run him around town from one important meetin' to another. Now as bad (once again) as this title sounds it was a lot more exiting than standing by the doors of the Senate Chamber. The chauffeur job also taught me other important skills. Such as how to honk at a TAXI with animosity.

As time wore on, the office manager in Senator Wallop's office learned of my skills at fixing the fax machine, copy machine, and the computers. So after 6 months, they felt I could be of more use to the state of Wyoming and the office as a clerk/Assistant Systems Admin.

Senator Wallop soon learned that I was giving tours to some folks around the office, and requested that I start giving them to certain visiting V.I.Ps from Wyoming and around the world. Such as Miss Australia, Senator Wallop's nice from England, and my favorite the ever-picture-taking visiting business men from Japan. These tours are highly overrated for most of what you are about to read is just gossip that I coerced out of several Capitol Police officers and the Capitol tour guides.

1--

Pierre L'enfant came to America during the French Revolution. Once in the federal city, he conceived a grandiose plan in which he envisioned streets one hundred feet wide with one avenue four hundred feet wide and a mile long. At that time, the lower city was not much more than marshlands and swamps, and many looked at L'Enfant's plan as foolhardy. Yet some man by the name of George Washington, liked the plan and soon after the federal city started to take shape. As with our Congress of the 20th century, the Congress of the 18th century was very slow. The delays led to many a confrontation between L'Enfant and politicians who had acquired a great deal more patience than he. It wasn't long before his lack of tact and diplomacy placed him in quite a few difficulties, including more confrontations with Congress. He was taken off the job, and others completed his work. He died disillusioned with his adopted country, and so impoverished that he had to be buried at Digges Farm because Congress still hadn't paid him for his work.

"Washington - April 29, 1909 - After remained unnoticed for nearly a century beneath the soil of an obscure Maryland farm, the body of Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French engineer who remodeled the City Hall in New York City and designed the
National Capitol, was today removed to the Arlington National Cemetery after an impressive ceremony at the Capitol. The body was taken under military escort to the
Capitol, where it lay in State until the hour for the exercises. President Taft, accompanied by Mrs. Taft, was present. Vice President Sherman and Ambassador
Jusserand of France paid tribute to the memory of Major L'Enfant and spoke of the work of the French officer, particularly as it affected the building of the City of Washington. Gathered about the bier were representatives of the Society of the Cincinnati, whose
emblem was designed byL'Enfant. Patriotic and civic organizations were also represented."

It is said that some have encountered the shadowy figure of a small man, rather seedy in appearance, with a roll of parchment under his arm roaming the musty subterranean rooms of the Capitol. Often he is found pacing and shaking his head. Some say that this is L'Enfant walking the halls of the Capitol waiting for reparation, and determined to tell Congress how badly they had treated him!!!!!

5--

When the Senate moved into this chamber in January of 1859 the senators reported hearing strange noises from under the platform their desks were. By the end of that first week they could not do business due to the noise coming from under the platform. So on Friday they went out early and instructed the architect of the capitol to locate the cause of the noise. The architect was dismantling the platform when two half-starved cats squeezed out the small opening. They had been sealed under the platform to catch mice and had been forgotten. The following day the New York Times wrote that these two cats were demented form being forced to listen to the Senate a whole week long.

9--

When Daniel Webster was a Senator he started a long standing tradition. He carved his name inside his desk drawer, A habit, I presume, he acquired in grade school. Since that time Senators have carved their names inside their desk drawers. Along those lines Senator Ted Kennedy has the desk his two dead brothers carved their names in.

One of the officers that guards the Senate chamber is always eager to tell the story of a former Senator carving his name. You see, this particular Senator forgot to carve his name inside the drawer because he was taken from the Senate under rather strange circumstances.

One late afternoon, the officer was approached by this Senator who stated he had forgotten to carve his name in his desk. The officer recognized him from years past and thought it was a reasonable request, so he took the former Senator to his old desk. The man proceeded to pull out of his pocket a broken shard of glass he had found on his way to the capitol. The former Senator proceeded to carve his name in grandiose four inch letters.

