The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1905-04-14
FOUR FIRES IN ONE DAY
MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE
SURROUND TWO OF THEM.
LOOKS LIKE WORK OF FIRE BUG

| Four Fires and Three Alarms Make a
Pretty Strenuous Record for one
Afternoon and Evening - Damage
Slight in Every Case.
Three fire alarms and four fires
within seven hours makes the record
for Saturday afternoon and evening.
None of the fires was serious loss,
but the rapidity with which one fol-
! lowed another makes a person look
well to his insurance policies.
The first alarm was about 5 o'clock
in the afternoon and came from Frank
Dedermans place on South Twelfth
street. Here some children had built
bonfire in some straw piled against
shed adjoining the barn The fire
department responded promptly to the
alarm and before the flames had
gained much headway they had been
subdued
About 10:i5 in the evening flames
were discovered rolling up from a
piano box at the rear of the Sturgeon
company's music store. The box was
against the high board fence and that
also was doing its best to burn up. 1t
was but the work of few minutes for
those who quickly gathered to yank
the box away from the fence and the
iudicious use of little water quickly
quelled the disturbance. The origin
of this fire is a mystery. The box
had been filled with piano paper and
burned freely. But a short distance
from the burning fence is the wooden
stairway leading to the upper story
of the Schorregge block and if the
flames had caught in this there might
be a different story to tell. There
was no wind at the time, and this fact
helped very materially in putting out
the flames. While this fire was in
progress no one had time to turn in
an alarm, but after it was all over an
alarm was sounded and the firemen
had run for nothing. The origin of
this fire is a mystery. 1t might have
been caused by someone who walked
to the back door of the Trocadero and
threw cigar stub over the fence into
the paper in the box, but it is not
|
rounding the affair rather point to
the work of fire bug, although there
is nothing to prove that theory.
Barn Burns.
The firemen had not much more
than reached their homes when an
other alarm was sounded This was
another mysterious fire in a barn on
the place occupied by Mr.. Slumbaugh
and owned by L. NJ. Gaylord. BY the
time the companies had reached the
fire it had gained considerable head
way and the barn was rendered unfit
for use, although the men did such
good work that the shell was saved.
There was nothing in the barn at the
time, but some hay in the loft. How
the fire started cannot be accounted
for. So far as known no one had been
near the place since early in the even
ing and there seems to be only two
ways that it might have been started
either by some one who passed
through the alley and carelessly threw
cigar stub into the rubbish or by
some one intent upon witnessing the
spectacular who deliberately applied
match. Barn fires do not ordinarily
start in the middle of the night from
natural causes. The loss is from $50
to SIS.
While this fire was in progress an
other had been discovered in the new
; house of C. F. Shaw on The Heights.
1ya Ctn rta
{ when he heard the second alarm and
; as he passed the Shaw house saw
) flames inside. He Immediately
( aroused Contractor Ogden, and they
{ succeeded in few minutes in having
: the flames under control. The kitch'
: en- floor was badly burned and some
= of the castings were charred Portions
a of the floor had already begun to fall
$ through into the cellar when the
s flames were stopped. The house is
o just nearing completion and during
q the afternoon workmen had been oil
!, ing the floor, leaving the oil-saturated
o rags in the kitchen. 1t is probable the
t fire was caused by spontaneous com
t bustiOn.
s May be Firebug.
t Two of these fires were of decidedly
mysterious origin and the third car
only be accounted for on the basis %
spontaneous combustion, 1t looks
q considerably as though Norfolk has {
% tirebug, who is not really ambitious
h. to destroy valuable property. but hat
: an ambition to see something burn
" should this he true, it would be wei
G. for him to work with utmost secrecy
(. because il discovered the citizen
% would see that he is as severely pur
ished as the law will allow.
Chief Kern was inclined to the be
lief that the fires were the work O