The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1894-07-19
Mr.. T. p. AlstOn's Store
Burned Out.
SECOND time INSIDE OF EIGHT DAYS,
The Building Seemed Doomed to De.
StructiOn, but the Firemen Saved
it by Heroic Efforts.

the fire in Mr.. T. P. Alston's grocery
store, which occurred on the morning of
the It'll inst, about daylight. A good deal
of damage was done by hea. and water to
the stock of goods and to the building and
also burned some hay, stored in the rear of
the store, belonging to Mr.. G. N. Johnson.
Mr.. Alstons store had been closed all of
the past week, waiting for the insurance
companies tc adjust his loss and award
damages. Last Monday was set as the
day for the adjusters tc be here. But on
Sunday afternoon, about o'clock, smoke
was seen issuing from the store again,
showing that the interior was on fire. The
alarm was sounded and the steam fire en-
CINE and hand engine were brought out on
the square. The citizens, men, women
and children, gathered on the square until
the crowd was immense. By this time the
front and rear doors had been broken open
with axes When the front door had been
demolished the smoke came out in dense
volumes and those persons on the sidewalk
were driven away, then instantaneously
there flashed from the building, across the
sidewalk, angry flames of fire that twisted
and rolled in waves, burning the leaves OF
the shade trees, and throwing out their
.frery tongues, until they reached window
in Mr.. Coryelps insurance Office, catching
the framing on fire. If any one had been
standing on the sidewalk they would have
been burned to death so sudden and ex>
plosive were the fames, as if they were fed
en- kerosene. After some delay the fire
engines got to work and two streams of
water were poured into the burning interior
of the store, and the flames vent out as
quickly as they had ignited. The fremen
worked manfully and effectively and in
about forty minutes they had the fire ex-
tinguished and the building saved, The
fire had left the wood work OF the interior
of the store charred mass of ruins, while
the goods were wiped out of existence as
far as value is concerned. Hon. A. S.
Clay owned the building and occupied the
two front rooms, with his partner, Col.
Blair, while Messrs. Frey & Frey and j.
81. Boston, Jr., occupied the rear rooms as
law offices. Messrs. Clay & Blair got most
of their valuable law books, and papers,
out, but the other lawyers were not so
lucky There was an insurance of $1,000
on the building and $4,000 ON the stock OF
goods. There had been a good deal of
talk as to the origin Of the first fire, it
evidently having been the work of an inA
ceudiary. Motives and suspicious circum
stances were discussed, but no decisive
action was taken to investigate the matter
or fix the crime upon anyone, but the
second fire intensified the feeling of suss
picon in the public mind and SO much was
said in the crowd Sunday afternoon that
Sheriff McLain felt it was his duty to arrest
Mr.. 7. p. Aston, the owner Of the goods
as the author of the fire. In company
with special officer George NJ. Fleming, the
Sheriff went to DR.. William Aston resi>
dence outside of the corporate limits and
called for bis son, Mr.. T. P. Aston, who
came to the door and was arrested. He
was brought to town and placed in Jail.
Monday morning warrant was sworn out
charging him with arson on tie 7th and
18th inst. Judge Gober was requested to
hear the preliminary trial, and Mr.. Aston
was brought before him on Monday morn
ing Col. J. T. Foster represented the
defendant, and Col D. W. Blair represent.
ed the prosecution. Col. Blair asked for
q continuance until 9 o'clock Tuesday
morning to summon witnesses and to wait
the coming ofSolicitor Brown. Col. Foster
announced ready, but insisted that if the
case went over, he wanted the defendant
let out on bail. Judge Gober ruled that
he lad no discretionary power to bail de-
PENDANT untl he had heard the testimony,
as the charge was arson. a capital offense.
The prisoner was remanded back to Jail
until Tuesday morning at 9 clock for
trial.
Tuesday morning at nine o'clock the
court house, was crowded with people to
hear the trial, which showed the interest
the public felt in the sensational matter.
Judge Gobar had an engagement that
kept him from hearing the case and Judge
J. Y. Alexander presided. Solicitor
George Il. Brown and Col. D. W. Blair
represented the State and Col. ]. u. Fos-
ter, Of Marietta, and Col. W. R. Muslin,
Of Madison, Ga, brother>in>law to Mr..
T. P. Aston, represented the defendant.
The state put number of witnesses on
the stand and various eircumstantial