Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-03-02
,n.u.n..a Ar..n.

Last week Thursday, John Mills had oe-
cssion to 90 up into the attic Of his build
ing. which is located near the corner Of
Main and Centre streets, between John
Ducro's furniture store, and o. h. Ralph's
grocery. The building is a small, one
story one and is occupied by Mills as sa-
loon. At the back end is small door that
opens into the attic, and near this door
Mills discovered quantity Of ashes. Fur
ther investigation showed that one Of the
joists was burned nearly through, and the
end of board lying over the joist was
burned of. A short distance from the
heap Of ashes lay pastebOard candy box
and ball Of common cotton twine, which
was saturated with petroleum OIL Mills
informed several Of his acqaaintances o.
his discovery. and a careful watch wss
kent Of the premises. The following Mon
day Chief Engineer Hall was notified Of
the affair and visited the place and pro
cured the pasteboard box and the bah Of
oil soaked cotton twine. He also procured
8 sample ball from each of the stores in
town where twine is sold, and procuring
the key to Ralph's store, which was in the
possession of the Sheriff, he there found a
large quantity Of twine and also paste
board candy box, of the same size. and
from the same manufacturer. 1t was also
learned from an insurance agent that Ralph
had an insurance on his stock Of groceries
Of about s., ,25O, which was about twice as
much as the goods were estimated to be
worth. Upon this and other evidence pro-
cured, Ralph was arrested last Wednesday
morning and taken before the Mayor on
the charge Of attempting to burn Mills
building. Messrs. Pettibone and Hall ap-
peared for the State, W. H. Hubbard for
the defense. The case lasted all of that
afternoon, and created considerable inter
est, and brought out considerable circum-
stantial evidence that pointed strongly to
Ralph as being the guilty person, but he
was finally acquitted. Mr.. Green, an in
surance agent, and an important witness,
was not in town at the time Of the trial.
Indications are that suit will again be in
stituted against Ralph. In the evidence
brought out at the trial it was shown that
not one ball of the twine taken from the
different stores was similar to that found
saturated with oil, while all that was taken
from Ralph's stock was exactly the same.
One witness, who had clerked for Ralph
previous to his insolvency, testified that
there were but two candy boxes in Ralph's
stock that were like the one found in the
attic of the saloon. Only one box was
found in his store that was similar to this
one. Previous TO his assignment, Ralph
had charge of the whole building, and on
examining the upper floor, a window near
the rear end of the saloon was found to be
open and quantity of straw was found,
which evidently had been taken there from
an adjoining room. 1t was also stated
that one-half of his insurance was cancelled
upon the agents attention being called to
the fact that the goods were not worth as
much as the policy indicated
This is rather severe charge to be laid
at the door of any man, and we hope Mr..
Ralph will succeed in clearing up this mat
ter to the satisfaction Of the public, if he
is innocent.