The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-04-13
Fire at Riverside.

regardless Of risk to human life, was made
on the store Of Daniels 4 S.hiek at River
side last Sunday night. Owing to 4 con-
currence Of fortuitous circumstances the
plot miscarried but it was, apparently, well
laid and the parties were evidently actuat-
ed by the kind Of malicious venom that
usually succeeds.
The second story Of the building is occu-
pied As a dwelling by Il. B. and II l.
Daniels aud their families. About 9 o'clock
IN unusual smell Of smoke aud kerosene
caused An investigation which revealed a
fire in the cellar. A prayer meeting, held
At Mr.. Schiek's house few rods distant.
had Just closed and the alarm soon
brought crowd that extinqaished the fire
in five or te.. minutes. After it was extin-
suished they began to look Tor the cause o.
the fire. The firm knew that it was not
possible for it to catch from any Of the
stoves or to result accident tally from any
thing done by any one belonging to the
premises. 1t was unquestionsb!y set on
fire. The only way Of access to the cellar
cred by large shed. The celler door was
not kept locked but boil, doors to the shed
were locked and il was found that the
back door had been unlocked and was left
standing open. This door had not Teen
open for two months and the Ike. was sup.
p ,sed to be lost Whoever committed the
crime was well acquainted with the prem
Uses and the contents Of the cellar. After
unlocking the shed door there were no
more locks or barriers in the way and, after
going in, the plan Of operations was evi.
IDENTITY about as follows. They bored a
hole in the head Of q kerosene barrel,
which stood near the door with realncr
which was ON a shelf over head, putting it
back on the shell when done), leaned the
barrel 80 that about ha'f the oil run out,
ook a bundle Of wrapping paper OF shelf
near by, soaked it in the oil and set it on
fire. In going out they left the cellar door
! slightly ajar hut not open wide enough t."
admit much air. 1t had probably burned
some time before being discovered rs some
of the slaves Of barrels were burned to
ashes. The money value Of the damage
was not very great. Several barrels OF
apples were destroyed and some butter fir
kins and other goods damaged. 1t is q
matter OF surprise that so little was burned
The only explanation is the want OF air.
All the crevices has been closed in the fall
and there was no circulation possible. 1t
seems almost Incredible that half a bar
| rel Of oil should be consumed in any sort
of an apartment without communicating to
the surroundings more than was done in
this case. The heat was, evidently, very
intense. Window glass was cracked, bum
dies Of papr crisped, joice charred &C.,
at a distance, in some cases, OF fifteen feet
from the fire. When Mr.. Horace Daniels
first opened the door the volume Of heat
that met him 50 overcame him that he fell
and had Difficulty i'll getting out. 1t is prob
| able that the oil was all consumed Def ore
the door was opened and ii opened earlier
it would have been much more difficult, il
not impossible, to have extinguishsd the
fire. Altogether we regard it as wonder
full escape. The amount Of property EN-.
dangered was large. The building is 20 by
80 feet and contains a large stock OF yencr-
al merchandise, besides household goods
in the second story. A half a dozen or
more lives were imperiled. We do not
knew that suspicion attaches to any one.
The people generally were shocked to
know that any one SO dendish in DISPOSE
ton lived in this section Of country. The
law does not provide an adequate punish
ment for villains Of that stamp but it would
rejoice all to see the fullest extent Of punish
ment under the law meeted out to them.
Mr., E. B. Daniels was confined to his
room at the time by an attack Of rheuma-
tism. Under the excitement Of the occa.
sion he exercised himself pretty lively for
a while aud unlavorsble results were lear
ed. lie was no worse, however, on ac-
count Of it and Is getting along very we'll.
We did not suppose when the above
was written that, before going to press,
It would be necessary to record full
aud fearful consummation Of the fead
,sh plot, but such is the case. The
store Of Daniels e. Schiek, with the
entire contents, were burned yesterday
morning about 3 o'clock. The fire
was set inside the lean to at the end
next the river. Mr.. Horace Daniels
was on watch at the time but had been
on the opposite side Of the elevator for
short time previous to the setting OF
the Gre. The light shining on the
trees across the river was the first in.
timation he had of it. by the time
alarm was given aud the family res
cued from the burning building it was
too late to get any Of the goods out.
A small Office at the north side was
detached by knocking out the posts on
which it rested. It contained the
safe, some Of the books aud the Post
Office matter, also the books Of the
Elevator Company: That was all tina,
was saved. The value OF the property
burned was at least
TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
on which the insurance is less than
halfthat amount. None of the house
hold goods were saved ard no clothing
except what the members of the fami-
ly had on when they left the building
aud orc or two escaped in their night
clothing.