The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-10

| most fn,u1ssIb;e. Unless his accomplices
I "'squeaI or he IS caught In the act, the
frebug is safe. The motive Is all import
I ami in such cases There were but two
| theories Either 2 crazy iirebug, Great
ure who loves TO see buildings burn sim
I ply for the pleasure u gives MIN, had be-
gun his work. Or the fires were the work
I OF some miscreant for the purpose OF re-
venge.
ton was that some enemy Of Chief Ma
guire and Mayor Myers was at work with
the purpose Of destroying the property
Of one and the reputation OF the other.
The latter. according TO this idea. would
be effected by a series OF disastrous fires.
destroying the most important buildings
IN the city which would so discredit the
fire chief.
AT one time there appeared to be very
strong evidence OF the crazy IRE bug theo-
~. In talking with the detectives Mr..
Hoyle remarked that a very strange propo-
sitiOn had been made him the Gay before
by a man whom he had never seen before.
A man, past middle age and well dressed,
came into his Office and after Introducing
himself stated TO Mr.. HOyle that one OF the
leading retail grocers OF the city desired
TO sell out his business, which was a great
surprise to Mr.. HOyle. as the grocer named
is a very successful business man. The
stranger, who said his name was Mclean,
proposed that Mr.. HOyle should buy this
grocer out, and put Mclean in charge. He
would direct all Of the business from the
other place to Mr.. HOyle and finally close
out the concern, leaving Mr. HOyle with
largely increased business. Mclean said
he had worked this plan very successfully
in other places. Mr.. HOyle thought the
proposition a very queer one and told Nc
Lean that he did not care to embark In any
such enterprise. The latter. however. ad-
vised him 10 dream" over II and that he
would call again In the morning. 1t occur
red to Mr.. HOyle that the man was either
a crank, or something he didn't know what
and the detectives agreed with him.
Mclean walked into AIr. Hoyle's place
during the day and after leaving there was
Swallowed by the detectives. They follow
ed him around while and decided that 1t
was best TO take him 10 the barracks Tor
examination. Mclean was very indignant
at his arrest. He told Chief McDermOtt
that he was from Los Angeles, Cal, and
represented capitalists there who had S.
10000 TO invest in Savannah. His inten-
ton, he said, was to buy up the street
railroads and consolidate them He was
also considering investing large money IN
the grocery business and other lines. Chief
McDermott concluded that the man was
harmless and released him. That is as far
The discovery OF the incendiary attempts
was the sensation of the day Hundreds
of people visited Mr.; Hoyle's
evidence of the attempt. The insurance
men were naturally among the most IN
terested visitors. They were alarmed at
the revelation.
Mayor Myers, when seen, said that it
confirmed his theory of the Savannah Gro
Gerry Company fire. The mayor declined
to say what steps he had taken in the
matter. He is determined to apprehend
the incendiaries If possible, but will not
proclaim any reward. He does not con-
slider this a good plan. Although large
rewarsd were offered after the cotton ship
fires, there was no satisfactory result.
II is known, however, that the mayor
has given strict orders to the firemen
and police the former TO be constantly in
readiness to respond to an alarm and the
latter to exercise every vigilance to pre-
vent further incendiarism and apprehend
the incendiaries.
Chief McDermott and the detectives de-
cline to say what clews, If any, they are
following, and what theories they have.
Several suspicious characters who have
bad records elsewhere, are under surveil-
lance. The cotton fires are believed TO
have been the work of imported firebugs,
and the same thing may have been done
The work at the Hoyle Grocery Company
was very badly done. The location of the
building is prominent and people are con-
of the night as well as the
day. There Is police signal box
at the corner at which reports are made
to the barracks every hour At 415
o'clock Policemen Stark and Farrell met
at the box. They tried the doors of the
building as usual, and found all safe.
They are likely to be called on to explain,
however, why they did not discover and
report the broken glass later on.
The glass of the door was very heavy
and the noise made by the brick crashing
through could easily have been heard al
least a block. The miscreant probably
hurried with his work, or he might have
made a more successful job of it,
The building would have made a costly
fire. Ludden & Bates carry a very valua-
BILE stock-having all of the building ex-
cept the portion occupied by Mr.. Hoyle on
the corner
One of the glass show windows of Mrs.
j. j. Grass millinery establishment, al
Barnard and York streets, was smashed
with a rock sometime during the night
Ii might have been done by a petty thief
but there was nothing missing from the
window. The incendiary might have in.
tended firing this building also, with the
intention of destroying the knights OF
Pythias hail.