The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-04-13
ORGANIZED FIRE-BUGS.
Confession of a Member of a Gang That Made
"a Business of Burning Tenements.

NEW YORK. April 12.-The existence of q
band of fire-bugs and Anarchists in Brook
lyn was discovered to-day. Two men are
in jail. One of the accomplices of the gang
has made full confession to the specific
charge on which he and his prin-
cipal are under arrest. The police and fire
marshal are convinced that they have at
last caught the incendiarles who ore re-
sponsible for most of the uenement-house
fires in Brooklyn since Jan. /. The con-
fessiOn of the accomplice describes In de-
tail the methods employed by the fre-bugs
in Sc ttng fire to dwellings and other build
ings. They would 60 to the jewellers In
tenement-houses who carried proportion
ately large insurance on their furniture
and propose to burn the house or rooms of
such persons and take percentage of the
insurance money in payment for their
work. They usually sought. according to
their confessions, to intimidate their new
accomplices by threatening them with
swift and mysterious death. They told
the accomplice who made the cOnfes sion
that they would scratch him with pols-
oned finger nails if he ever divulged the
crimes which they had committed.
The incendiary fire which led to the ar
rest of the two men now in Jail was started
in the rooms of Gottelieb Steinbrenner on
March 90. The house is a tenement. The
flames were checked before they had done
much damage. After the fire had been put
out Fire Marshal Lewis found in the rooms
three bladders filled with strange COM
bustibles. Most of the furniture had been
taken away. What was left in the rooms
was not worth more than go. Steinbren-
ner was insured for 500 in the Guardian
company. Steinbrenner was arrested and
confessed that the premises were set on
fire with volatile combustible held in q
kind of bladder with q fuse attached and
gunpOwder surrounding the fuse in piece
OF muslin. which was sewn together to pre-
vent the powder from being separated;
then some large brown paper, folded Was
used to start the fires He named Heffmdh
Albrecht as the prime mover In the con-
spIracy. as the person who supplied the
material for causing the fire, and who was
TO receive $50 when Steinbrenner collected
his insurance. Albrecht was also arrested.
He denies having fired the tenement him
self. He says that Portuguese Anarchist
went with him to the place. and after
Albrecht had unlocked the door the Portu-
guese went in and lighted tho fuse. John
Schibel. Bertha Schibel and four little
Schibels occupied the rooms directly back
of Steinbrenners. Had the explosion Oc-
Cured as designed they would have prob
ably been killed. There were about twenty
tenants in the building. which was three
stOIy UTiCh stIuctuEo Wien INC Stclu oxen-
ner tenement was fired. Albrecht is an
Anarchist well known to the police of
Brooklyn.
He has defiant manner. He told de-
tectIve Campbell ne met a Portuguese In this
city one day. and they planned to burn,
kill and pillage. and TO foster Anarchist
ideas. He pretends not to know the POrtu-
guese's name. The police are looking for
him, and if he has not already escaped
they expect to get him in a few days.
Albrecht is a leader in the Williamsburg
Anarchist colony. to which the murder of
Mrs. Boscblusky and her son Isaac, last
December, was traced. Albrecht's POrtu-
guese accomplice. the police say. must be
an experienced chemist. The composition
OF the volatile substance in the bladder
bombs shows the work of man we'll &C.
quainted with chemistry.