The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-11-04
From the Pittsburgh Postl
LATE HNCENDIARY FIRES.

Grave Charges Against Well KNOW
Business Men-Twe Merchants sus
psctcd OF Firing Their stores In Or
der 10 Obtain the Insurance Money
Arrests, &c, sc.
We have two record two cases where
in charges of the grsyest character art
made against two of our business men
The first of these is that of the attempt
ed destruction, by fire, of John Belle
trunk factory. on Market street. Ii
yesterday mornings issue we gave al
account of the arrest of one Barney
Duffy, upon the charge of arson in the
above case. Yesterday afternoon two
other men were arrested upon the
Mayors warrant, charged with compli
city in the same affair. Shortly after
the fire, Mayor Blackmore received an
anonymous letter stating that two men
named Charles Prout and - Graham
were guilty of completely in firing the
store. The Mayor and Chief Irwin
locked into the matter to some
extent, and concluded that there was a
degree of foundation for the allegation
contained in the letter. The affair was
placed in the hands of Chief Irwin and
officer Moon to "work up" and they did
not rest for q moment till they had
sifted it to the bottom, and found ont
all there was to find out about it. By
the time they had done this they had
collected evidence sufficient to warrant
tue arrest of the two men mentioned.
The facts they have developed are said
TO have very ugly look for the sus-
pected men. The evidence to be pro-
duced against them, it is said, will show
that there are strong grounds for be-
lieving that both they and Barney
Duffy, and probably still others, had a
hand in the affair, or at least acriminal
knowledge of it. The two men arrested
By Chief Irwin and officer Moon are
locked up for hearing. Prout was ar
rested at Shaffer's blacksmith shop on
Diamond street, where he bas worked
for some time. He belongs in Washing
ton county. Graham was arrested at
Bells trunk factory, where he was EN-
ployed. He comes from New Orleans.
Now comes the ugly part of the above
transaction: Yesterday, at 3 p. NJ, Bar
Hey Duffy was brought before the Fire
Marshal for hearing, when he stated
that he desired to make confession.
He then made statement in substance
as follows: A few days before the time
of the discovery of the fire in Bells
factory, Duffy, who worked there, was
by Mr.. Bell, who handed
him twenty dollars, and told him if he
would set fire to the factory and burn it
down, he would give him more when he
{ (BelD got the insurance money. Duffy
took the money and assented to Bells
but subsequently he backed
out and gave the money to Prout and
Graham, who set fire to the building on
the night of October 10. Duffy further
states that on last Saturday he told Mr..
Bell that he was going to give himself
up to the authorities, when Mr.. Bell
gave him fifty dollars and told
him to leave the city. This Duffy agreed
to do, and was making preparations
to go down the river on tow boat at
the time of his arrest. He says he
would have gone away yesterday morn
ing had not the officers captured him at
1t may be stated in this
connection that u warrant was issued
two weeks ago for Mr. Bells arrest, suf-
ficient information, it seems, oven at
that early stage of the game, being in
possession of the Fire Marshal to Justify
such a proceeding. We did not learn
the reason of the delay in executing
the warrant. 1t was said that Mr.. Bell
would be present at the hearing yester-
day. He was to come at three o'clock !;
but he did not come at all. 1t would be
unjust to Mr.. Bell to pronounce judg-
ment upon the mere statement, or con-
fession, of a man like Duffy. 1t is prob
able that the case will undergo n further
to-day, and it is hoped
that the suspected party will be present
and clear himself of the serious charge
made against him.
The next case is also one of Market
street merchant. On Saturday, Octo-
Der 2ith, between ten and eleven o'clock
at night, fire was discovered in the
clothing store of Mr.. NJ. Hanauor, No.
62 Market street. The fire originated
in the rear of the store, in the custom
destroying the shelving
and lot of custom made goods, trim
mings, &c. The damage amounted 10
about $1,000, most of which was by
water. The stock was fully insured in
this city and Eastern companies. The
fact of there not being fire in the
vicinity of where the flames were first
discovered, gave rise to the suspicion
that the premises had been fired by au
incendiary. After the flames were eX-
Fire Marshal Murphy exam
ined the premises, finding the safe un-
locked. Mr.. Hanauer said he was posi-
tive that he had locked tue safe before
leaving the store. He also stated that
the safe had been robbed of $50 in
currency and 500 in gold. An immedi-
ate investigation of the affair was COM
menced by Mr.. G. w. Murphy, the Fire
Marshal This investigation strength
ened the suspicion-for suspicion there
was-that the fire was set by Hr. II.
himself Facts were developed which,
at length, led the Fire Marshal to issue
his warrant for the arrest of Mr.. II.
The evidence, we are Informed, showed
that the fire was discovered only about
twelve minutes after the proprietor had
left the store. The fire had been set be-
hind the counter, and the shelves about
the place were stored with goods COM
paratively worthless. The manner in
which the safe had been left and the
manner in which the announcement
that it was unlocked was received,
were among the suspicious circum.
stances in the case. Other circum.
stances were developed we understand,
but are suppressed for the present. Mr..
Hanauer was arrested yesterday morn
ing by officer McCready, and waived
a hearing before the Fire Marshal. He
was held to bail in the sum of $4,000 fol
trial.
This affair has taken the many friends
of Mr.. Hanauer completely by surprise
as that gentleman has hitherto borne a
most exemplary character for honesty
AS the testimony against him is moi
conclusive, the public should, in fair
ness toward Mr.. H., withhold judgmenI
until the matter has undergone a thor
ough legal investigation.
Capital Punishment in Illinois.
A decision has been rendered by thu
Circuit Court of Henry county, Illinois
rbinarn T,.;b,,,, q ha aA.ani