D- A- N  Q- U- A- Y- L- E

9--

To the top right of page 9 is a picture of the ornate gavel that has been used to bring order to the Senate floor since it's founding. On page 51, it says the gavel splintered in 1954. Yet the authors of this book neglected to state the circumstances in which it was broken. You see, the vice president of the United States (who is also president of the senate) was trying desperately to bring the Senate floor under some kind of order. As he attempted to do this, he became quite irritated and brought that old artifact down once too hard upon the desk and it split. Of course, the V.P. that year was Richard M. Nixon.

Some of the desks that are now in the Senate chamber are the same mahogany desks purchased in 1819. To read more turn to page 51.

15--

This room has slightly changed since this book was made and I have entered the pictures as this room now appears.

In the back of this magnificent room is what has been dubbed the Wyoming clock. Before 1828 the capitol was guarded by union soldiers and not the famed Capitol Police we have today. I imagine that around the time this incident took place is when the Capitol Police were instituted. Around lunch time, a Union Soldier from the 'territory of Wyoming' was having lunch in this room when he noticed that the hands upon the clock that he was looking at were made of solid gold. He proceeded to steal the hands of that old grandfather clock and presumably returned to the territory of Wyoming never to be heard of again........

These tiles are porcelain and have withstood almost 200 years of hot air. I found your tile in a bin containing other fragments torn from the old floor. They were being replaced because the sun light had discolored them.

20--

The hallway shown on page 20 is to the east of the senate chamber and is in one of the restricted areas of the capitol. It is only restricted to tourists because these doors lead directly onto the senate floor.

To the top left of page 20 is the picture of the Ohio clock. It was made in Philadelphia and yet it was dubbed the Ohio clock because it was a psychological hint to the Congress to make Ohio a state in the Union. For there were too many stars upon the shield in the clocks mid-section, 17 stars instead of the 16 that were in the union at that time. Of course, not more than two weeks after the clock was donated the congress allowed Ohio to join the Union.

All the clocks working parts are contained within the round top portion and behind the shield are open shelves. The majority and minority leaders of the senate both have a key to unlock these hidden shelves. Rumor has it that this is where the Senators hid their liquor during prohibition...

The busts upon the pedestals that you see in front of the windows are of former vice presidents of the United States. They were, of course, presidents of the Senate and honored as such by these busts that were carved after they left office.

Behind each of these busts are the windows that, prior to 1983, looked onto the senate floor. On November 7th 1983 a bomb went off in the corridor that you see on page 20. When the Senate begins session in the morning they usually come to a agreement as to how long they intend to remain in business. This eventful day they intended to be in session until at least midnight.

Yet around noon, the honorable senator who was introducing the bill that day grew deathly ill. Hence the senate went out of session early around 10:00 p.m. And shortly after 11 a flash explosive of enormous magnitude overtook those hallowed halls. No longer was the hot air that continually vents out of that elaborate chamber that which heated the building.

The explosive, as mentioned before, was a flash explosive devised only for the concussion that would surly occur once it was set off. The ensuing explosion knocked down heavy oak doors throughout the northern halls of the capitol. The windows behind the busts depicted on page 20 were so shattered by that incredible blast that some of the shards flew with such force they went threw the backs of the senators chairs inside the chamber. Some of those old desks still bare the scars.

At the end of the hall depicted on page 20 is a elevator that is used by the Senators. Upon this elevator that night rode the Capitol Police officer who was on duty. She was inside the elevator when the bomb went off. INSIDE that elevator half way between the second floor and the third floor her eardrums were blown out.

Now the senator I work for was in his office when he heard a commotion outside in the hallway. Moments latter he heard the Capitol Police talking to his secretary Gale. Upon entering the room Malcolm learned of the explosion that had just taken place in the capitol. At that instant another senator entered the room (I have forgotten his name) and urged Malcolm to come with him over to the capitol to survey the damage. So the two senators, ever eager to show their bravery and fortitude, departed to the still smoldering halls of Congress.

