Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-11-04

rested and charged with arson a
boys, who divided their time between c
are in the House of Detention as wit
II. blaze endangered thousands o
ings and caused a panic in the neigho
from their sleep by the cracking fam
ington street. near the W. V. Sny-
der stables and the Columbia Laundry,
was gutted Twenty-three horses were
burned to death, including valuable
show animals belonging to John c.
Wanner whose menagerle in another
structure fifty feet away was saved
only by the quick work of the fremen.
This was the building the deplorable
condition of which the STAR drew at
tention to in it's crusade some time ago.
After much urging the Board of Health
made an effort to have the stable
cleaned up and made less of a menace
to the health of the neighborhood. It's
final purging. however, has cost the
life of one man and considerable dam
age to property. None of the Board
of Health officials could be found to-
day to talk about the case.
Starting shortly after midnight, the
fire ragged fiercely for three hours.
Nearly a hundred panic-stricken men
and women in the seven large brick
buildings on Washington street, over-
looking the stable yard, were driven
to the street in scanty clothing. The
heat became so intense in the rear of
the Y. nj. c.. A. building that the room,
ers there were forced to flee from their
rooms.
. The. Columbia Laundry structure was
z-dadln scnrched and $500 damage was
done to the rear of it by the flames
REILLY, who was sleeping In stall.
was suffoeated.
The boys who were arrested are:
William Kurzman, 13 years old, of 179
Washington street; Harold Whitney,
IA, of 1870 Washington street; Harry
Doremus, II, of 1S1 washington street,
and John Pahre, Ia, of 221 Plane street.
Doremus made a statement to tho
police today.
1.-The four of us went into the stable
right across the way from where
live" he said. "We ate apples and
bananas. was on the seat of q wagon
and Pahre was In the wagon hand
ing out the fruit to me. Then / passed
it along to KuIxman and Whitney.
1--WE were lighting matches In order
to see what we were doing. The lighted
part of one dropped into the barrel
which had the apples. The hay caught
fire. We tried to put it out, but 1t
spread so fast we couldn't do anything.
Then we ran out"
'You used to hang around the en-
gine house, said Inspector Martin
Koppe, of the Bureau of Combustfbles
and Fire Risks. why didn't you run
oIo hnx nd
I'VE were too scared" he said.
Doreinus. the police think. may be
responsible for other small fires in
which prompt discovery prevented Eeri-
Gus damage.
When. they were arrested, Whitney
and Doremus made signed statement
that Doremus had first suggested that
they should pull q fire alarm box.
Lets set fire to the stables in War
rem place." they claim he said, wnen
they refused
Later then they went into the
Washington street stables, both boys
averred to the police, he deliberately
lit a match and threw it into barrel
of hay.
wanner tried to jump into the canai
when he learned that his valuable sno"
animals hid been burned. Patrolman
J. r. Weber, who had followed MN
from the scene Of the blaze, caught him
lust in time The loss of his valuable
pets nearly drove him crazy for the
moment.
The fire was discovered at midnight
Fire headquarters was telephoned anu
an alarm sent at 12:05 with a second
alarm a few minutes later
After the fire Patrolman Frederick
]. Weber remembered that he had seen
four boys around bonfire on the
canal bank near Plane street lie nau
chased them away and put the tlre out
Then, Just before sthe stable ourneu
down, he had seen the same four poys
coming from an alley-way leading TO
the stable yard.
JJpon Weber's tip, Patrolmen Gaffney
and Byrne arrested Henry Doremus
and John Pahre. When Weber went
to the home of Kurzman he was told
that the boy had not come in, lie
waited until nearly o'clock, when
Kurzman and Whitney appeared. Then
he arrested them.
Kurzman's 16-year-old sister Anna
took some elothes to the First Precinct
police station for her brother later IN
the day
win goes to the Burnet Street
SCHOOL, she said He's in next to
the graduating class, and he's real
good at studying. Father has been
dead seven years and my two sisters
and l work and keep the family to-
gether."
According to her story the four boys
formed gang, which made a club
house of the cellar of Kurzmans home
until there was fire in the cellar two
weeks ago.
There have been several fires of sus-