Evening journal., 1893-11-23
SET The FIRES FOR FUN
Firebugs In Greenwich, Conn,
Are Found Out.
ONE WAS A VOLUNTEER FIREMAN.
Other Members OF the Fire Department.
Are Under Suspicion -- The Prisoners
Confess--They Were Suspected After the
Burning Of the schoolhouse.


Are Under Suspicion - The Prisoners
confess--rhey Were Suspected After the
Burning Of the schoolhouse.
GREENwiCn Conn, Nov % The things
men do for fun are often more than passing
strange, and Greenwich reading the hid
den history Of two years Of arson in the
glare Of its burning schoolhouse, holds up
it's hands in dumb astonishment and adj
mits that In all its history there was never
fun like this.
1t was for fun, Greenwich knows now,
that its many barns were burned and its
schoolhouse fred for it has learned that
at least one member Of the volunteer fire
brigade, whose apparatus it bought and
maintains, turned irebug 70 vary the mo
notony of existence and 20 varied it for
nearly two years
lt knows, too that Of the 30 men In that
company, the majority of whom are esti-
mahle and upright, three more at least
are suspected of being privy to the two
years of incendiarism which provided fun
at the expense Of thousands of dollars
worth of property and the peace Of the
community. for those funmakers- that by
their own admisson-could not rest satis-
fled with mere false alarms. They dabbled
in arson.
Two Have Confessed.
An this Greenwich read by the light
from its blazing schoolhouse "a week ago.
And this, startling as It was, is still funny
| II compared with what followed.
George Barnes and Robert Talbot, guilty
of arson by their own confession, are in the
hands OF the law. Talbot awaits trial be-
fore the superior court, free because a
wealthy grandmother gave bonds for g 800
TO guarantee his appearance to answer for
fun which often wins 10 years in prison.
| Barnes, whose madness seems the greater
here because Greenwich saw its workings,
sleeps in Stamford Jail dazed and penitent
Both men admitted that they had been
implicated in the burning of the following
| property for fun also:
The Octagon House barn In Milbank ave-
nue., owned 10y Miss Mary Waring Mead Of
New York Fred Hubbard's barn in Green
witch avenue, Immediately in the rear of q
business block; a stack of hay in Green
wich avenue, the property Of Smith Mead
The prisoners were arraigned before
Judge Hoyt, eX-spcaker of the legislature
The complaint alleged arson in the burn
ing of the meeting house school. Talbot,
being q minor was represented by Lawyer
n. j. Schoheld Both filed a demurrer Go
the complaint IL was overruled and they
declined TO plead further. The court found
them probably guilty aud held them in
$500 bail each for trial before the superior
court OF Fairfield county in Bridgeport on
the third Tuesday of February.
Talbots grandmother furnished bonds,
and he was released, but Barnes who was
| given more time TO secure bail and coun.
sci, failed to get either and after delay
until yesterday was removed to the jail in
Stamford.
Others Are Implicated.
Il Is known that the men implicated sev.
eral other members Of the fire brigade. but
the names have been kept secret until fur
ther evidence can be secured The best
men in Greenwich say that the company
generally is free from suspicion, and moi
more than four Of It's members are thought
to have heen firebucs.
Chief Engineer Knapp, a sterling Off
cial, says that Barnes and Talbot had beer
suspected for "a year. but all attempts t,
secure tangible evidence failed. They wer'
watched so closely six months ago tha
they became suspicious, and Greenwich en-
ioyed immunity from suspicious fires unit
the bell tolled a week ago.
IL is expected that the trial before thl
superior court will be marked by revela
tions duplicating other funmallers her
and supplying the lost links in the stoI-
which Barnes and Talbot have told.