The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-12-29
MILwAUKEE's FIRE-BUG.

eXQlOolO0 was noaFu 1Or miles. 0e uaIleo
of the victims could not be learned.
MILwAUKEE'S FIRE-BUG.
He Throws q Bomb Into . street-Car Barn
and Causes Loss of S5OO,000.
MILWAUKEE, Dec 2s.-At 2 O'clock this
m orning bomb was thrown into the msin
building of the South-side plant of the
Milwaukee Street-railway Company.
There was q tremendous explosion. and in
q moment the interior of the structure was
ablaze. In few minutes the fire was be-
yond control. and In less than an hour the
entire plant was consumed, incurring g
loss of about $500 900.
The Street-railway Company's South
side plant was located on Kinniknick ave.
nue.. 1t included the immense storage sta bles
for electric motors. the machine shops and
the stables. In the barn were fifty new cleo
trio motors, and nearly all the summer cars
owned by the company. The machine
shops were built the past season. and were
fitted with very fine machinery for the re-
building and repairing of cars. In the
stables werc sixty horses, but these were
COTTON out alive. The insurance carried
was on the buildings, amounting to $4,000.
The barns destroyed were the principal de-
Dot of the Milwaukee Street railway Com
pany, and the fire greatly crippled the COM
pany.
The man who threw the bomb is not
known. He 10 supposed to be the fire.bug
who has started fully q dozen other dis.
person who saw the alleged bomb thrown
was night watchman Worden. He says
that he was standing near the main door
way of the barn in which the motors and
cars were stored. There was q whiz of
Tremendous explosion. If there was q
bomb thrown, which many dou bt, it came
through the main doorway and struck
In the car nearest the entrance. The pro-
jsotiie must must have been filled s.i with
as hardly ten minutes passed, according
to the night watchman's story, before
nearly all the cars in the building
were In tiames- Manager Linn is convinced
of the truthruiness OF the watchman's
story. That there was an explosion every
one In the neighborhood will testify. There
was nothing of an explosive nature about
the plant and the electric current was not
on, the machinery at It'll tho power-honse not
positive about the explosion. He said: Il
was not twenty feet away when IL occurred.
and saw 1t all. The explosion was ter
rifle. 1t blew every window ont OF the car
and it was not q second before the car was
on fire. tried to get the car out. but l
could not do 1t. i tried the electricity, but
the power was of. If it had been on
could have run the car out, l think. and
saved the building. i don't think the fire
started from the stove. / am sure there
must have been some sort Of bomb or some-
thing like that thrown in the car"
In the car barn proper were all tho Rus
sell-avenue and Forest Home cars, and the
building was filled with lot of new cars,
which were being fitted out for the various
branches OF the road. On the second floor
was stored large number OF summer cars.
which burned: The cars that were burned:
seventy-nine in number were about half of
the entire equipments of the road. The
larger part of them were new cars The
most OF them belonged to the Becker-street
line. and there were some among them
from the north line of tho city. Every car
in the Bay View and Forest Home lines
was destroyed. Manager Linn places the
loss on the cars alone at 100000 A small
cottage next to the plant of the street-rail.
wsy ~ Was also DESTROYED, wSma1 ian
had to be carried out of the house after it
as in flames. The rear end of the plant of
tho butcher Stove Company, which had
been leased by the Milwaukee Street-raiI-
way Company, was slightly damaged.
This afternoon Mayor Somers issued o
proclamation offering . reward of $500
for the arrest OF the persons who started
any of the fires beginning with the great
COuU6RI8tlOu OCV. %, OF WHO eudll Bt6tb
any fires in the city within the next thirty
days. 1t has also been decided to AZ once
add one hundred special policemen to the
regular forco for night service. To-day q
number OF insurance agents representing
leading companies received orders from
their. several companies to cease writing
insurance on manufacturing plants in Mil.
waukee.
The police department has thoroughly ex-
amined the employees of the burned car
barns. and Chief Jansen says he 10 salts
tied that the ire was caused by car.stove
Payne. who also made On investigation,
thinks there was an explosion. but has no
theory to advance as to the cause.
The fire-bug who is operating iD Milwau-
months. He began his work of destruction
on the night of Oct. 80. when three hnn.
dred building were consumed and 81 O00. 600
worth of property destroyed. While the
cOnfiagration was raging in the East Side
Side. Here the loss was 10.0o0. The week
following Koch d Loeber's wooden are
and notion store was fired, the loss there
being $4,000 A week later T.. l.. Kelly's
dry-go0ds store burned with q loss of Sls5.-
burned out O few days later with s20. 600
loss. The Hennecke Company's art store
came next, with $50. 600 loss. The origin of
this fire Is. uncertain. An attempt was
made to burn the great Allis works, and
later the Psbst Theater. On Christmas
100000. The Keenan, mill was burned at
the same time and the loss there was S20..
600. Then came the tanuery fire yesterday
whereby $780, 900 worth of property was
consumed, and to-day the car.barn ire.
To-day two more bodies were found in
the ruins of the tannery. increasing the
number of lives lost to four. One body is
that of Stephen Treader. tanner; the