Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-11-23

Other Members Of the Fire Department
CoaFsss-Thsy Were Suspected After the
BarnInx OF the schsolhouse.
GREENWICH. Conn, Nov. sS,-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
Its hands in dumb establishment and ad-
mits that in all its history there was never
fun like this.
It was for fun, Greenwich knows now,
that itS many barns were burned and its
schoolhouss Aired, for it has learned that
at least one member of the volunteer fire
brigade, whose apparatus it bought and
maintains, turned flrebug to vary the mo-
notony Of existence and so varied it for
nearly two years.
It knows, too, that of the 10 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 admission-could not rest salts
fed with mere false alarms. They dabbled
In arson.
Two nave CODke8aeds
All this Greenwich read by the light
from it's blazing schooihouse a week ago.
And this, startling-as twas, is still funny
il 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, 500
to guarantees 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-this for fun also:
The Octagon House barn in Milhank ave
nue.. owned by Miss Mary Warning Mead of
New York; Fred Hubbard's barn in Green
witch avenue, Immediately in the rear of a
business block; a stack of hay in Green
witch avenue, the property of Smith Mead.
The prisoners were arraigned before
Judge Hoyt, ex-speaker of the legislature.
The complaint alleged arson in the burn
| ing of the meeting house school. Talbot,
being a minor, was represented by Lawyer
Z, ]. Schofield. Both filed demurrer to
the complaint. 1t was overruled, and they
declined to plead further. The court found
them probably guilty and held them in
$1,oUu Dall eAcn Tor trial before the superior
| court of Fairfield county in Bridgeport on
the third Tuesday Of February.
Talbot's 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 q delay
until yesterday was removed to the Jail in
| Stamford.
others Are implicated.
1t is known that the men implicated sew
| eral other members of the fire brigade but
the names have been kept secret until fur
| Their evidence can be secured. The best
men in Greenwich say that the company
generally is free from suspicion, and not
more than four Of its members are thought
| to have been frebugs. 10
Chief Engineer Knapp, a sterling OH
eial, says that Barnes and Talbot had been
suspected for q year, but all attempts to
| secure tangible evidence failed. They were
watched so closely six months ago that
they became suspicious, and Greenwich en-
joyed immunity from suspicious fires until
the bell tolled a week ago.
1t Is expected that the trial before the
superior court will be marked by revela-
tions duplicating other funmakers here
and supplying the lost links in the story
which Barnes and Talbot have told.