The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-22
W.0.DAVIS FIRED HOUSE
VERDICT or A JURY ORGANIZED AT GOODwATER.
Husband of Woman Who Owned Prop crty, Has Been Arrested ana is
 in Jail According to Rap0rt.

The verdict of the jury seeking the origin, cause and circumstances of the ire in Goodwater on the night of De- cember 10, which destroyed the dwell- ing of Mrs. Annie l.. Davis, was for warded to State Insurance Commis- sioner h. R. McDavid yesterday.
 As the result of the investigation. w. O. Davis. the second husband of .1rs >1nie Davis, Is now in the Coun- ty jail at Goodwater charged with set ting the house on fire.
 She~iff T. J. Tippett of Coosa Coun- ty who was instructed to summon 8 jury in the investigation by Insurance Commissioner McDavid under the in- surance statutes, says in his report that the evidence against Davis Is so strong that an indictment for arson is almost certain.
 The testimony of forty witnesses taken by Sheriff Tippett. was forward ed to Commissioner McDlvid. Ac- cording to one of them, a man practi- cally identified as Davis by other wit nesses was seen to set fire to the house.
 Davis fought the fire a few minutes after it was discovered. The sheriff reports that the man who was seen to fire the house ran, after applying the brand. through railroad cut towards town and the jury tracked him back to where witnesses saw him running. The jury was composed of Mayor J. c. Carmichael of Goodwater, B. F. Crew, a leading merchant, and Dr. Eugene Cargo, a prominent physician of Goodwater.
 The loss entailed by this fire is said to have been covered by an insurance policy. Mrs. Davis according to re- port, was preparing to transfer title in real and personal property to her children of whom w., O. Davis was step-father. Mortgages are outstand- | ing on two houses of Mrs. Davis and | the debts secured by. them will be due in a few days. These circumstances lfwere brought out in the investigation 1 to show a motive for the incendiary | act.
 The report of sherir Tippett is in part as follows:
 Hon. E. R. McDavid Insurance Com missioner, Montgomery Ala: l Dear Sir-Enclosed herewith send you copy of the testimony together
 with the verdict of the jury in the , case of the investigation held by me
 under Section 260S of the code as per
 your instructions, anent the fire of December 10, in which the house of Annie L.. Davis was destroyed by fire | HI 1OooWdtCE, IHS SdHle DeluB covered by policy of insurance.
 'Tn addition to the testimony as l written down. the jury examined the
 ground and tracked the party accused
 to and from the building. To fully understand the case that is made out against the party accused you would have to be familiar with the location
 of the ground and the direction from
 the door the defendant was seen~run-
 ming after the fire started. l "The evidence shows that one of the witnesses saw the party set the house
 on fire, but was not close enough to
 see who 1t was and ran around the
 house and on the side from town to
 cut the party off: and the evidence of
 other witnesses shows that 1t was W
 O. Davis and he went through the
 railroad cut back towards town and
 the jury tracked him clear back to
 where the witnesses swore they saw
 him running; Davis denies all of this