Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1894-08-01
l.f = fN aa
MYSTERIOUS FIRES
Officers Suspect Mrs.
Susan ]. Taylor.
0Tg -. atr
SOME DAMAGING EVIDENCE.
nfff FfFTTI -lE'r rtN
Alleged Conspiracy to Defraud Insur-
snce Companies Unearthed. .

II
tall. slim woman. with dark hair and
aarh syss. confronted Trial Justice
Grover In The local courthouse yesterday
afternoon She gave her age a. % years
sud her name 40 Mrs Susan J.. Taylor.
Bhs ives charged with inesndiarism.
Beside her but . few moments before,
but absent during her arrAianmsnt, was
another woman, who was charged with
being her accomplios. The latter charge,
however. was wholly . subtsrfugs. a.
Judge Grover knew that 10 was upon this
woman's testimony that the grand jury
would be asked to indiot Mrs. Taylor a.
an incsndiAry. .-
Of Mrs Emma l. Foster" an assumed
one. Marshal whitcomb's deputy, on
Ger Shaw. and State Detective Pratt
think they have made . great catch In
Mrs. Taylor. They look for disclosures
with which To stsrtls the community.
The prisoner answered all questions
readily. and bore the official scrutiny and
examination coolly. Only once did she
hesitate, and that was when she was
asked whore her husband waa Then
blush stole almost I'M perceptibly into her
face. she hesitatsd for q nomsnt and
finally hatly refused to answer
The case has awakened no end OF sur
misses, and the officers believe many Of
them 10 be true. These general accusa-
tlons Include q NNn 'r'H =
Score OF Mysterious Fires
and something like SO. 900 In insurance
money. o''.' ar.' ','r-..'-1'' ,-''
n' A portion of the evidence which 10 Is
expected that Mrs. Foster will furnish 10
In effect that. while the two women were
! tenants Of Smiths block 10 Wsipols. ON
the eve Of the Fourth Of July. the sug-
gsstion wRs made that the FIRE be set then
aud there, and that MFR Fostor'a counsel
that It would destroy the who'll block and
might cause loss OF life only prevented
its being done. lt..
Deputy Shaw, State Officer Pratt and
Inspector Dngan OF Boston are In high
feather. They feel they have now the
necessary strings In hand to uncover one
OF the most sensational onspfracies 90
defraud insurance ompanies that has
ever been formed In this state
b. Looks Bad For Hos. -,H -
Mrs Taylor has had an evsntful, II not
q % mysterious, career. The hrst beard OF
her was at Conway, n. H. where she had
a fire, the loss of which was $500. From
there she went to Mt. Eowdoip IA the
Dorchester district. and there another
oonfagration took place, where the loss
reached t6oQ, 80 s...o,'v
Leaving Dorchester Mrs. TAYLOR went
TO reside IN Rielrtse. but there is no FIRE
record against her In that town, 90 far as
known. Her next and last feld'o Of opera
ti0n was at Wslpole. and there are two
charges Of iDcendiarism made against her
IN this town. '.H WoF.
Three months ago Mrs. Foster, a de-
tectivs. went to Walpole and secuted en-
ployment with Mrs Taylor az an assist
ant She reported her obser vations TO
her supsriors from time TO time, and when
Mrs Taylor got ready to move into
Plympton's house, State Detective Pratt
and Detective Lamb were ready to act.
AT 8 o'clock yesterday morning he saw
Mrs Taylor leave the house on Q bicy els.-
Accosting the woman, he asked her n she
would not aocompan him back TO the
house and show him over it, and rr
".' She Readily CompIisd. rf.'' -
In one Of the rooms rather startling
arrangement Of furniture and room de- :
oorations was presented. '' ''-
The room was darkened with black
curtatns The table was saturated with
kerosene and matches were scattered
about. The carpets were soaked with
oil, and two or three oil stoves were suit
ably placed here and there. A sofa was
partially loaded with turpsntins. and the
drapsriss on the windows were con-
vsniently placed 10 catch the Ere
Upon the door were scattered pieces OF
nswspapsr. and the mosquito netting
smsllsd strongly Of kerosene. Another
sofa IN the room was also saturated. with
turpsntins. g' Fr oH 1trNN .r
While Officer Pratt was giving this evil
denos to the trial justice, Mrs Taylor sat
impcrturbsbls. and when he had finished
she set him right on one or two points,
and concluded by saying that she had no
further questions TO ask, as what he said
was near enough right