Upon reaching the second floor the Senators witnessed something that would be forever etched in their memories. The once majestic and beautiful hall was now in complete ruins. The chandeliers (those that still hung from the roof) that adorned the hall were swaying back and forth from the long gone wave of deadly heat. Sections of the gold leafed plaster roof where still falling upon the darkened tile floor.

As the senators exited the elevator they were quickly surrounded by the Capitol Police.

"Please gentlemen leave the building. There may be other bombs inside the Capitol that we have not located yet."

This was what they told the two overwhelmed Senators. As Malcolm began to gather his thoughts together, the senator who had lead him over there spoke:

"My dear friends, as long as you are to fearlessly risk your lives for us it is our responsibility to be with you in this time of need. And further more . . . "

A very eloquent speech was then presented to the gathering, little of which Malcolm remembers. At the end of this little dissertation Malcolm, after briefly (and nervously) looking at his watch, addressed the person in command of the situation.

"As much as I would like to stay with my esteemed Colleague, my wife called me not too long ago and told me to rush home and eat dinner before it became cold."

With that he left the building and went home for dinner.

Those responsible for setting off the bomb called themselves the Armed Resistance Unit, and they were protesting the United States involvement in Grenada. The whole group was caught when one of them called the Capitol to take responsibility. Of course the call was traced and not twenty minuets later the F.B.I had the caller and the rest of the ten man crew in custody.

23--

On page 22 you can see a beautiful crystal chandelier in a small rotunda. This room is just down the hall from the Senate floor. In the background you can see the door leading into the Great Rotunda.

As you can read on page 53, this rotunda was remodeled after the British attacked and set fire to the Capitol. I have enclosed at this point an article concerning this chandelier from our newspaper The Roll Call. 

25-

Constantino Brumidi painted much of the Senate wing of the Capitol. He was known for his great accomplishments in Rome (touching-up the works of the masters) and fleeing political persecution, in Italy, came to America. His corridor, known now as the Brumidi corridor, (pages 24-27) was painted by this great artist free of charge. All he wanted in payment for his labors was United States citizenship. Which was given to him upon the completion of this work.

This addition to the Capitol is relatively new. The new wings that the Senate and the House relocated into were constructed nearly 65 years after the original buildings.

28-31

This is a picture of the old Senate Chamber as it appears today. This room is one of my favorites in the Capitol because it holds so many great stories. The old Chamber was restored for the United States Centennial in 1976 to the condition and grandeur it held that last year the Senate gathered within it's walls. As the caption on page 29 states the Senate moved from this chamber in 1859 to be relocated in the chamber we have already seen.

Originally the Senate meet on the ground floor of this building, which is actually one floor down from the room you now see. From that floor the chamber was lit by the bright sun through a sky light located three and 1/2 floors above. The reason the chamber is located on the second floor today may cause you to lose some respect for those who worked in that chamber around 1810.

You see the House of Representatives had moved out of it's very cramped room in the old Capitol to it's plush larger room (that is now Statuary Hall.) in the House addition to the Capitol. This actually was not a addition but a completion of the original design, we just ran out of money to build the rest of the building around 1800.

This is kind of like my [arents house in Wyoming. You see my dad, Bill, built the garage to his house first, intending to build a much larger house later. Yet, due to extrodinary sercomstances he ran out of money and we moved into the garage to save rent with the idea of finishing the rest latter. So too the House of Representatives worked in what was to them the garage.

But once the House moved into their new building the Senators discovered that the Representatives new chamber was one floor above theirs (GOD forbid), this could not be tolerated. So the architect was called in and the Senate Chamber was elevated one floor to place them on the same plane or level as the House.

You see government waste is nothing new.

This old Senate chamber is the one in which Daniel Webster served his terms as Senator. All who tell of the antics of Webster relate that he had an ego the size of this old chamber. The story you are about to hear is only one of many that illustrate this point well.

