The San Francisco call., 1897-01-31
PEThLUMA FIRE
FIEuD CAPTURED
.,'
Caught Hurrying From the
Scene of His Third
Confagration.
Five Warehouses and Contents
Valued at $4o 1000 Lost in
Flames.
The Incendiary an limbs cile Intent
on. Destroying the Entire
Town.

PETALUMA, CAL, Jan. 30.-Whitney
big warehouses were discovered 10 De
ablaze a an early hour this morning, anG
about the same time fire broke out III the
engine-room of the Petauma Woolen-
Mills in East Petalums. Fire was also
discovered under the drawbrldge over
Petaluma Creek. The bridge and the
woolen-milIs were saved by prompt &C
tion, but the warehouses. five IN mum Der,
and said to be the largest structures in the
county. were entirely destroyed. Filled
with hay, as they were, nothing could
/bave saved them. The fire il!umined the
country for miles and attracted to the
scene a multitude OF excited people, who,
upon hearing the alarm from the wooIen-
, mills became almost panic-stricken.
The greatest alarm has been felt in the
city for some time past especially since
the fire in John .Cavanagh's lumber-yard
and the attempt to burn the bridge on the
evening of Wednesday last. All sorts of
rumors have been in the air, and so
thoroughly alarmed had the people grown
that tonight regiment of watchmen
has been employed by private citizens TO
look after their property, and the ci tizens
themselves and even the regular night
patrol are being hourly held up by the
newly engaged amateur squad:
This city is visited every winter by
something more than its quota of tramps,
who find a rendezvous. on the outskirts
Of the town at a place known as the
Willows.
They have always heretofore behaved
much above the average manner of
tramps but as the fires have been un-
Questionably of incendiary origin the
thoughts of the people Immediately
turned toward the Willows, and it was
feared that a plan had been laid there for
the destruction and the Iooting of the city
by the lighting of fires in different and
distant places at the same time, so as to
prevent the concerted working of the
fremen.
But tonight, while the sky is still
lighted by the smoldering fire OF the big
warehouses, and the watchmen on dark
streets are striking terror to the hearts OF
tImid citizens as we'll as to each other by
the exhibition OF their own zeal. the cause
OF the alarm as we'll as of the loss of some
900 worth of property is pounding the
iron doors of the County Prison, calling
down all manner of harm upon the head
OF Marshal Collins, who arrested him this
morning.
Fordino Benedetto is IN Italian ho has
been under suspicion of the Marshal for
some months as a vagrant. He is rather
an unfortunate. He was laborer en-
ployed on the railroad section during the
early part of last year and worked steadily
enough. Last summer he suffered a sun
stroke and since mis- recovery he has done
almost no werk and as a consequence has
al n q
familiar figure to those whose duties keep
them abroad between sundown and sun
up. Two. engines stand IN the railroad
yards during the early hours of the N orn-
ing, with fire up to be ready for duty, and
he has been accustomed to clim bing into
them to get warm when no better shelter
offered:
Mr.. Mego, the bridge tender, also an
Italian gave him a place to sleep for
several nights, oct was finally compelled
TO: ell him TO find new quarters.
Before his misfortune and while he was
regularly employed, Benedetto wrote to
his wife in Italy to come to him with their
three children. She refused to do so, and
&c this seemed to prey upon him.
O. About midnight last night Benedetto
was seen about the railroad yards as
usual, and when Mego at 5 AS o'clock was
crossing the bridge he saw Benedetto
going in the opposite direction. Mego
spoke to him, but the man in the dark
swerved off to the other side. AS Mego
passed the, big warehouse few minutes
Later he saw that the door was slightly
Open. He looked in and saw furnace of
fire.
His larynx is strained out of all possible
q. use for weeks to come because of the way
he yelled. Henry Myers, who was groom
ing his horses in Poeblman's stable a
block away, heard the cry, saw the flames
the alarm properly, and in very few min
utes the tiremen were at work.
O. Their entire attention was directed to-
ward conining the fire to the big ware
houses, for they were already doomed.
This was a big enough job for the depart
ment, but they did it well in spite OF the
fact that several of the nearby buildin gs
caught fire. Over 1000 tons of hay and
straw were housed in the frame building,
and while the flames that were eating 1t
\Up with tremendous relish. with roar
that could be heard half mile away, and
a tongue that seemed TO be ieaplng up to
lick the stars. had awakened the city and
drawn its people toward them another
alarm was struck. 1t was for the fire that
Benedetto had started in the engine-house
of the Woolen- mills across ne creek.
The excitement that already swayed the
people was OF course intensified. Chief
Myers sent hose company 10 the place,
and it arrived in time to aid the early
MILNE in extinguishing the flames they
had discovered. The mill is an immense
structure, three stories high. It has been
closed for some time and was getting
ready TO resume operations on Monday.
Little damage was done by the fire, but
had it gotten well started the structure
would undoubtedly have been wholly de-
stroyed, with there is no telling what
other property.
The department fought the flames a. the
Warehouses until 8 9o'clock, when they had
. sufficiently suusided to leave the surround
ings reasonably safe, and one hose COM
. pany was alone lett on guard. The fire is
tonight still lighting the sky.
Marshal Collins began an immediate
search'ior the incendiary, who mad by all
these indications left no doubt OF his pres
ence in the city. Some Slight suspicion
was directed toward Benedetto. although
q. he was generally looked upon as an inof-
fensive fellow. The Marshal found him
in a saloon in East Petaluma about 10
Q o'clock this morning sitting before stove
drying his socks. One OF his shoes was
taken and found to fit exactly into the
print Of a shoe that had run through the
mud toward the woolen-mill Just before
the fire was discovered.
\ He was arrested and charged with the
crime. H denied it stoutly. Mego asked
MIN in his own language at the Marshal s
request why he did not reply when h G
(Mego) spoke to him on the bridge Just
before the big fire was discover ed. At this
she broke down and confessed.
He became defiant at once. He said 1T
was he who set ire to Cavanagh's lumber
on Wednesday night. There was guam