The record-union., 1893-03-13
MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR.
A House Filled With Lodgers Has
Close Call.
The Room of Mrs. Coblyn Found on
Fire and Herself in an Uncon-
scious Condition.

panic was started IN tQo Slller DullQ-
Ing, 90l L street, between and O'Clock
on Saturday morning by woman named
Mrs. Coblyn, lodger on the fourth floor.
Occupants of rooms adjoining Mrs.
Coblyn's apartment were aroused by the
smell of gas and burning smoke, which
was found to come from her rooms. A
light was to be seen in the rooms, but no
response was given to knocks at her door,
and the alarmed dodgers burst it open, to
find Mrs. Coblyn lying on the floor un-
conscious, the room filled with gas and
smoke and the bed clothing burning.
Assemblyman d. +. Perkins, who
rooms in the house, was one of the first
to enter the room, and he, with several
others, soon suppressed the fire that was
rapidly gaining headway.
In the meantime some one turned in an
alarm, and the department was promptly
on hand, together with several police Of
fcers and the patrol wagon. A fearful
storm was raging at the time with very
high wind, and the rain fell in torrents,
so that the alarm was not generally heard,
and but few persons aside from the fire.
men braved the storm.
The house is very large frame struct-
ure, and most of the buildings near it are
frame buildings, so that had the fire got
under headway on such night the entire
block might have burned. 1t was soon
announced that danger from the fire was
over, but il was at first believed that Mrs.
Coblyn was badly burned, as she re-
manned in an unconscious condition.
Officer Dan Higgins and Special Officer
Greer, with the assistance of inmates OF
fhe house, enveloped the woman in
mattress and bed-clothing, and carried
her down stairs to the patrol wagon, in
which she was taken to the Receiving
Hospital Shortly after arriving there
she recovered, and was found to be unin-
Jured, save that she suffered from having
been nearly suffocated by the gas and
smoke.
Some of the dodgers in the house are of
the opinion that Mrs Coblyn made des-
perate attempt to destroy herself and set
lire to the building, and from the fact that
coal oil had been spilled upon the bedding
and floor and the gas turned on, the cir
cumstances are strongly against her.
She is at present confined in the City
Jail, and charge of arson has been
entered against her.
MRS. CoBLYN's STORY.
Mrs. Coblyn was seen at the City Jal
by RECoRD-UNIoN reporter, to whom
she stated that the accounts in the even
ing papers were greatly exaggerated.
She says she came to this city from San
Francisco about month ago, and has
Deen engaged In giving lessons in French,
and mentioned u number of prominent
ladies who have been her patrons. Her
son, Alexander Cobiyn, has been with
her, and she says he worked at the rail-
road shops during the day and at the
metropolitan Theater at night.
He had been ''impudent," she says,
and got into trouble. What this trouble,
was she did not explain further than to
say that she thought it had been adjusted
satisfactorily, but on Friday night Cap
tain Bradley and Officer Warner came to
her rooms with her son in custody and
searched for stolen articles.
They then took her son away, and she
was frenZied with trouble and grief over
his arrest. The last thing she remem-
bored was that she took aglass of brandy.
from can or demijohn she went to bed.
She claims she left the lights burning,
as she could not sleep, and was trying to
read, as some relief for her mental an
guish. What happened after that time
she had no knowledge, until she found
herself at the City Jail.
She appears to be a woman of culture
and refinement, broken down by trouble.
of which she intimated she had her por-
ton before leaving France. She came to
San Francisco about twelve years ago,
and refers to prominent people there with
whom she is acquainted, and says they
will vouch for her character.
1OONG lMPRUDENCE,'
According to Mrs. Jones, the landlady
of the house, Mrs. Coblyn applied to her
about q month ago for a room. She ap-
peared TO be respectable person, and
represented that she was a teacher of the
French language and was given the room
she accepted.
Some time after Assemblyman Per-
kins, who rooms in the house. had his
washing taken from the hall, and Sem
ator Seymour lost an overcoat while
there.
Suspicion finally fastened on young
Coblyn, and the case being placed in the
hands of the officers, Bradley and Warner
procured a search-warrant, with the re-
suit that the missing articles were found
in Coblyn's room.
Aleek Coblyn, it is said, confessed to
the theft of the washing and the coat but
as Mr.. PerkinS.was not anxious to prose-
cute the boy it is believed the case would
have been compromised had not his
another acted so strangely and caused her
own arrest.
A charge of arson has been registered
against Mrs. Coblyn. and two charges of
larceny against the son.