Daniel Webster had a habit of striking his desk top with his hand to punctuate the end of EVERY sentence while delivering his eloquent speeches. Now as captivating as it may have been to hear his voice echoing through that chamber, to be followed by the resounding boom of his fist, his desk did not take the beating lightly. For at the end of almost every speech Webster's desk top would be broken.

Actually he would just break the old, delicate brass hinges that allowed the desk top to be opened. As this practice became commonplace for Webster, the cabinet maker in the basement of that old building began to lose his patience with the renowned senator. Eventually the cabinet maker resorted to carving one solid piece of wood to cover the top of webster's desk. He could not break hinges that were not their, could he?

The next day Webster entered the chamber, placed his speech upon his desk, was recognized by the President (of the Senate), and started his speech. As was his custom he once again stroke a vicious blow to his desk top, since he was a little agitated regarding the subject mater of his speech. To Webster's great surprise (for the first time but not the last) the desk top hurt his hand.

As already stated, Daniel Webster had a very large ego and that morning he let it get the better of him.

"Who did this to my desk?" Bellowed Webster to the majority leader of the Senate. The majority leader is like a "supreme being" in the Senate.

"Whomever did this atrocity to my desk shall pay dearly with his JOB," continued Webster with out letting the Majority leader reply.

With an up raised hand, the Majority leader eventually brought Webster under some control and addressed his first question.

"The cabinet maker downstairs was sick and tired of replacing those hinges each and every day so he made and installed one solid piece of wood for your desk top."

"What a complete IDIOT! This is going to cost him his JOB!" ranted Webster with out letting up.

"He surely must be some kind of reject from a very questionable up-bringing," continued Webster in his fit of rage.

As Webster began once again to communicate the detestable employment of someone of such low breeding as the cabinet makers, the Majority leader began to grin a broad mischievous grin.

After some time Daniel Webster stopped in mid-sentence for, he, too, saw the grin upon the leaders stalwart face.

The questioning look in Webster eyes was soon to receive a reply.

"Dan . . . I don't think that we are going to fire him, because he's my BROTHER!!!!"

With that the discussion was ended, and to this day the Webster desk has no hinges upon it's desk top. And that cabinet maker had his job with the Senate thirty years longer than Daniel Webster.

As you can see, in almost all the pictures of this old chamber there are many lamps. In the days when this elaborate chamber was used, the main fuel for almost all the lighting was wale oil. Now you may know this but I shall tell it to you anyway, you see as wale oil is consumed to illuminate a room it emits a horrid odor, like dead rotting fish.

Now the clothes that those august men wore were made entirely of wool. As sophisticated and elegant as the suits might have looked, they soaked up that rancid stench after just a few moments in that magnificent chamber. So as historians note when the senators left their chamber after a long and hard days' work they would occasionally venture out for a night on the town. Yet once they entered a respectable restaurant the maitre d' would only need smell the stench ensuing from the person to know that he was a senator, no matter how new to Washington the person was.

This old chamber was once visited by a little known English writer by the name of . . . hum . . . how did that name go Charly Hickens? . . . No. No. That was not it . . . hum . . . Darly Chickens? . . . No. Not that either . . . I know, CHARLES DICKENS!!!!!

Dickens came to the United States to see how this backwards and rebellious country was carrying on. Dickens came here expecting to find us in complete anarchy and begging to return to Mother England. Upon arriving his arrival in Washington, he immediately came to this old Senate chamber to watch the proceedings.

Even before entering the chamber he was struck by the above mentioned stench. Once he was seated inside the chamber he was totally unprepared for what he was about to witness. In those early years the Congress would try to only work in the afternoons so they could have their "morning to hunt". Down below Georgetown here in D.C. is place called Foggy Bottom and during the 1800's it was a thick wood that had many animals that they loved to hunt like, deer, fox, and feasant.

The Senators would occasionally hunt up until moments before the days session began. In those cases they would rush onto the floor wearing their boots and chaps trailing into that majestic chamber horse excrements from the stable and dirt from all over (the un-paved) town. Yet this trail of debris was no comparison to what he saw next. You see between almost every desk was a spittoon and as close as it was to each member it was quite apparent that they did not use these receptacles regularly.

