Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-10-12
NOT YET ARRAIGsED.

mSaii awaiting n Laws Pleasure.
The lives Of Judge Nswkirk and the DO.
hcemen were made miserable yesterday by
the oft repeated inquiry, HAS Inzersoll
teen arraigned YETI" and the subseuuent
inquiry, When will he be arraigned?n The
alleged fire-bug was not a~rraignsd. He
spent the day in the county Jail trying to
soothe his nerves, which were badly shaken
oy his arrest on q charge so grave as arson
n by the omnibus mutterinks he heard
from people who saw him taken to the
county jail. He was extremely nervous at
that time and might have been made to
lose all sell possession had he been cues
TONED while in that shaky condition. He
! VIII be called before Judge Newkirk some
time to-day.
Te penalty for the crime of which Inper-
soil is suspected il very severe. Arson, &C.
cording to the statutes OF the territory. ia
graded in proportion to the Nervousness OF
the offense. There are three degrees, and
IL either is desirable it cert ainly is not the
first. That Is the malicious burning of an
inhabited building at night and the punish
ment is either life imprisonment or death,
as the jury may designate. Second degree
arson is the malicious burning OF an in.
qabited building in the day time and the
penalty is imprisonment for not less than
five nor more than twenty years. The
malicious burning Of an uninhabited
structure is called third degree arson and
is punishable by imprisonment for not less
than three nor more than fifteen years.
Should the accused be convicted on either
count he will doubtless get the limit of the
law-possibly no a. at all; for, SO far as
can be learned, the sentiment Of the BUSH
hess community is that @ man guilty OF
setting fire to property, whether for fun or
plumber, should be thrown alive into q fire
as big and hot as any he had caused.
Now that I~ngersoll's affairs and doings
are the talk OF the town, the number Of
rumors OF incendiarism have been greatly
Increased. The mans unuonted presence
at peculiar times is freely commented upon
aud the belief that he is the man who
should have been in prison long ago il
rapidly gaining ground. All the suspicious
things with which he has been associated are
recalled and his connection Herewith is set
down as q matter of fact rather than of
speculation. OF one thing there can BE- no
doubt-his neighbors were afraid of him
and, so long as he was at liberty, dreaded
to express their thoughts for fear that
Ingersoll would take a terrible ven
geance in some form or other. For instance,
an elderly lady living rear where In
gersoll used to live ia reporte ed to havesaid
that she once saw q man set fire three
times to a building near her home, and
that each time b extinguished the blaze.
Even now the lady will not say that the
man was Ingersoll, but the s%upposition OF
q | who have heard her story is that he is
the person at whom her remarks are d.
rected.
A resident OF Butte knew Ingersoll in
Eureka, Nevada, when the alleged ire-bug
was a small boy. According to this mans
story "the boy was father to the man."
or, in other words, Ingersoll, as q lad, gave
promise OF being what commou report now
makes him out to be. Another resident of
Butte-Joel e. Whatley, OF the Cafe Royal
fathers the statement that Ingersoll at
tempted to set fire to said Whatley's res
taurant in Ogden. Now that the
publication OF the rnmor connecting
Ingersoll with the Centennial hotel fire OF
two years ago has been made, people are
not wanting who express their thorough
belief that the suspect fired it, and that he
was and is responsible for the death OF the
two men incinerated at that time.
Still another story going the rounds is
that shortly before the FIRE that destroyed
Mr.. Davis barn, Ingersoll bought a five
gallon can OF coal oil. After the fire Inger-
soils neighbors, who were both afraid and
suspicious OF him, examined mis- house and
premises, but could find no trace of the
coal Gil nor OF the can which had contained
it. Another suspicious thing noticed by
the same ohservant neighbors was that
when the first fire, after the Williams barn
blaze, threatened Ingersoll's home that
worthy had bis wife and children fully out
of harms way on the sidewalk, whereas
other residents OF the neighborhood, whose
premises were in no more eminent peril
than were Ingersolrs. had barely time to
escape in their night clothes.
Since the ar est OF the suspect he has
been called crazy, but the idea OF irrespou-
sible mental alteration has been viewed in
the light OF subsequent disclosures and now
those who were at first inclined to regard
the man as daft have come to the con-
clusion that there vas too much OF method
in his madness. The knowledge OF this
| reputed weakness OF intellect gave rise to
the report that Ingersoll had weakened in
spirit and was about ready to make a con.
fession. A reporter for The MINER tried
to get a talk with the prisoner. but found
on applying at the county Jail that the
police had given orders that no one should
be given an audience. The jailer, however,
said that Ingersoll did o appear to be
| breaking down; that on the other hand he
seemed to be recovering from the fright
| that followed close upon the heels OF his
arrest.
1t is understood that the reason why
Ingersoll was not arraigned yesterday is
that, fearing that he would be lynched, he
had asked for a continuance.