St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-06
ARTISTIC INCENDIARIsM.
CIothier VOLTS Former Partner
Puts Him in a Bad Light.

u E0du IL
New YORK. Dec. 5.-Sunday night,
last. flames burst from the notion store
of Bernard Wolff, in the heart of the
East side tenement district. They were
eXtinguished; but now comes Joseph
Sugarman, who to-day made a state
ment, under oath, that puts him in
bad fix. Sugarlnan swears that Bar
nard and Abraham Wolff and he were
partners in the clothing trade on Third
street, in 1886. They had the entire
house. About the time of the Jewish
holidays he noticed that Bernard
Wolff was beginning what seemed
to him series of experiments with diff
ferent qualities and sizes of candles.
1t appeared as if he was endeavoring to
learn just how long it would take a
candle of certain thickness and quail
ity to burn a certain distance. Between
times he was visited by Il rPd-bearded
Russian, who always carried small bot
ties of different colored fluids. Sugar
man did not understand the language
they spoke, so consequently did not
know what they were discussing. But
he saw them comparing the liquids, and
testing them IN various ways. Finally
his
CURIOSITY WAS AROUSED.
and he asked Wolff who the Russian
was. Wolff replied that he was a
friend of his, a druggist doing business
ON Third avenue. Further than that he
would tell him nothing. These expert
ments continued until the holidays set
in. When the Jewish new year set in
the whole establishment was closed. 1t
was to remain so for three days, or
whild the holidays lasted. On the
night of the second day, Sugarman
said, he visited the place to see if every
thing was in order. Curtains we're
drawn on the windows. What met his
gaze upon opening the door startled
him. Preparations for good old blaze
were complete. From each cor
bag filed loosely with odds
and ends of cloth. Running
to these and all around the basement
tape. Along each shelf it was fastened
with pins in such a manner as to leave
no mark. The ends of the tape ran to
candles, cut off to a certain length,
which stood about the place. The tape
ran up stairs. Sugarman followed it,
he said. On the floor above the base
ment he found that similar preparations
to those below had been made. The
tape ran from that point to the floor
above, where the state of affairs was
the same. Upward Of thousand yards
of tape had been used. All of it had
been previously treated, Sugarman said
he learned subsequently,, with a chemi-
cal compound that was simply
PERFECTION IN IT'S WAY.
1t burned rapidly. made a trifiing
smoke and left no OdOr. Two minutes
after it was started hot fire would have
been raging in every room in the house.
Sugarman said it was some time before
he could fully realize what had been
done. When he did he started and
gathered up all the tape. After this he
took down the sacks of rags. Then he
saw Wolff and demanded what it all
meant. He raised such a rumpus that
VOLTS brother threatened to throw him
out of window. At just this point the
most interesting portion of all comes in.
Sugarman says the VOLTS then begged
him not to say anything about the mat
ter. He refused to eountenance the
matter and hurried off to in
form the insurance agent, a
man of the name of PrOeger.
"Judge of my SURPRISE" he said, "when
PrOeger also pleaded with me to say
nothing of the matter, as If might get
out" He did nothing more just then,
except to take the tape and sacks home
and stow them away. The VOLTS kept
pleading so hard with him not to make
the matter public that finally he con-
scented to let it drop if they would prom
Use never to try anything of the kind
again. They did no. After that, Sugar
man says they also told him how nicely
THE CHEMICALS WOULD WORK.
tMy brother used them for friend of
his in Broadway little while ago and
it made beautiful loss" is what Sugar
man said Bernard Wolff had told him at
the time. In conclusion Sugarman
said that as soon as he heard OF the fire
at "a Essex street he became convinced
that Wolff was up to his old tricks
again and determined to expose him.
No arrests have yet been made.