Below are a couple of Charles Dickens notes about his trip to Washington.....
 

If dignity was one of the prime ingredients for the model society then it was wholly absent in Washington, "the headquarters of tobacco-tinctured-saliva," where the custom of "chewing and expectorating" was seen in terms of a national pastime. While waiting in a White House ante-room Dickens found himself in the company of men who chewed, and spat. "A short, round-faced man with sleek black hair cropped close, and whiskers and beard shaved down into blue dots, ... sucked the head of a big stick, and from time to time he took it out of his mouth to see how it was getting on ... [The rest] all constantly squinted forth upon the carpet, a yellow saliva which quite altered its pattern; and even the few who did not indulge in this recreation, expectorated abundantly" (Letters 3, 1974: 116).

 

And specifically the Senate chamber.....

 

     The Senate is a dignified and decorous body, and its proceedings are conducted with much gravity and order. Both Houses are handsomely carpeted; but the state to which these carpets are reduced by the universal disregard of the spittoon with which every honorable member is accommodated, and the extraordinary improvements on the pattern which are squirted and dabbled upon it in every direction, do not admit of being described. I will merely observe, that I strongly recommend all strangers not to look at the floor; and if they happen to drop anything, though it be their purse, not to pick it up with an ungloved hand on any account.

see:

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870. American Notes
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library

 

 

On page 31 you can see the viewing gallery for visitors. Upon the door at the back of this gallery is a sign that reads.

Gentlemen please refrain from placing your feet upon the railing for the dirt from your boot may fall upon the Senators heads.

And it is because of this that a long standing tradition was formed. Those Senators knew that the visitors could not refrain from placing their shoes upon the railing so the senior Senators requested to be place up front of the chamber so that their wigs would remain clean. That is why the majority and minority leaders are in the front of the present Senate chamber.

As time passed the senators started another tradition and this one is still being practiced by Teddy Kennedy. As young ladies came to visit the chamber they would be lead up a narrow winding staircase to reach the visitors gallery. At the sound of their bustling hopped dresses scraping the walls the senators would start to count to 15. On the mark of 15 all those present on the floor of the chamber would look up at the ladies just as they began to climb the last stair. As these unsuspecting ladies rounded this last stair their pantaloons, knees and bare ankles would be uncovered for all to see.

As this custom became a common occupance the President of the Senate began to notice that the senators were spending more time watching the visitors than the visitors were watching them. So the President of the senate commissioned his wife to construct the "Modesty Curtain" to go around the entire span of the gallery banister. And that is how it is today.

Washington D.C. was not noted during this time period for the tourist attractions we have today. A mater of fact the congress was the only day time attraction available for those visiting the capitol city for many a year. So as you can imagine the lines for the visitors gallery were quite long. Summer or winter you could be sure to wait in line for some time. As was the custom visitors were not required after any length of time to leave. So some Senators who were gentlemen would go outside the building an pull particularly beautiful women out of the line and take them onto the building and sit them at their personal desks on the Senate floor.

If this was to take place the Washington Post would report it the next day:

"Lady So-and-So sat at Senator Such-and-Such's desk and she was wearing a elegant blue dress her victorian hat accented her beautiful black hair" and so on.

Now if this happened to the lady of course the following day she would be invited into the White House by the First Lady for tea. The day after she would of course receive many invitations all over town for tea. As you see it was a notable and distinguished honor to be picked and seated upon the floor of the Senate chamber.

The Ohio clock that I have already mentioned was placed in this room after it was donated to the congress. And shortly their after the story you are about to read took place. When a vote becomes a tie the Vice President of the united states it called to break it. And this nice afternoon he was having lunch with a beautiful young lady and he was not going to leave his present company to cast a trivial vote. So he instructed the old doorkeeper to do something so he would not miss the vote. This doorkeeper stood almost five foot three and had a long grey beard that hung almost to his navel. He could burley see or walk but he under took the task with grace and vigor. Upon advancing to the official Senate clock (the Ohio clock) he pulled out a chair nimbly ascended it pulled open the front of the clock and placed his finger on the minuet hand. Seeing how their was 8 minuets remaining in the vote the V.P. had instructed the doorkeeper to hold the minuet hand until he was available to cast his vote. Two hours later he came into the room and broke the tie vote.

