The semi-weekly messenger., 1898-02-08
WORK OF FIRE BUGS
Three Dwelling Houses and One Store. all
Owned aud Occupied by white People.
Laid Waste by Fire This Mornins-AD
a~couns of the Conf nagntion

Three dwelling houses and one s,o-.
a., ,ccupied ard owned by white people
u,-nt up in flames this morning, as r..
success of fire bugs.
An of the buildings burned Were or tn..
north side of Market street, hetws,.
Twelfth and Thirteenth, and so well did
The wie.der of the torch arrauCe his
plars that nearly all four OF the bu.,d-
fnrs simultaneously burst into fam,e
and were doomed before the arrival os
tbe depar;ment The houses burned v,~a
as follows: One two story frame DIV
ing owned by Colonel Roger Moor ar1
ocr,Died by Chief of Police Melton a,t
family. with one room occupied by To-
l,cernan c. o. Knox. who. howevcr. o.a
away on duty.
A one story frame house owned by ~
Policeman Chas. Kunosd, and occuu..t
by him and family.
An unoccupied new one story frame
dwelling owned by Mr.. Dick Steljes.
A frame building used a. grocary
store by Mr.. Dick Steljes. who owned tho
building.
Only a very smafl portion OF the con-
tents of any of the buildings were saved.
the occupants barely having time 10 -
cape with their lives and stand. half
clothed. h,iddIed up in the middle OF
the street, and gaze sadly at their hard
earnings rolling skywari in dense, black
volumes OF smoke.
The building owned by Colonel Roger
Moore was insured, but Chief Melton
suffered a complete loss. as none OF his
furniture was insured.
Mr. Kunosd, also, suffered n total loss.
neither his furniture or house being in
suref. His case Is indeed sad one. Up
to several weeks ago he had both his
house and furniture insured, but lack OF
employment compelled him to forfeit
both.
Mr.. Steljes had his two buildings and
his stock of groceries insured with
company represented in this city by Mr..
John Harr.
AT 40 O'CLOCK.
There is not the slightest doubt that
the conflagratton was caused by fire
bugs.
The fire seemed to originate in the rear
of the unoccupied dwelling house own
ed by Mr.. Steljes, and the house occu-
pied by Chief Melton. and burst forth
simultaneously. which indicates that more
deadly work, and that the schemes for
vfl1ainy were we'll planned and executed.
The fire was discovered by neghbors.
and they soon aroused the occupants of
the doomed buildings. and those near
around, with their excited and dreadful
outcries.
Chief Melton was the first to emerge
from one of the burning buildings and,
after seeing that his family safe.
he ran to box 81, Twelfth and Market
streets half block off, and sounded the
dismal ca1l Of fire.
The department responded promtly.
but We're confronted with four buildings
wrapped in flames, dense smoke and
thousands of livid sparks, endangcring
both life and property. However. under
the leadership of Chief SChnibben, they
worked nobly and well.
Fireman Wannamaker. OF Hook and
Ladder Company No. ]. says that when
he disemharked from the truck and went
to the rear of the house occupied by
Chief Melton, which was the nearest. he
discovered that the northwestern corner
of the house was saturated with oil. and
a quantity of lightwood underneath
AT O'CLOCK.
AT o'clock this morning the depart
ment have the fire completely under
control.