New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1897-12-08
Prison
Offense.
Jack Irving, Roger and William Davis and
Ora Corey Charged With Arson.
They are Accused of Having Set Fire to the
Hanft Building Sunday Evening.
They Ask for an Examination and will be
Given One This Morning.
The Penalty Anywhere From One to Thir-
ty Years. i.

One of the most serious crimes ever
committed in Brown county has been at
tributed to Jack Irving, Roger Davis,
William Davis and Ora Corey, four char
acters we'll known to the people of this
vicinity.
The crime charged is arson--that of
setting fire, with malicious intent, to a
building occupied by human beings.
The crime, if committed by them at
all, was committed early Sunday eve
nlng. At about eight o'clock the fire
alarm was sounded and it was soon dis
covered that the old frame building
owned by the Hanft estate and located
just north of Behnke's bottling works,
was in flames. The building was an old,
weather-bea structure, until lately
uncccupied for long time.
Recently the windows were boarded
up and the shanty made the rendezvous
of a lot of young boys who held revelry
there by night and annoyed to consid-
cradle extent the denlzens of the anne
date neighborhood.
On the Sunday evening in question
the place was occupied by from ten to a
dozen young men, who were having a
gay old time all by themselves.
Between seven and eight o'clock Irv-
ing, Corey and the Davises applied for
admittance. The boys within refused it.
Irving is then said to have threatened to
drive them out even if his force wasn't as
numerous as that which held the "club
room.'
Soon after the building was on fire.
Taken thus by surprise and surrounded
by smoke the occupants of the shanty
had some difficulty IN unlocking the
door, and two of them are reported to
have been slightly burned.
While the fire was in progress, infor-
nation Was given to Marshal Heinen
which induced him to at once arrest the
parties named above. Irving made some
resistance but was finally douned and
hand-cuffed. The others, Corey and the
Davis boys, submitted meekly and the
four were hurried off to Jail.
| Monday afternoon they were brought
before Justice Jacobs and formally &C.
cused of the crime of arson. Without
being represented by an attorney they all
requested an immediate examination, and
upon motion of County Attorney Stein
hauser the hearing was set for this NOR
ming at 10 o'clock.
Recognizante was offered them in the
sum of $500 each, but 1t isn't likely that
for the sake of two days liberty they
will furnish it.
Should the justice from the examina.
ton think it advisable to hold them to
the grand jury, the amount of bail re.
qired of each will probably increased.
The exact nature of the crime with
which they will be accused will depend
upon the evidence adduced before the
grand jury. 1t may be arson in any OF
the three degrees and the penalty may be
anywheretrom one to thirty years.
Irving is a man we'll l-known III New
Ulm and is at present the owner of a
farm near SwanLake. he is married and
has several small children. ~.
| The others are all single. The Davis
boys live in Cambria and Corey came
here recently from Watertown. His form
er home was in the southern part of the
county. All of them ale of age.