As you can see on the bottom of page 31 this is the chamber the distinguished Senator from Texas Sam Houston served his terms in. Now Sam Houston did not take a hankering' to politics at all he would have preferred to stay in his state as a cattleman , but his home state had other ideas so to Washington they sent their General. Over his many years serving the state of Texas he would do one of two things during the lengthy sessions of congress. If the bill had nothing to do with his state in any way he would hunt all day long. Yet if it did pertain to the state of Texas he would only half-heartily listen to the debate. For he would spend that time trapped in the chamber carving wood.

He would take from his desk these oak planks roughly four inches by four inches and then carve elaborate hearts upon them or doves. Once finished he would have a page run it up to the visitors gallery to a particularly beautiful young lady who was of course single. She would then be invited to dinner by the Senator from Texas.

When the Senate eventually moved in to their current chamber in 1860 the Supreme Court moved into this chamber. The court liked it even less than the chamber directly below it that they just moved from.

33-

These pictures are of the Old Supreme Court chamber. The Court moved into this chamber around 1810. At that time the Senate was moving up stairs "to be on the same level as the House." Now once the Supreme Court moved into this chamber they started calling it the "Dungeon". For once the room was divided the ventilation to this lower half of the room was almost cut entirely off.

The below picture is of me standing in front of one of the old columns that stand in the old doorway to the building. After the fire, the British set, gutted out that old building these columns were found intact. Yet they did take on some scars; as you see in the picture.

So as you can imagine the smoke and the hideous vapors from those wale oil lamps was almost unbearable. Because of this the historians say a lot of the early judges who worked in this room died of lung problems associated with the smoke.

on page 32 you can see, on the left, a bust of one of the Courts youngest appointed judge, John Marshal. It was Judge Marshals duty to decorate this old room for the Justices use. One of the first things he initiated was the railing you see, on page 33, directly in front of the justices' bench. Only lawyers were allowed to pass this railing to approach the bench. This is where we get the term "passing the Bar". This bar was at the end of a swords' and a arms' length. The Justices feared being skewered by a un-happy party.

Marshal also set the clock, on page 32, 10 minuets fast for he knew lawyers were always late and this would hopefully make them be on time , which it never did.

Above the clock is a relief of Liberty. The placing of this art work brought many a complaint to John Marshal who placed it their. You see this particular relief is of the European version, with out the blindfold across her eyes. Marshals' excuse for placing here their is that she could not see because of all the smoke in the room any way.

The below picture was taken right below the chandelier on page 22. This floor was wooden and before the british attacked and set fire to the building their was a beautiful spiral stair case. But once those hallowed halls were consumed by the fire the floor and stair were utterly destroyed. At that time we did not have the heart nor the funds to refurbish this grand area so the architect set to replacing the floor with concrete stones.

The stones on the side of the room Kira and Brian are on, are of the same shape as those across the room. These stones were made outside the room and brought in once dry. THEY WERE LAID DOWN TOTALLY IN RANDOM. Yet after they were set the stone masons who laid them down notices some strange little marks.

Starting at the doorway (directly behind where I am taking the picture) running in a regular pattern to the stairs (behind Kira) are those little CAT FOOTPRINTS. From that time forth the legend of the Demon Cat has been told in the Capitol.

This cat comes to warn the United States of some coming doom or disaster. The last time the Demon Cat was reported, in the building, was the night before President Reagan was shot. Now to give the story you are about to read some validity I was told this by the officer it happened to.

This hall connects the Senate and the House unobstructed. So the officers are required to walk it all night long. It was around two in the morning when the officer was going up the stairs behind kira when he saw a little black kitten run out of the doorway in front of him. As it came closer to him it became bigger and bigger and when it was about three feet from him it was about the size of a black leopard. The running cat jumped at the officer right where the footprints end. It disappeared two or three inches from the officers chest.

