Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-04-05
CHARGED WITH; Arson.
\. 4. Hamilton ur Mauch rstcr Centre
Placed in custody ,tiuchncnt of Ills


cd yesterday on complaint lodged by Stato's
| Attorney f. G. Archibald, charging him
| with arson, in setting the fire of December
u last, when the larger part Of the business
| portion Of the village was destroyed
| Among the buildings was the E.tabrool;
! Opera lIous" u was evident that The work
was that uf am icendinry. The fire started
in the store of Hamilton, VINO. it
was said was ,Tll insured. There is
rr~ard of $1,000 for the arrest and
conNic Of the incendiary. As soon as
the insurance was adjusted Hamilton re
stunned business again in another location
Last Friday his store was closed by the sher-
itf on account Of actions brought by some of
hi, creditors and it i, understood that some
| of his unsecured creditor, will institute in
! solNcncy proceeding, against him. For sev-
erul days . hearing in regard to the origin
| of the fir hes been in progress and it Cul-
minated in the arrest Of Hamilton He was
| brought before Justice Richard W Deane
ana pleaded not guilty. and at request of
! his counsel the hearing was postponed until
the 2gth at 4 a. IN. Bail was fixed at
$1,000, winch was furnished
| Hamilton was insured in the Vermont
Mutual and the Insurance Company Of North
America for 5000 each. The Vermont Mu-
tual attached his goods Friday to collect
back the Insurance paid by them. Other
attachments to tho amount of about $4,000
have also been put on and $4,000 more are
to follow.
! MANCHESTER CENTRE, March 29.--The
! hearing in the case of State VS.. A. +.
Hamilton, accused of arson, began in the
Colburn House hail this afternoon. Justice
Richard W. Deane presiding. The State
was represented by f. c. Archibald, States
f..t. u.
| Batchelder appeared as counsel for the re-
| spondent. A large number of witnesses
have been subpunaed from different parts of
the county, and the case is attracting much
attention in this section. not only because of
| tue high social standing of accused but from
the fact that public sentiment here appears
! to be about equally divided for and against
| him.
Since last Friday attachments aggregat-
| ing about $500 have been put on the prop
| erty of Hamilton, and it is said that there
| are more to come The sum total of the at
| tachment in favor of the Vermont Mutual
| Fire Insurance company is about $500. and
| the accused is summoned to appear before
| the Washington County Court at the session
to begin September next.
| AT the hearing this afternoon the princi-
pal witness was a son of Emerson Esta-
| brook, owner OF the opera house which was
situated next to the building in which the
fire originated, and which was consumed
! He was the one who discovered the fire.
His testimony was interesting and covered
| important points \. l.. Graves testified rs
to the building in which the fire originated.
what it was used sfor. how heated, etc
! Other witnesses were called to establish diff
| ferent facts connected with tho matter
| The plea has been advanced that the fire
caught in the rooms of Adoniram lodge.from
| a heated stove. and witnesses were called
upon to show that the heat in the stove that
| evening was not sufiici ut to set the fire
and their testimony was TO that effect.
Another phase was added to the matter
by the serving yesterday of a writ of re-
plevin, in favor of Rice, Whitney Il Co. of
Boston, from whom the respondent had pur-
chased sos of goods. The claim was made
that the goods were obtained under false
| pretenses. About $40 had been sold, but
the remainder of the goods wero returned to
| the firm the cashier of the Battenliill Ma
tiona bank giving bond for $1,000 to pro-
tect the sheriff The hearing will occupy
two or three days, and the result is awaited
with much interest
| Fridays Hearing.
| MANCHESTER CENTRE, March 30.-The
hearing in the case Of A. l.. Hamilton,
| charged with arson, was resumed this morn
| ing. The attendance was larger than yes
| terday. Quite number Of witnesses were
examined.
Carson Meecham, janitor for Adoniram
| lodge. testified that there was only one small
armful of wood used to kinde the fire in
the stoves, the night the fire occurred and
before he went out at night the fire was
gone He also gave other testimony to show
that Hamilton did not see him on the street
after the fire.
Other witnesses were called hut their tes-
timony only went to show that the fire when
| first discovered was in Hamilton store
| The accused was present at the hearings
and appears to take the matter coolly. He
has the backing of wealthy friends who
will stand by him to the last All the evil
dence thus far has been purely circumstan-
tial and bets are being made that he viii
not be held for the grand jury.
Evidence in Case Closed
| MANCHESTER April 1.-The evidence in
| the case of j.. \. Hamilton, charged with
| firing his store closed yesterday. Several
! witnesses swore positively that they were
carly at the fire and that it was confined to
! the store Five witnesses positively swore
that they saw it at the same time and the
fire was coming out of the back
windows two stories above the store
| Defence claims the fire originated
from ii defective chimney. Several wit
nesses testified that the accused was hard
pressed for money, and that tie stock was
insured for more than its value
Testimony for the defence tended to show
that Hamilton, on the night Of the lire. at
tended Masonic lodge meeting until 10 p.
m, arrived at his boarding place and
went To bed mt 1920 p, M, and that the
alarm Of fire was given at ll:40. Persons
in the house We're awake TIL after II
and the accused did moi go out.
RN pEnnrorNrA1NLr pOAMrnn