The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-08-25
RED WAGON AND GRAY HORSE.
They Give Detectives q CleW 10 the Man Who
Was Arrested for Setting Fire to Stables.

The large number of small fires. chiefly in
stables and sheds. suggested to the police
and fire department. that they were not the
result of ordinary accident or carelessness,
but the work of one or more lncendiaries.
There were five yesterday, all small, but
this, being o repetition of the work of
each of the preceding three or four days. is
wearing upon the horses of the depart
ment more than the men, as the latter have
little to do after arriving at the fire.
The first alarm yesterday was about $50
o'clock in the morning. A small house in
the southeast part of the city, near Pleas
ant ran. was burning. but the flames were
soon extipguished by the ~neighbors. The
next alarm came in at 1888 A. NJ. and was q
stable at No. S6S on North Meridian street.
The fire Q xtended to an adjoining stable.
The loss On the first was 500, on the second
trifing. At 400 p. NJ. q shed ct No. 625 East
Ohio street. belonging to Henry Alder. Was
found to be on fire. 1t was speedily ex-
tingulshed and $50 will cover the loss. Fol-
lowing this the stable of A. b. Conduit, or
North Delaware street, was damaged. Mr..
COnduitt was sprinkling his lawn at the
time and put the fire out with the hose
without calling upon the department. A
stable on + lcLcnoI avenue was the 06xb 10
burn, Just as the department was making
run. about 7:3O p. NJ, TO q hre at No. 2S5
South Delaware street The loss ut each
place was Insignificant, the fires being put
out before the flames had hardly got started.
The tire at the stable No.. SS North Me-
ridian street. bias, it is thought given q
clew to one of the causes OF the numerous
blazes. The stable is the property of DE-.
Beck. and soon after the fire was extin-
guished be was called upOn by Q man who
I'D .asta<o1 - kr,tAt~v he .&-Al. Tiki
person asked the Doctor if he did not want
tO employ him to patch up the part that
had been burned, but was turned away
with the remark that nothing could be
ance company had adjusted the loss Be-
fore leaving. however, the Doctor asked
the man how he came to know of the fire.
to which answer was made that he had
been told by detective Pat Dough-
city. Shortly after this detectives
running down the fires with a view to get
ting some clew to the f~ire-bugs, called upon
the Doctor. whotold them the story of the
visitor. The detectives afterward called
had no such conversation with any one.
Early in the morning the detectives re-
ceived information that q man who drove q
gray horse TO q red wagon had been seen
the day before near a stable which was
soon after in g blaze. 1t was also dis
covered that the wagon n horse by some
chance happened to be at nearly all the
small fires during the past week.
Putting these things together, the detect
ives ran down and arrested the owner of
the gray horse. He is John Taylor, living
at No. Go Arizona street, where he has .
wife and two children. He was brought to
the station at $50 o'clock last evening and
questioned closely by superintendent Col
bert. He denied that he had set anything
on fire. and. when searched. nothing was
found upon his person except a carpenters
rule and q lot of matches. He is thirty
four years old, SIX feet high, slendera and
has light hair and q light mustache. When
asked if he was q carpenter he drawled
out. only q kind of q one" When
tho iron door opened to receive
him he went in as passive as q sick lamb,
without the feeblest sort of protest. Some
of the o~n-lookers were disposed to think
HIM weak-witted, or that something was
the matter with his head. Older members
of the force say they remember him as
having been arrested about eight years ago
for stealing q COW. When confronted with
this history he acknowledged the arrest,
but said he had never been tried on the
charge. The detectives are of opinion that
they have enough to make Q case against
him.