The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1890-03-19
PFEIFER's CONFESSION.
He makes . clean breast Of 1t to County
Attorney Madison.

Ou l4St wednesday ul&ut, MarCu A<tns
at about the hour Of two o'clock, Judge
X. E. Burns. residing in the southeast
part of Ford county. discovered his
dwelling house to be on fire. MIR. Burns
and his family had attended Farmers
Alliance meeting in the township on
"Wednesday evening, returning home
about eleven o'clock. and retiring soon
after. During the night Mrs. Burns was
awakened by groans coming from the
bed room where the children slept. She
called to her youngest child but received
no answer. and called again to another.
but no reply. She then called loudly to
her eldest daughter, who awakened ut
once and cried to her mother that the
house WAS on fire. Mr.. Burns arose at
once, and going to the childrens chamber
found it filed with smoke almost to suf-
focation. He quickly removed the chill
dren and looked about to see where the
fire was. when he discovered small
blaze under the roof. By the aid of his
wife and sons the fire was soon extin-
guished. the only damage done being a
hole several feet square burned out of the
roof. The night WAS very still and for
tnnately the fire did not burn rapidly. In
few moments more the smaller children
would have been euffOcated. as it was
their yrOans which awakened Mr.. and
Mrs. Burns.
After putting ont the fire Mr.. Burns
went to his nearest neighbor and told
him what had happened. and with Ian
tern i'm hand they went back to see If
they could find some clue. On the roof
of the house was found the remnant of a
piece of cloth which had been saturated
with kerosene oil and forced under the
shingles, and more oil thrown on the
shingles, which trickeled down over the
caves. At the southwest corner of the
house they could see tracks made by
heavy boots; the sOles were filled with
several rows of nails with large heads,
making very plain tracks in the ground,
which they followed to a piece of ground
prepared for planting, and from there
followed the tracks for mile in the road
to point where the individual left the
road, when the tracks were lost in the
grass. Upon further search they found
at Pfeifer's blacksmith shop IA pair of
boots which cOrresponded to the prints
made on the ground, and suspicion at
once pointed to him. The next day Mr..
Burns swore out complaint charging
him with arson. and he was arrested aud
lodged in Jail in this city.
On Monday morning he made a full
confession to County Attorney Ed. II.
Madison, which appears below:
CONFESSION OF THEODORE PREFER.
Theodore Pfeifer, defendant in the
above entitled action, having been first
admonished that any statement that he
may make in this confession will he used
against him in said action, and being full
ly advised az to the punishment pre-
scribed by law for the crime of arson in
its various degrees, and with full I'M
Outstanding that no mercy will be ex-
tended to him, makes freely and volun-
tarily the following statements:
was at my shop at shutdown on the
evening of Wednesday, the 18th day of
March, 1890. Ny shop is in Speareville
township and is about y miles from r.
E. Burns house, in Pleasant Valley
township, in Ford county, Kansas. Ileft
the shop about nine O'Clock. took a
pony from the stable of Mat. Conda, with
whom l have been living. 1 took it
without asking him for its use. left the
pony upon the hill, tied to the fence on
Cotterman's place, and walked to Burns
house. had with me half pint bottle
half full of kerosene OF coal oil. l used
the bottle to keep kerosene in at my
shop. used the kerosene in the shop
to set fire to chips in setting wagon tires.
| went up to the southwest corner of
Burns house and sprinkled the kerosene
upon the shingles at that corner. then
lit match and touched the lighted
match to the shingles where 1 had put
the kerosene. and it blazed up and the
kerosene burnt off. That was about 10
O'Clock. stayed there until the blaze
went down and l thought the fire had
gone out. Then I went home. 1 met
Burns coming home from a farmers
meeting that was held in the valley that |
evening. met him about so yards from |
the house. He did not see me. There
was light burning in the house at the
time was there. but it was turned down |
pretty we'll. l knew that Burns occu-
pied that house as dwelling. did not
desire to burn the house down. l only
wanted to scare Burns and try and get |
him TO do better. have thought about !
burning Burns house for some time.
THEODORE PREFER.
Signed in our presence this 18th day of /