Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-11-06
A YOUTHFUL F|REBUG
Clears a Mystery Which
Puzzled BOStOnianS.
BUT A LAD OF SEVENTEEN.
He Set the Great Ames Building Fire
and is Responsible for Others.

Boston, Nov 6-TAruugh the persistent
work Of Fire Mash Wutcomb the mys-
terry which surrounded the origin of the
eat LII coln street fire of Friday, March
10. wien the Amrs buIioi Z and surround
ing properly was Il, s'royed, Involving the
loss Of five liv,s, the injury Of n score OF
persons and the loss of over 50 0OO. 900 worth
OF property, is cleared up, and Marshal
Whitcomb has In his possession the con-
fessIon of the incehdary who set the fire,
signed by him and sworn to before wit
nesses
III has also confessed to setting five
other firr~, while two more, one little short
of confiagration, that COST 81 400, 600,
seem bound ultimately to be fixed upon
him.
The person who il responsible for all
this is Lewis A Wright, aged II years,
who at h tine was employed ms an office
boy by II. Fleming & Co, engineers aud
Contractor, whose Office is in the Hatha-
way tut dit, go Atlantic avenue.
Young Wr ght is now in the Westboro
asylum, where he has been committed for
an Unlimited period.
Thus, this youth stands, bv his own ad-
mission, tie greatest criminal I'm incendiary
annals, no fire Of equal magnitude in loss
| of lie and property ever having been
placed upon human shoulders in the his
tory of the United States.
| Not content vita the awful sight of
chaIred humanity, Of men, women, girls
| aud boys jumping from windows to life,
| death or crippled ex stence, of millions
| Of doll RS OF r pnrty swallowed up In an
ocean Of fltm-, this infantile Nero OF to-
| day went rour hours later to the Hatha
way building and set his fourth fire in
that structure, even while 1t looked IA il
the business heart Of Boston would he
eaten out, while fremen were d. opping
exh tustrd and while property owners
spurred the fire-fghters to renewed effor,
by offers of large rewards.
The Ames Building Fire.
On Friday March 10, II. f. Caldwell,
| salesp an for II. r. Fleming in the Hath
way bulldlnG In whose employ Wright
also was, sent him on an errand TO 2S
School street. On his way back Wright
admits that he went To the Ames building
to get II catalogue of pumping mech merry
| from an llici on the third floor lie found
| the Office iCckrd, and on the way out went
into II toilet closet on the same story and
set fire to IA lot Of newspapers, which he
bad piled up in a corner. He then ran
down stairs and reached his Office about
| 4:30 D. m.
Young Wright's confession goes on to
say in lcct that during the early part OF
the present year he purrosely set fire TO a
| shed ia Newton belonging 10 his mother,
| Ellen +. WRIGHT; hit on Feb 10 he at
| tempted to set fire 10 the Hathaway bui d.
| Ing in Boston by firing some paper under
| the sink in the toilet closet on the first
| floor.
| Failing in this attempt, by reason of the
| early discovery OF the state # affairs by a
| tenant, he ayain, on Feb Il, set fire to the
same closet by ignitiug paper saturated
with naphtha, which he brought with him
| in beer bottle from his home in Newton.
! This fire WIS also discovered aud extin-
guished without damage
| Young Wright fur her admits in his
| confession tnai, on Feb. ~, he set fire TO
waste paper in barrels on the third floor
of the Hathaway building, which fire was
put out by one Of the porlers.
| Regarding his attempt To set a second
| fire Oh the memorable day of March TO- he
says that about $50 the same evening he
entered the Hathaway build ny by a side
door, aud set fire to some paper in a toilet
closet-No. 9 on the first floor.
| Had No Motive.
He says he had no motive in sci ting any
| II the fires, am can only account for his
actions Ivy the fact that he WAS ated
bv an uncoutr,lia impulse. This much
| Wright has confessed , but O her charges
| lie at his or. There is every Indication
that he is responsible for the great ire in
the Hecht building OH Federal street, in
| which reporter Barker OF The Transcript
LOST his life and II people were iuju ed,
| md from the terrible shock of which Mrs.
| Barker has since died.
| The Hecht building Is located opposite
that in which young Wright was em-
| ploy d. He is known TO have been in
his employers uflice at the time the Hecht
| fire va. discovered, while the train from
| Newton reached Boston just in time for
| hIm TO get 10 tn Hecnt block set the fire
AID skip across the street before the blaze
was discover d.
There - also strong ground to believe
! that on March 70, 1891, Wright set the fire
| ia the basement of jenkins nat store at
407 Washington street. Wright was then
in Mr.. jenkins employ, j, known To have
| been the only person Ia the basement at
the time the fire broke out, and has ad-
mitted that much himself
| Mr.. jenkins, it is understood, was so
sure that young Wright tried to fire his
premises that he spe, dily fired" him.
L