Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1888-07-16
HIS HAYsrAOK EIRED.
The Third legendary Act on George
ShRrpIesS' Property ia Delaware
county.


! shRrPIesS' Property In Delaware
county.
MEDIA July Is For tho third time
sinc5 John Sharpless WAS called ont OF
his houss and murdsred thAt cismal
Sunday night In Novem Der, 1885, the
linc2ndiary'e e torch hHs bteu used In de
stFcytng property on ths farm of his
brotner, George Sharplsss, adjoining /.
The third and last fire occurred yGster
day morning about O'Clock. 1t wAs
applied % o large stack containing
about 20 tons OF this years crop of hay,
all OF whioh was oonBuued.
The hrss Of tho hfes on Mr.. 9harplsps'
plAos referred TO WAS In AuzuU, 1896
when the large, cid fashioned barn,
partly Of stone, that had stood near the
Providence road, about hallway bs-
tween Media and Chester, for nearly q
century, was destroyed, 1t was fully
Insured and was at once replaced with
large, modern -buiit structure, the
lire being set doHa Es the work OF
tTaups.
The now buildIng stood uamo eJted
until August Of Lass yeas, when tS was
full OF the SEASONS harvest. II vas
HRain Cred Just AFTER dusk one Sunday
evening, and vita All the contents, de
stroyed In less than an hours time.
The Delaware Colnty Mutual Insur-
Auoe Company paid the second lots
promptly, and Et great expense EN-.
| ploy ed dele Nives to try and discover the
real inGeDdlaries. The Cf1iosIs sptnt
nearly month In Delaware county, or
:estinG harmless trAmps ana following
alleged cues, but their efforts were
without results % far as the buTnIngs Of
the Shnrpless barns we're concerned,
After the second fire and with the
mystery that s6rrounde1 1t, the insur.
ance company gave notice TO Mr. ShaFp-
less thst II he rebuilt they could mot
accept third risk on the building. He
did not rebuild until this spring, when
ha commenced the new barn, completed
only few weeks ago. II iS, however,
uninsured no company being willing to
accept the risk. The hAystRck hred
yesisr6ay morning ia only about 10
yards from tho barn, and II the wind
bsd been blowing in that direction it
would have btea again destroyed. The
destruction Of the barn was no doubt
the object OF the iBcendlAries.
The e0evolopments insoonnectlon with
tbs burning of the hAyEtRck yesterday
- I'll va AAhI lhbAObG1 lhb
mystery Of the fres. Ex District At.
torney Baker and his brosher, Stanton,
who were o0mi1g up the Provldent 0
road from Chester, weEe the llrss to dis
cover the Gro.
AS they approaohed the 5harpless
buildings tAe Stack had only been burn
ing few minutes. They distinctly
heard voioag, ss of two parties further
up the roas, bat paid no attention TO It
81 tse time, ~ they thought it was
some one coming toward the Are. After
getting hr. s larpless snd his son out
.ot bed they ard Mr.. BAk examined
the premises. They found tracks lead
ing from the burning stack TO point
on the stone wall where, below, In the
Eosd, were the marks OF = horses feet
and OF light wagon wheels, showing
where team had bsen hitched. While
calling Mr.. ShETpless aud his son out of
bsd, the Baker brotherO heard team
dEsYe rapidly up the real.
The numerous burniDRs have greatly
alarmed Mr. Snsrplaey, Olmmeucing
tonight, he will have q constant watch
on the buildings.