The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-02-01
THE NEwHALh TRAGEDY.
Sensational Charges to the Fire Being
KindIed to Conceal Another Crime.

MILWAUKEE, Jan. 31.-The Evening Jour
nal prints the following:
'If George Scheller Is guilty of setting fire
to the Newhall House he should be fried
over hell to eternity" said a man. whose
name cannot be given at this time, to a
Journal reporter to-day, and then added:
But don't believe him guilty. notwith-
standing that is the hypothesis seized upon
and pursued by the coroner's Jury. Why,
sir, they are trying to forestall the verdict
of the court of law, and starting out with
the premise that the prisoner is guilty in
stead of innocent, until he is proven other
wise, they have lost sight of everything else.
From what | learn, there will be some start
ling developments made i'll connection
with the Newhall House fire in day or two
Two Chicago detectives have been working
at the matter for some time, and l know
there is one individual at least, VINO, should
ne board a railroad train, would be dragged
off and ornamented with a pair of iron
bracelets"
"Was he an emp!oye OF the hotel?'
"Yes, sir; he has been on a protracted
spree ever since the fire. You were undoubt-
eddy about the ruins a great deal, and saw
great piles of partly consumed books of all
descriptions taken from the debris. They
were ledgers and day books, and journals
and hotel registers, and letter and bill books;
why, sir whole libraries were recovered, with
scarcely volume missing. They were badly
damaged, and many of them nearly con-
sumed, but the remnants remained l saw
you and a group of reporters searching about
the ruins in the neigh borhood of the hotel
Office. You examined vast number of books
and papers; and l now ask you if you found
so much as a sheet of paper much less a
book, which had bearing upon the accounts
of the house for period embracing TWO OF
three years last past, and were there not reg
afn IT.
while not vestige of the one for 1888 was to
be found although, being new, its leaves
would stick together and protect it from
firer'
What do you make of all thsT'
why, sir, that the books were removed
to cover the tracks of a defalcation, and the
hotel fired to convey the idea that they had
been burned, when there was nearly ton OF
blank books taken from the ruins under
where the office was located and not one OF
them contained an open running account. "
How could the books be removed without
attracting the attention of the Waterman and
night clerk?'
They have declared under oath before the
coronerS jury that they were awake on the
morning of the 10th of January, when the
fire occurred That does not necessarily inn
ply that they had been awake during the en-.
tire night, and l know of men who will swear
that on nine nights out of ten they both lay
down and slept, and what is more, Delaney
the clerk, admitted that he occasionally slepl
or took a nap after the trains were all in
This fact would render it an easy matter fol
stealthy person to make way with the books
as the temperament of the two sleepers wa;
not of kind to make them susceptible OF
any slight noise"
"Are there any proofs that the books were
crooked?"
''Not positive But it has been ascertained
| that the employee upon whose trail the detec
tives have been working has been backing
gamblers and other sports with sums o.
money beyond the reach of a man in his sta
ton. The whole matter will be out in a day
or two. 1t is undoubtedly clew being fol
lowed in the interest of George Scheller, bu
it is worthy of consideration at least. The
| witnesses it is claimed especially the en-
gineer, Linehan, can and will shed more
light on the matter when the questions pro
pounded to them in court of law will en-
| able them to do SO. In the meantime they
| are dumb
Later in the day District Attorney Clarl
was met and asked what he knew about the
hints conveyed in the interview He re
piled: Simply nothing at all; the report il
utterly without foundation"