The herald., 1898-05-09
BURNED OUT AGAIN
MRS. RAWSON LOSES HER RESI-
DENCE BY FIRE
MYSTERIOUS WOOD CHOPPING
And a Smell of Kerosene About the
Burning Building-Several
Suspicious Circumstances

The two.story house belonging to Mrs. l..
A. Rawson on Beaudry avenue, north OF
Sixth street. was totally destroyed by fire
last night. No one has occupied the prem
ises for the last six weeks or more, and
nearly all of the furniture Is thought to
have been removed. The cause of the fire
is not known at present, but will be inves-
tigated.
1t was shortly after II o'clock that Judge
and Mrs. Will D. Gould were aroused by
some noise in the Rawson house. 1t sound
ed like person pounding wood. Mrs. Goul1
called her husbands attention to the oc-
currence, and he remarked that 1t must
have been caused by somebody in the kitch-
en-. Finally she west to the window, which
opened onto the Rawson house just across
n little driveway, and upon throwing up the
sash, she states that she detected strong
odor of kerosene. She discovered at the
same time that the Rawson house was on
fire, as smoke was coming in clouds appar-
emily from all parts. She warned her hus.
band, and then the household was awak-
ened and the alarm sounded.
Several alarms were turned In from varl-
GUS boxes in the neighborhood, and the de-
partment succeeded in reaching the scene
promptly, but the fire had got too great n
headway, and the principal attention was
given to saving Judge Gould's house. For
tunately the wind was from the south and
the fire was blown away from the Gould
residence, so that 1t was not damaged to
any material extent. The Rawson house
was burned almost entirely, nothing but
the first floor and few pieces of the frame
work being left standing.
What caused the pounding heard by Mrs.
Gould remains to be proved. It was sug-
eested that somebody might have been
in the house chopping wood, but, as no ten
ant had lived there lately, the use for this
hndling would have been an unusual one.
The odor Of kerosene. also, Is suspicious.
Mrs. Rawson had tried, 1t was understood.
TO mortgage the property, but had failed,
and on the day before the fire had visited
the house, in company with another wo-
man, who seemed by her manner to be ex-
Aiming the place for the purpose Of rent
ing 1t. On Wednesday a woman, about 10
years Of age and rather shabbily dressed.
called at the Gould residence and asked for
the key to the Rawson place. She said that
she had chattel mortgage for $155 on The
furniture, but she had understood that
by piece, until but small quantity re-
mained. On the advice of Mr.. Gould, she
did not enter the house. She looked III
through a window, though, and discovered,
to her anger. that the piano, which had
been included in her chattel mortgage, was
missing. 1t had been removed some weeks
before Nothing further was heard In the
Eeighborhood on this point. however. and
the woman who held the mortgage did not
put in an appearance again.
There was formerly barn on the Raw
son lot, but this was burned down about
two years ago, and the upper part of the
Gould barn was destroyed with 1t. The
neighbors thought it suspicious at that
time that everything. including chickens,
had been removed from the Rawson barn.
A house belonging to Mrs. Rawson, at
Santa Monica, was destroyed by fire the
same year as the barn, and all the contents
lost. There was said to have been consld-
cradle insurance on the Santa Monica
house and 1t was paid. Whether there is
much insurance on the property destroyed
last night remains to be seen. The loss
must have amounted to about $2500
Mrs. Rawson gained considerable notori-
ETY. some years ago by divorce which sep
arated herself and her husband who re-
married. Mrs. Rawson also met a mining
man named Martin. who visited at her
house. It was reported that they had been
married, but in any event Martin did not
remain about the house very long after the
reported ceremony, and the lady has gen.
orally continued to be known as Mrs. Raw
son among her neighbors ever since.