The Portland daily press., 1898-03-07


The crime with which Mrs Ella A.
Cain was charged in the Municipal court,
Saturday, is one the penalty for wh1oh
is Imprisonment at hard labor for life.
Under any circumstances the Wllful
burning of building is a serious offence,
but the law is properly severe in the
cases where dwellings are fired in the
night time as such crime necessarily
imperils human life The story of the fire
in the boarding house kept by Mrs. Cain
on Cumberland street, last Thursday
morning, at about o'clock, vas told at
the hearing before the Board of Mayor
and Aldermen. Mrs. Cain WAS then in
the custody of the police, but she ap-
peared as a witness and told how she had
discovered the smoke by the various fires
afterwards found to have been set in her
house. The story which Mrs. Cain told
Saturday of the fire was substantially
the same and SO was the evidence of the
other witnesses who testified both at the
inquest and the hearing in court. The
new features in the case were the intro
VI CIV 1oOASO NY uAO SOfClh1ACae w
show that the furniture in Mrs. Gains
house was worth much less than the
amount for which she had been insured.
To this Mrs. Cain in her testimony an
swered that she had put such amounts
of insurance on her effects as the agents
advised. She also gave the names of the
firms from which she had purchased the
goods and the amounts showing that she
had paid much more than the govern
ment's witnesses estimated the goods to
have been worth when new. The case
began in the forenoon and occupied the
whole day. County Attorney Libby ap-
peared for the state and Eugene W.Hunt,
ESQ.,, for the respondent. When the evil
dence was in, Judge Robinson In sum-
ming up the case, said that while sus-
picious circumstances in connection with
the fires had been shown. there was no
evidence that they were set by Mrs. Cain.
He accordingly declined to lind proba-
BILE cause and ordered that she be dis
charge
In opening the case County Attorney
Libby told the story Of the fire substan-
TALLY as it has been reported before. Mr..
Libby read the statute which provides
a penalty at hard labor for life for set
ting fire to dwelling house in the night
time.
Chief Engineer Eldridge, the first wit
ness, told the court how he found the va
rious fires in the house. He reached the
building at 2.51, six minutes after the
alarm was rung There were two fires in
A.
located that one could not have been
caused by the other. On the first floor
there was fire in closet in the kitchen.
This fire had made such Roadway that
the woodwork was badly charred and the
closet was torn in the effort to put out
the fire. There were other fires in two
rooms OH the second floor, In a room on
the third floor and in two rooms on the
fourth floor. All these fires had been set
between the mattresses on the beds in the
rooms, The fires were of independent
origin and had probably been burning
from half an hour to three quarters of
an hour. On oross-examination, Mr..
Eldridge said that he saw no evidence of
ANYTHING of an intiammable nature which
might have been used in setting the fires.
He knew nothing of q fire which broke
out later in the day in the same house.
Assistant Engineer John N. Long
reached the fire three minutes after the
alarm struck. He testified first about the
fires in tho basement. These were SO hot
that at first there was difficulty in get
ting at them through the smoke. The
fires we're in piles of rubbish. Over that
in the front of the cellar the floor was
partly burned through. All the fires
were extinguished by the chemical en-
CINE. On cross examination, Mr.. Long
expressed the opinion that the fires in
the upper stories were set before those in
the basement.
Mrs. Celia A. Nichols, one of the lodg-
ers in the house repeated the oft-told tale
of the discovery of the fire.
Miss Jessie Nichols and Mr.. and Mrs
Charles H. Goud who were Eamong the
dodgers in the house, also told the story,
Mr.. fGoud adding to 1t an account OF the
way in which he ran to the chemical en-
CINE house to pull the alarm. On cross
examination he said that no one had said
anything to him about ringing the alarm
When he was aroused from sleep the
smoke had penetrated to his room.
G. Morton Kelly, student at Shaw's
business college, and one of the dodgers,
said that ON the night of the fire. Mrs.
Cain came to his room about 7.o0 and
remained Is or 20 minutes. He saw Mrs
Cain shortly afterwards. She came back
with a new gown and wanted to know
if it did not look nice. She only remained
in the room for few minutes. The
witness heard no unusual noises during
the night. The first he knew of the fire
was when Mrs. Cain came to his door
and told him to get up. He put on his
clothes, picked up his typewriter and
went down stairs. He saw the door of the
back room on the second floor ajar and
noticed there was fire there. He closed
the door Afterwards he returned to his
room and secured his trunk. At this
time he saw fire in the room on the
third floor. Kelly said he met Mrs. Cain
and she apr cared to be greatly excited.
He asked if she had her jewelry and
everything she wantediand she said she
had. The witness went through the
house after the excitement was over and
found that the fires had been in unoccu-
pied rooms. He had never talked with
Mrs. Cain about her property or her in
surance
On cross-examination Mr.. Kelly said
there was loose board in front of the
bath room door which made grating
sound when stepped on. No one could
pass by this place without making a noise
unless they stepped over the board. The
noise could be heard quite little dis
lance. He generally noticed it when he
walked over it,
In answer to further questions by Mr.
Libby the witness said he did not remem-
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