St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-19
WHO SET The FIRE?
Members of the Police Force
Would Like Very Much to
Know.
Matt Walsh Will Be Henne-
pins Candidate for
Speaker.
Officer McNamara'S ASsailant
Was Pronounced Not
Guilty.
Gjertsen Seeks Vindication--
Dp RuppnlI IN Rj1
GjertSen Seeks Vindication--
DR.. Burrell on Bill
Boards.

commission mas been called to case
which Wonld seem to demand inveStl-
CATION, although the commission is
making no determined effort to get to
the bottom of it. 1t involves police
officer and an eX-officer. With the
names of both are connected charges or
insinuationS of crimes ranging from
burglary to arson.
About four months ago the house of
the police officer was burned. He lived
out on Western avenue, about five
blocks beyond Lyndale. Residents
in that locality may remem Der the cir
cumstance. The officer and his family
were in st. Paul on the DAY of the fire, he
having secured one days leave of alb
sence. The loss was reported as total.
and claim sent to the insurance COM
pany for the 81, 900 placed upon the
house and contents. That insurance
money has never been paid. Insurance
companies refuse to pay on policies when
there is no reason to believe that the fire
was not ION the square," That was the
ground upon which this police officer was
denied his insurance money. The COM
pany was Informed that, not only was the
house set on fire by the beneficiary. but
that good deal of the property report
ed as destroyed had been removed be-
fore the fire. A detective was put upon
the trail of Mr.. Officer and nothing
suspicious having been developed
against him, the whole affair was re-
ported to Supt Bracket, who told the
officer accused of the charge that had
been made against him. He invited
search of his house, which was carried
out without single article reported as
hlrnn1 hninp m
ended for the time.
Recently attempts have been made to
blackmail certain mounted officer, it
being alleged that he was concerned in
burning up the house. The blackmaller
was man who used to be on the police
force as one of the mounted patrol, a
man whose reputation is not quite so
Savory as mixture of garlic and SWEET
Zerkase. These Matchmaking attempts
aroused suspicion, and little detective
work elected the information that it
was the eX-policeman of noisOme record
who had Informed the insurance COM
pany that the aforesaid police officer
had fired his own house, as sisted by the
mounted officer, for the purpose of
SWindiing the insurance company.
The eX-policeman wanted to be
put upon the case as a private
detective, but his reputation was so full
of yaWning cavernS of darkness that
but little attention was paid to his
story further than that it offered a
preteXt for the insurance company to
refuse to pay the loser who had suffered
the destruction of his little all. Among
the articles which the insurance com
pany's informer said had been reported
as burned, when it was safe, was
certain painting. Since the fire, in fact
~ r. nI
that the whole matter had been forgot
offered it for sale? Neither of the men
who were accused of arson, but the eX-
policeman who had informed against
their alleged crime. The question now
arises, ''1ow did he get hold of that
picture?'' Did he steal it? Probably.
Did he set the house on fire and then
wrongfuliy accuse the other men?
Possibly. 1t would not be beyond him.
The picture is now held as evidence,
and the case may yet go to the courts.
In the light of the above facts there
seems little reason why the officer whose
house was burned should not get his
money. His loss by the fire fell heavily
upon him. He bears good reputation,
be made to suffer for the misdeedS of
others. He was, before going on the
police force, member of the fire de-
partment.
But the attempts of the ex-police of
ficer to blackmail the mounted officer
look peculiar. 1t is more than possible
that the blackmailer was once concerned
in some criminal act with the man who
now wears the city's livery, and that
that is the foundation for his claim. AS
for this ex-policeman, there is good rea-
son to believe that he was once
guilty of arson. He lived in
Northeast Minneapolis. His prop
erty was mOrtgaged. One day
his house was burned to the ground
and he collected the insurance. The
mortgagor, through some oversight, had
failed to secure his mortgage with the
insurance. so he got but the bare lot.
while the mortgage pocketed the
money. His success in that undertak-
ing probably suggested to him the max
ing of the subsequent complaint to the
insurance company about another man,
in the hope of getting a job as de-
tpotiVp