Needless to say the officer ran screaming and yelling all the way back to police headquarters. Once their one of his senior officers calmed him dawn and coaxed out of him the whole story. Once that elderly officer herd the whole of the story he went back to a safe, in the back, and pulled out a little very old black book. He preceded to record the 58'th time the cat had been seen in the capitol.

Now this officer knew of the history of the Demon Cat so he immediately phoned the White House, the Pentagon and his commanding officer to try and warn them that something grave was about to happen. No one believed the two officers until Reagan was shot eight hours latter.

That afternoon the officers returned to work and once their they started to look at the other coincidences found in that old black book. The night before President Kennedy was shot the Demon Cat was reported in the Capitol. The night before we sent men into Viet Nam the cat was reported. Yet they could not find a sighting of the Demon Cat the night before Pearl Harbor.

The officers found this to be quite strange so they investigated further. In an old copy of the Washington Post dated 12/6/1941 they found that a officer had been found DEAD of a heart attack on the very spot the Demon Cat had been reported. The officer died 7 hours before the bombing began.

The infamous House restaurant is the vicinity this next ghost story takes place. Once again Kira and Brian are pointing to the location. we will go back to around the summer of 1891. In the restaurant that fine morning was a Representative from Kentucky, William Tulby. Congressman Tulby opened his Washington Post to page one and their on page one was a article about himself. It described the Congressman's lurid love affairs, and his families love affairs.

As the Congressman read on his temper began to flair. About the time he finished the article who should walk into that restaurant but Charles kincade the reporter from the Post who wrote it. Tulby stood and placed his finger in Kincade's face demanding a retraction to be placed in the flowing days paper.

Kincade being a typical reporter told the Congressman that he knew that most of the article was hearsay, yet he had nothing better to report and would not even consider making a retraction.

At that the reporter left the restaurant and started up the stairs (the one Kira and Brian are on) leading to the press gallery where he was posted that day.

As he ascended them the Congressman garbed his lapel and pushed him onto the wall. Kincade, the reporter, was known for his quick temper and that morning it got the better of him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a revolver and shot Congressman Tulby dead.

The patches that you see in the marble steps are from Congressman Tulby's blood. After over 100 years of wear and tare on those old stones the stains still remain.

Now that is not where the story ends for even now when reporters go up and down this particular stair they some times are tripped. People say it is the long dead Congressman trying to get revenge with those who belong to that detestable occupation.

It is a fact, that is the exact place Congressman Tulby was shot and those stains were caused by his blood. You see marble is strange stuff. It is a relatively durable material and hardly anything can stain it except - Blood.

When a group of Franciscan monks came to Washington, the summer of 1989, to protest our involvement in El Salvador they decided to drop chicken blood all over our steps. No sooner were they arrested than the architects' office was washing off the blood with high powered hoses.

Brian and Kira are standing in what is called the Rayburn room. Sam Rayburn was the Speaker of the house for almost 25 years and during that time he kept this room locked. Not only locked but guards posted outside the doors. The reason he did it is because the vase, behind the kids, is valued at around $200,000,000.

Don't worry Kira and Brian did not touch them, four their are four vases and all of them have that price tag.

Now for the rest of the story!!!

At the end of World War two the Germans were to pay the United Stated $800,000,000 in war damages. With all the ships they sunk off our east coast and of course for reparation for those they killed we felt this was a reasonable offer. The Germans agreed and sent us (U.S.) four stinking vases as a down payment with money coming latter.

Several years and an administration latter they had not sent a red cent. So the Congress and the President sent the German Republics a nice letter requesting the reminder of the debt to be paid immediately. A few weeks latter we received a nice letter back from them claiming they had not agreed on that sum and all we were to receive were those four vases, stolen from China no less!!!!

Now the Congress and the President did not want to open a new 'can of worms' between the two countries, for we were just coming out of a recession and were starting to have trouble with Russia we were just not ready to take up that old annoyance.

