New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-24
CONFESSION OF A FIREBUG
WEALTHY MANS son ADMITS HIS GUILT.
HE SAYS HE TRIED TO BURN A
HOUSE WHILE CRAZED WITH o~ClNINE-DiD
lie START THE FLAMES IN THE BUILD

HOUSE WHILE CRAZED WITH oClNINE-DiD
lie START THE FLAMES l. THE BUILD
ING IN WHICH SIX PERIsHED7
The mystery surrounding the incendiary hrcs
which have terrorized the downtown portion o.
B~rooklyn for the last two or three months was
p~artiaIly cleared up yesterday by the arrest oil
Hugh G.. Miller, a wclLconnccted young man. VINO
confesses that he started one OF the hres on Sa'ul-
day night, and who is strongly suspected oE inc
notice of starting all the recent lncendialy hies III
that part of the city, including the one III winch
xix neoplc were burned to death. lie says thau
10 was suffering from taking too much qulnlne
and that his mind was unsettled at the Time hc
started the fire, and he did not know what ne
was about. Miller was held by Police justice
Walsh 70 answer to a charge OF arson IN thc hSV
degree. and he will be examined to-day lie n'eS
with his parents at No. 159 Sands-st., and Is a
clerk and bookkceper in a millinery suoie "' wv
600 Broadway, New-lOrk.
Tho first susnicion of his identity with the man
who has started the fires in tenement-honses anu
a.. orose on Sunday. There were three fires on
Saturday night. The first broke out at o:0o III
tho collar of No. 100 Bridgc-st. Some WOOD hau
heen soaked in kerosene and set ailre' "a oo',c
in which the oil had been was also loun"' q"
0.lO O'Clock another fire was fouhu oh II opp
site side of Rridge-st, at NO. loS' IN o'"o
method was found to have been pursued an" ue
fire was easily extinguished. "A thiIu he was
started in o fence nearby.
While Police Captain Eason ana De.eou'.'
Noonan and Kearney were investigating inc h%'
fer. they found some Kerosene spliieo uPon Wv
sidewalk in High-st. An. occupant OF thc Jus,
at that number said that a young man h"u uioPp'"
n bottle there and said: "lnere eoeS "'
water A description of him was learned. La"i
--. Drocpoot aO1 Rrl0ne StS. WIS
found with the keybole plugged with paper anu
Con,a;n Eason nulled the paper out and kept IL.
~ Sunday the case was still further lh'eSu-
ootod and the police found that a young man
had cmnloved bows to buy kerosene IN peer po''c'
for him on Saturday night. One OF these poSs'
Jobn Connerton, thirteen years old' OIL W -No
Hudson-ave., gave a Description oi ~. 49,
man. These descriptions htted llugh - ~
uou known Young man in the Fifth Ward. living
with his father, a retired nerchahu' "no o""'
q large amount of property In Sahue an" p -
SITS. He was found at his home NO. io' "''
and placed under arrest. lie cNpfesscu e"!pi"''
and was taken at once 10 the rul'on''' samna
Whom he was searched a circular was iouno
IN his pocket advertising the reports OF tne uc"lo',
,ion If the new Sands Street Methodist EpiScoPai
Ctm,oh in the illustrated Christian Weekly
r;oco had been torn out of the centre oil IT, an"
,.bor Contain Easton took the piece OF paper he
hod n;cl,ed ont of the kcyhOle in tie hre-''ai"
h,v, IT, fitted exactly In the clrcuiai.
oil had been spilled i'll the leit-hahu pooN''
his oyercoat. When confronted WIN '"S W.
dence against him the prisoner hnaHS % "
confession. which he sworc TO as uue' ""u ~
comn,ete statement of the case. Inc m"'iii
points of it. are these: u.,or ,,oco
am not responsible for the fires az any o'", -
than No. 1873 Bridge-st. l nave haa nr
uon,.I s,rain on my system recently rom NY
mo ncr,s illness, business anxiety, ana haNi"s ~
mind worked mp by the many scent IRE Al III "
borhood. and | was induced to COMMIT nv AZ"
hourht a bottle and got a boy 10 pus eoino "N'
for me. and after / broke one oouo L you w."
bow to get another bottle and went to the rear . ~ y
100 pridqe-st. When l went in the alleyway ! sd"
no one and poured the oil on the wooden s'a"'aso
and set it on fire. on the way from wheIc l oouen.
the bottle ] plugged the frcbox at prospect anu
bridge SITS. by putting n piece OF paper in the Key
hole. After starting the fire l went to LppS odSho
and STAYED there until IL 80 and then went nome
When Young Miller was taken TO the ADAMS
Street Police Court yesterday morning, a charge OF
arson in the first degree was made against him. ana
he pleaded Guilty under temporary INSANITY:
Tho nlca was made Not guilty" and he was held
for examination to-day.
Miller is about twenty-five years old. a we'll
dressed. well-appearing young man. with sandy
hair and mustache. lie did not appear fully 10
realize the gravity OF MS position Wien u W I"
Tribune reporter before he was taken TO Raymond
Street Jail. When questioned he SAID
Il have no sympathy with attempts AT des'ruc-
finn by fire. Ny father owns a number of houses
and I have gone about with him u see that the
cellar doors were padlocked and that all was
safe For the last three weeks | have been at
work day and night. and last week / took a heavy
cold and was threatened with the grp. n
physician prescribed quinine for me last winter
and So | got some pills to throw off the attack.
! got ten and five grain pills, and on Friday l
took thirty grains and | repeated the dose on
Saturday. This set my head all awhlrl, ana
Saturday night when l got home early l hardly
knew what i was about.
Il sat on my bed and heard the fire-engines go
bv. Ii flashed in my mind that it would he a
good thing 10 get them in my street; so | started
out and got a boy TO get me some kerosene ana l
set fire to No. 1873 BIidge-st. / think | was
temporarily insane, and | don't know why | did 1t.
The property belongs 10 u young man who went
to school with me, and i had no gradse against
him :.
the other fires in that part Of the city, in ore of
which, at Nos. l2q and l3l Sands-st, on feornary
81. SIX persons lost their lives. the police and tine
Fire Marshal are inclined to believe that he Is
guilty of starting them all. Several suspicious
circumstances point to him. lie was seen IN thc
vicinity of No. l29 S~ands-st:, by the barber whose
shon is i'm the basement, shortly before the fre
occnrred there. The method adopted in nearly all
the fires has been the same. Kerosene oil in beer
bottles has been carried into the places ana
nonred over wood or paper and set on fire.
The prisoner is connected with the Sands Street
Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday school
and is associated with several societies III II. lie
has always borne an irreproachable moral char
acter. His only vice appears to have been the
excessive smoking of cigarettes. lie Is saId 10
no engaged TO marry a public-school teacher. The
police have ascer,ained that he has been employed
in the same store as the young man who was
accused by Miss Florence Birch, OF lsIlp. IL. L., Vi
setting fire TO her millinery store a few weeks ago
NilIer's father said yesterday Hugh is my
only son. and he has been given a good education
and Gospel training. lie was regarHru ny nS