The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-28
on TRACK OF FIRE BUGS
THE AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING
AN INCENDIARYsS ACT.

AN INCESDIARY'S ACT.
Too Many Buildings Set on Fire, and
the Authorities to Try and Put
Stop to 1.-THE Attempt 70 Burn
Luke Fraser,s House on Gwinnett
Street Lane Being Looked Into-No
Arrests Yet.
Nayor Schwarz and Chief Fireman
Puder began an investigation yesterday Of
the cause CT Monday nights blaze under
the cabin of Luke Fraser, at No. 252il
Gwinnett street lane. There was an ugly
look about the fire. which was a deliberate
attempt at midnight TO burn the house and
contiguous property on the west, occupied
by another colored man, John Lawrence,
who Is living with a woman by the name Of
Mary Rivers, alias Mary Lawrence.
Some one put a cracker box in which
light wood and gunny cloth, saturated with
oil. and bucket containing kerosene oil
and gunny cloth saturated vita oil under
Fraseris house and set fire to it. From the
evid nee before the msyOr, John II. Carey,
an old colored man, father of Fraser's wife
and who slept in a room adjoining the
kitchen. was awakened about midnight by
the smoke which almost stihed him. Think
way there. and discovering blaze through
q crack in the floor, dashed a bucket Of
water on il. and was so near asphyxiated
that be fell unconscious after he retreated
from the room
FIRE UNDER THE HOUSE.
The noise the old man made woke Luke
Fraser, and with difficulty he got his wife
and children out of the house He saw at
once that the fire was under the house, and
running outside he dipped an old cheese box
in a water barrel, and crawling under the
house saw that the floor and floor timbers
were ablaze. While he was working to put
the fire out Lawrence, who lived in the
cabin on the west, and which is only
about II feet from Fraser's house,
came through Fraser's house and gave
him one bucket Of water. Fraser was
between the house and the dividing fence,
aud Lawrence wanted TO push the fence
down, and Fraser told him no, that he
wanted 70 get the fire out. Lawrence then
crowded past Fraser and, reaching under
the house. pulled out the burning box,
which had been placed under the kitchen,
behind one Of the brick sustaining pillars.
Martha Fraser, Luke's wife. identified
the box as closely resembling one kept in
Lawrence's yard, and since the fire no such
box had been seen in Lawrence's yard. The
old man Carey testified 10 the fact that on
Monday Lawrence, who had been accus-
toned 20 keep his chickens under the house.
cooped them and put the coop at the rear Of
the lot This was also testified to by Mar
tina Fraser.
Willie Bee, a colored boy made a state
ment that the box looked like one kept in
Lawrence's yard, IN which he had hauled
the children about.
WHERE THE FIRE WAS PUT UNDER.
Fraser, his wife aud Carly testified that
frrr hoo r-dfr ad 7
side Of the fence and exactly In line with the
place where the fire box had bsen pushed
under Fraser's house, and that bricks piled
against the boards had been removed.
Lawrence's statement and that Of his
woman confiicted. Lawrence said that he
had cOoped up the chickens two or three
weeks before The woman said that they
were not cooped up until last Saturday.
Lawrence says that he handed three buck
cts of water TO Fraser, and splashed two
himself Lawrence admitted that ne had
$500 Insurance on his mouse and 500
on household goods He says tat the
bricks had previously been removed, and
he claimed that he had great deal of talk
with Fraser which the latter denied.
LUKE FRAsER's STORY.
Fraser said that he wouldn't let Lawrence
push the fence down, as he wanted to do.
and that Lawrence tried 70 make him be-
heve the fire was out when it wasn't, and
that Lawrence did not try to put the fire
out, as be said he did; but that when he
wouldn't let Lawrence push the fence down,
the latter went directly to the place where
the box had been put under the house, and.
reaching under, pulled it out
Lawrence claimed that the box seen in
his yard and with which the children
played was one he had borrowed from Paul
Ferrabee June 10, and returned two or
three days after, but the evidence Of Martha
Fraser and the old man Carey was to the
effect that the box was in Lawrence's ward
last week. Had the fence been pushed
down, no trace of how the box had been
taken into Frazer's lot would have existed.
The authorities considered it suspicious
that Lawrence's story Is conflicting. and
that he carries so much insurance on a
cabin not worth half what it is insured for
BIG INSURANCE ON LITTLE STUFF.
The chief Of the fire department and
MORNING NEWS reporter visited the cabin
yesterday and there wasn't $50 worth of
household goods in the place. Lawrence
was asked how he could carry 800 insur-
ence on 50 little furniture, and he said the
house did look empty, but ne had some
broken leg furniture at the repair shop. and
claimed TO have a $50 set in one room which
he did not open. Chief Puder said that he
saw all the furniture the morning after the |
fire and there wasn't $50 worth of plunder |
In the house then.
No arrests have been made, and Lawrence
said that the inquiry is a job put up on |
him. There is one thing certain. Had |
Fraser's house burned nothing could have
saved Lawrences cabin, as the box
was put under that side of |
the house nearest Lawrence's, which |
was less than two feet distant. The two |
boards loosened were from the Lawrence |
SIDE; the bricks were on Lawrences lot. |
and they had been removed, and the evil |
dence showed to the authorities that
Lawrence and his woman do not agree on
when the chickens were cooped and re-
moved to the rear of the lot. while the
evidence on the other side agrees that il
was done on Monday. The matter Will be
further investigated, as the act of incendi-
arism is well established.