The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1878-09-24
THE FATAL STRING.
A Sedalian Fires His Own Prem
iOeO.

Uses.
Strange it ID, that some men, With oil ths
advantage that intelligence, business quail
i5cat,ons, friends and respectability csr
confer, will in IN evil moment cast al
aside, and take that step that plunges then
into the abyss Of ruin from whence there i
no return. Another case Of . young business
man, we'll known in Sedalia, being wrecked
by his own hand, has come TO light, and the
good name that he priced more sacred thaa
life il forever furnished with inefaceabls
diegrace.
Some yeam ago Charles McCreary come
from Illinois 10 Sedalia and vas employed
by Bard 4 Miller in their store - clerk
He was faithful and attentive to busincsa
and rapidly made friends. both in the bust
ness and social circles Of oar city. BY 90
briefly and industry he accumulated enough
capital TO 70 into busineas for himaelf, and
in 1874 he and DR.. - Mcclure establish
ed drug store in the building nov occu'
pied BY H. II. Msrean, under the 6rm oI
Mcclure 4 McCreary. After being aoms
months in business the partnership vas dis.
solved aud McCresry left the city, securing
employment, We believe, - the travelling
agent for some S.. Lcuie wholesale house.
In time he again returned to Sedalis, and
was again employed BY Bard 4 Miller
Last spring he vent int" busines again fol
himself in Hannibal. fitting up nice drug
store, and purchasing large stock.
About three o'clock in the morning Of
August 9th, Mr.. Robt. Culbertson, Who
roomed over McCrearys drug store, va
aroused By dense smoke in his room. He
sprang out Of bed. and believing the whole
building 10 be in flames, rushed to the doora
of the other rooms on the same door, one Of
which was occupied by McCresry, and BE-
gan beating on them Justify to awaken the
inmatea. Everyone in the building Wa
coon aroused and made their exit, when it
was found that the drug store underneath
Was on fire. Only q black MACS of smoke
with an occasional bright fash OF fame
lesping up from behind the prescription
case could be seen from the outside, but %
soon as the door was opened to admit the
iremen, the flames, favored BY the draught,
ran up the shelves back Of the prescription
case, and for short time il looked % If not
only the store, but the entire Draper Block,
would be destroyed. The 6remen worked
braveIy and jud,ciously. however, and in .
few minutes the flames we're subdued.
After the fire an examination took place.
A policeman said that long before the FIRE
broke out he saw 4 light 10 the cellar Of
McCrearys store. but did not pay much at.
tention to il. II Was at first supposed that
the fire originated from the bursting Of Q
lamp that had been left burning in the
store but il was discovered that this could
not have been, for there VISA hole burned
through the floor, and il showed that il wss
burned through from the underside.
The startling discovery vas also made
that the back door of the store had been
opened-the money drawer was found on
the floor minus $l7. So it was plain that
some one had set the store on FIRE intention
ally but then it Vas also ascertained that
the back door Vas 90 fastened on the inside
that Il cuuid not have been opened from the
outside. Upon investigating the cellar, il
was plain that there Was where the FIRE orig.
mated. A movable gas burner had been lit.
and around il vssaRiled rosiD, varnish, and
other in6ammabIe substances. And it was
plain, too, that want Of air alone saved the
building and probably several human lives
from destruction.
The stock was greatly damaged BY Gre
and water, and very handsome chrome Of Z
boy, who the fremen with grim hu'nor
termed the incendiary, VA destroyed. Yer.
his loss was large, and the people sympa-
thissd with young McCreary; they felt
sorry that the bus,ness career OF such m
enterprising young man should receive such
. sudden and DISASTROUS check. But Nc
Creary had his stock and fixtures insured
for "a 500, and the building Was insured for
$1,000.
Of course the insurance companies inves.
tigated the matter. The more they invest.
gated the matter, the more they were con.
WINGED the FIRE wss the work of IN incendi-
ary; and the more they looked into the
matter the more they were satis6ed that
incendiary war Charles McCreary. They
found clues which had escaped the eyes Of
Of the excited crowd-among these clues
was string. One end of this string had
BEEN attached to the gas burner in the Gel.
lar-the other end Of the airing had been in
the room above attached to Charles Nc.
Crearys hand And the tell-tale string
had been left to expose the plot.
So there was . private meeting held, in
which Mr.. McCreary occupied . conspicu.
Gus part. He vas asked to explain the
thinga above related. He could Tot do il.
He Was then ssked to sign receipt in full
that. in consideration OF one dollar. cash in
hand, be relieved the insurance companies
from al liability in the premises. He
'igned that receipt He left the city .
liegraced and ruined man. Before leaving
he turned over his stock to the proprietor Of
he building to indemnify him for the dam
age to his property.
Nearly erybody in Sedalia knows
Charles McCreary-nearly everybody in
Sedalia liked and respected Charles Nc.
crearv. aud nearly every body in Sedslia
egrets that by one fatal step, in IN evil
he has sacrificed his good name.
'uined his prospects, and cast cloud over
lie future life.
There il Lesson in the above that our
'oung men will do we'll to heed.
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