The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-10-07
OIL AND STRAW.
A Discovery That Was
Made at the Mission.
What Fire Marshal Towe Found in
Grocery-Store and in the
Cellar.

Captain William F. Lspidge of Pacific
Mail dock fame owns the three-story
building on the northwest corner of Va
lencia and Nineteenth streets. He and mis-
wife occupy the two upper fats and the
ground floor is occupied by Henry Zilmer,
as a grocery and saloon.
Yesterday morning Captain Lapidgs
called at the Fire Marshal's Office and told
him the following story. On Thursday
Zillmer asked permission to throw u lot of
empty boxes in tue cellar underneath his
store, which was granted. On Friday
evening Mrs. Lapidge felt uneasy and
thought she would go down to the cellar
and have look around. She was assailed
by powerful smell of coal oil. and began
to Investigate where it came from.
Finally she discovered spot of oil Oh
The floor, and, looking upward, her eyes
fixed themselves upon the center girder
that supports the building. There are
spaces 14x12 inches between the girder
and the floor joists on which the stone
floor rests. In the spaces where her ewes
were fixed she saw lot of straw and
klnding wood.
She became alarmed and went upstairs
and told her husband of her discovery.
! He accompanied her to the cellar, and To
| bis astoni shment he saw evidences Of coal
| oil having been sprinkled all over the
place. He locked up the cellar. and de-
| cided to lay the matter before the Fire
Marshal.
Mr.. Towe, after hearing his story, called
in Detective Handley and made him repeat
il to the detective.
The Fire Marshal. detective and Cap
tain Lapidge then went out to the building
| and made careful inspection of The cellar.
|
kindling wood noticed by Mrs. Lapidge a
! three-quarter inch auger hole through the
floor and into the store, which was after
ward found to be within an inch and a
half of the siXty-gallon coal oil tank in the
store.
At another portion of the cellar they
found another pile of straw, broken boxes
and kindling wood saturated with oil.
On the north side OF the building there
is an area way leading into the back yard
and apparently for the purpose of disarm-
! ing suspicion a ladder had been placed
! there to make it appear as ii some one
had climbed down the ladder and made
his way into the cellar from the ward.
after seeing all these things" said the
Fire Marshal, I'VE went into the store and
inquired for Zllmer. He was not there,
| but his brother Adnlph was in charge OF
tie store. We found he had brought
Adolph from Santa Cruz two weeks ago
to be MS clerk, after discharging the clerk
he had had with him since leasing the
store, about year ago.
"We waited patiently till half-past 5
O'clock when Zilmer made his appear
aDce. We questioned him about his iusur-
ance and found he had $4,000 on his stock
| and fixtures.
1--WE took him to the cellar and showed
him the piles Of straw and kinding wood
with the oil on them. lie denied knowing
anything about that We showed him the
! hnl ha
the oil tank, ana he said & barrel of beer
| had burst and he had bored the hole to
allow he beer TO flow into the cellar
~ told him that it looked very much as
If some one mad pref pared 90 burn the place
and that Mrs. Lapidge's discovery had
| been the means OF preventing fire which
might have destroyed the whole block
''NO arrest was made" said the Marshal
in conclusion. shut | do not ihink there
| will be fire in ZiIlmers store"