So the congress being wise and omniscient tried to hide from the public this little scandal. They promptly divided the War Debt by the four vases and claimed the debt had been paid.

Hence the $200,000,000 price tag on those vases. They are recorded in the artifacts of the Capitol as such to this day.

This next picture taken also in the Rayburn room is of George Washington. It was painted while he was still alive and is one of the few paintings done of Washington that he absolutely hated. You see, the artist insisted that he where his false teeth while posing for this painting. And as you can see George has his mouth tightly closed. As you probably know during his day false teeth were usually a porcelain plate with holes drilled into it and inserted into those holed wooden pegs. But Washington was a wealthy man (for his time that is) so he had hippopotamus teeth installed instead of wooden pegs.

So the tour guides that tell of this painting say that if Washington ever had lived long enough to see this painting proudly displayed out side of the House of Representatives he would have most likely torn it off the wall.  It is a mater of course that the cleaning crew report that this picture falls down on it's own at least once a year!!!!!

When George Washington placed the Corner stone on September 17 1793 he placed it in the N.E. corner of the building according to the Masonic tradition. Their was a huge ceremony and at the climax of it Washington carved his initials into a silver plaque placed in side the 4 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot stone. The next day, after approximately 100 other stones had been placed, they discovered the architect placed the stones 9 feet to far to the east. He was fired and a new architect took his place. One of his first duties was to move the foundation and those 100 stones to where they belonged.

When they moved them they misplaced the Corner Stone. Now their are several theories as to where it may bee. First, some believe it could have been relocated any where along that old wall. Second, (this is the one I believe) some think the brick mason who moved the Corner Stone stole that silver plaque and bought a great dinner.

What ever the reason the stone has been missing for years. For the Centennial of the United States The Architect of the Capitol decided to try and locate that elusive stone he sent his crews to the very room that Kira and Brian are in to locate it. That was over 15 years ago and they are still digging.

You can see that this is the grand Rotunda of the Capitol. the dome above the Capitol weighs around 9,000,000 lbs. of sturdy cast iron and steel it was the largest structure of it's size made of those materials for it's time. Brumidi painted this room also, he was paid for this one.

As he was painting scene number 8 that of Penn's treaty, Brumidi's scaffold collapsed and the painter at the age of 85 slid down the inclined surface to burley grab the last railing. Their he hung for 15 minuets screaming for someone to rescue him. A office climbed up the scaffold and retrieved the painter and saved his life. Yet because of the shock Brumidi passed away about two weeks latter. I am sure it was not his age for a shock like that would have ended my life also.

The remainder of the scenes were painted by Brumidi's little known apprentice. The Apprentice was instructed to fallow the sketches Brumidi left to the letter, on fear of being relieved of his duty. The artist followed the Congresses wishes up until the very end where he left something their to show congress up.

in the Trunk of the tree between scenes 14 and 15 he placed his face for all to see.

Now Brumidi may have been a great artist but he was a horrid mathematician. His 18th scene fell 30 feet short of finishing the painting. Luckily a great event took place the same year the apprentice found this out. and in scene 19 you can see what that was.

This is a statue of Will Rogers that was placed in the Capitol around 1938. While Will Rogers was alive he was told as a joke that his home state should place his statue in the Capitol. Once Will regained his strength (having laughed hysterically for some time) he told the person that if they dared do such a thing that he should be placed so he could keep an eye on those "snake oil salesmen". and his statue is placed directly outside the House of Representatives with him looking on.

The following is a menu from the United States Senate Restaurant. It is a great souvenir because first of all it is free and second it has the date in which I picked it up written on the inside. This menu also has on it's back side a history of the famous "BEAN SOUP" and how the legislative buzzers work.

Be sure to notice what the initials to the restaurant are. U.S.S.R.

When Russian diplomats visit the Capitol the would always visit this cafeteria the hostess and waitresses would keep a very good eye upon the visiting dignitaries because they would inevitably steal the silverware with those initials. Yet if they were caught they would say "No, Comrade I did not steal that You Americians Did it has our countries initials on it."

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