Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-26
HOFF REARRESTED.
CHARGED WITH FIRING HIS RES
TAURANT ON JUNE l4th.
Look Bad--A Burning Candle Found in
an Oil Saturated Egg Case.

The complaint charging R. w. Hoff,
proprietor of the Pacific Slope restau-
rant, with arson, which was issued by
the district attorney Wednesday, as a
result of the work of Detective Fred
Smith, was dismissed by Justice Stanton
yesterday afternoon and Hoff was dis
charged. A new complaint was filed
Immediately. however, and the restau-
rauter was arrested on charge of
having set fire to his place on the night
of June 18th, one week before the serious
blaze of last Sunday. The defendant
was arraigned on this new complaint
and held in default Of $4,000 bonds for
examination on Saturday at 10 O'Clock.
With the complaint were filed six
affidavits in support of the charge,
which appear to make out very strong
case against Hoff. 1t will be remembred
that about midnight on June 18th a
small blaze was discovered in the shelv-
ing in the front part of the restaurant,
which was put out by the fire depart
ment with little difficulty.
Homer Courtwright, cook employed
by Hoff, makes affidavit that on the
night in question he left the restaurant
at O'Clock p. m. The next day, after
the blaze had been suppressed, he went
into the pantry in the rear of the place
and saw an egg box with cardboard par
titions under the table, which was sat
urated with Kerosene and covered with
tallow drippings. The kerosene was
plainly distinguishable here and in the
ont oNf< Of hn ok% IL
also saw number of towels in the waste
basket which were likewise saturated
with kerosene. The egg boxes were not
usually kept in the pantry, but either in
the front or extreme rear of the store,
and there was very little coal oil used
about the house.
Detective Fred Smith makes affidavit
that r. w. Hoff has been proprietor of
the restaurant about two and a half
months, and that he had insurance to
the amount of $500 on it.
VIM. Nimmo, a waiter employed in
the restaurant, says that he came to the
place at IL a. m. on May 18th, and
found that there had been fire there
on the night before. In talking with
Hoff about it the latter said that ''the
only trouble with the fire was that it
did not burn tar enough" Nimmo
found towels saturated with kerosene in
cupboard next to the shelves that
burned, and placed them in the waste
basket.
Richard Wallace, an acquaintance of
Hoffs, had a talk with him the day af-
ter the fire, and the latter said to him:
Eyes, we had a fire last night, but it
did not burn far enough" Hoff gave
as the cause of the fire that mice had
been playing with some matches that
were placed near the gas meter.
Joe>Walker, second cook, makes affi-
davit that he left the restaurant at 8 AS
O'Clock on the evening of June 18th. All
of the lights were extinguished except a
small fire in the range. Hoff was in the
front part of the place counting money,
and N. Travis, who slept in the restaur-
ant, was in the rear.
N. Travis, the only man who slept in
the restaurant, swears that he was
awakened on the night of June 18th by
fire in the front part of the place. The
engines came and put it out, and he then
went back to his bed. In the pantry, as
he passed through, he found an egg box,
surrounded by infammable material, in
which was piece OF candle about three
inches long, burning between the card
board partitions. The box was thorough
ly saturated with kerosene.