The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-12-29

George Judge. a young white man
mas arrested last night upon the
charge of setting fire to several resi-
denees yesterday afternoon. He was
placed IN Jail and will be given a pre-
Iiminary trial before Justice Fowler
Monday at Il o'clock.
There were three fires yesterday az
ternoon and all OF them occurred with
in a few minutes Of each other and the
alarm in each instance was turned in
6roEn box %.
The first fire occurred at $50 and was
at the boarding house of Mrs. A NJ.
Gilbert at ITO Princess street Mr.. ".
A Dick is the owner OF the house.
MT. VIM. Tienken. who runs a bar
Der shop across the street from Mrs.
Gilbert'S. was the first n to discover
the fire. He at once went to Mrs. Gill
bert's and and told them that smoke
was issuing from n Of the
OF the third story. Upon investigation
It. was found that some clothing hang
ing on the back of a dOOr in a room
occupied by Mrs. NJ. NJ. Ray was or
fire. The fire had burned through the
door and a runk in the adjoining
room which was against the door, was
also on fire. Directly across the nall
IOiu MIS-. IAdg - WI G AAAlINAOSS VII
q bed was burning. There a bee.l
mosquito netting around the bed but
this had burned off. The nremen
quickly eXtinguished the fire by the
use OF chemicals. Mrs. Rays loss is
estimated at 500 and Mrs. Dew's at S25.
1t was Mrs. Dew's trunk that was
burned. Mrs. Gilbert's loss was about
800 and the damage to h house
About $50. Neither Mrs, Dew nor Mrs.
Roy had any insurance. n furniture
belonging to Mrs Gilbert and the house
was insured in companies represented
by the insurance firm Of Dick & Riley.
The wagons had scarcely had time
to get back to their headquarters, in
fact the hook and ladder wagon had
not left, when a second alarm was
turned in. This fire proved to be in a
houes owned by John D. Bellamy ard
occupied by Mrs. Register and Mrs.
Filyaw. at lis Market street. The
alarm was turned in at 4:05.
This fire was like the one on Prin-
cess street in many respects. 1t was
on the third floor Of the house al was
in rooms on opposite sides Of the hall.
III one room q mattress was afire and
a bureau drawer containing articles Of
clothing had been Opened and the
things in the drawer were BURNING
In the opposite room the clothing III a
wardrobe was on fire.
This fire was also put out without
turning on the water
The damage was about S25, fully
covered by Insurance, the contents Of
the house being insured IN companies
represented by Dick & Riley.
The third fire occurred at AIS. just
forty-fve minutes after the first fire
oh Princess street. The fire wagons
in this instance were returning to their
respective headquarters when the fire
@Vo--o 14-,r~l 80 This fro u-o hV far
the worst of the three. 1t had gained
considerable Roadway before it was
discovered. It was at the residence OF
DIR. Durham on POstOffeC avenue.
This fire was also On the third story
and very much like the others.
The interior Of two rooms, some dis
tance apart. were found to be on fire.
One room was occupied by Mr.. a. J.
Martin and the other by Mr.. 7. E.
Grafton. The contents of both rooms
were entirely destroyed and the loss
will amount to something like $500,
The rooms were furnished and occG-
pied by Messrs. A. J. Martin and T. z.
Grafton. Mr.. Grafton is in Georgia
on a business trip and Mr.. Martin
stated last night hat he was not posi-
tive about having any insurance, and
would not know until he heard from
Mr.. Grafton. DR.. Durham's loss Will
amount to something like 800 covered
DE insurance. ne uIlllISe u IS
house is about $50. ais covered by
insurance.
The first thing that attracted the at
tention CT Chief Schibben. OF h fir
department. was the fact that all the
fires We're similar and occurred within
n few minutes OF each other. This fact
was spoken OF and it was suggested
that the fires might be the work Of an
incendiary. Little James Durham. the
fourteen year old son of DIR. Durham.
who. was standing near. heard the cor
V~erSatiOn and at once spoke Of i
stranger being in the house only q
short time before the fire. The man
he said went to the third floor of the
residence and after remaining there
; some minutes he left. 1t was nothing
unusual for visitors TO go to the roOms
of the boarders and nothing was
thought Of the matter at the time.
JemeS Durham said he did not know
the name Of the man, but he knew that
he drove one of the wagons for the
Eagle Steam Laundry. He also gave
a description OF the man. 1t was an
excellent description of George Judge
who drives 4 wagon for the laundry
above mentioned.
A warrant was at once sworn out
against George Judge and placed in the
hands of Constable Savage. i
Constable Savage waited until after
dark and then went in search of his
game. Hehad learned that Judge was
going 20 seq a young lady at the Del
gado mills. so he secured a horse and
buggy and drove to DeIgado. M
young man was at the young lady's
house as was expected. It was about
800 when Mr.. Savage went to the
house to make the arrest
Judge made no attempt to get away.
He was brought to the city and IN
company with Chief Schnibben and
AFR. Savage was carried to the house If