The Detroit times., 1911-03-24
|OnGLAR. CARELESS
NTH MATCHES,
Fires CHURCH
cnnday School Section Of Cass-Ave'
Methodist Edihce Damaged to
Extent of $4,000 Early
Thursday Morning.
Intruder Ransacks Place Thoroughly
But Gets Only Pastors Brush
and Comb.

IN the Cass-aye. Methoulst CnuiSh'
" Cas- and Selden-aves., early THURSDAY
morning. with the result that the IN
terfor of the Sunday school was dam
f aged by fire, to the extent OF ABOUT
q. 900. The loss is covered by insur-
2 ance. The burglar got very little FOR
hts trouble, only a hair brush and
y comb and a couple OF bank books,
the property of the pastor,
(. Rev. Frank s. Rowland, having dis
appeared. He ransacked the church
and Sunday school completely, how
e ever. making certain that he was not
overlooking anything, as he did when
he visited the Fort-st. Presbyterian
church, last week, when he might
have had the church receipts had he
. made more careful inspection. AS
\ at was, he got only As cents and some
4 trinkets. The burglar will be unable
x TO realize anything on the bank books
e DIR. Rowland notified his bank OF
their disappearance
The burglar, however, missed a
B signed check, left by DR.. Rowland in
his desk. The check was not filed
a IN for cashing, but this could easily
E have been done by the burglar DR..
B Rowland said he was in the habit of
F 1eaving a signed check in his desk,
b 20 his wife could get his money from
K the bank, should anything happen 10
him.
The burning OF the Cass-ave. Metho-
\ dist Sunday school is thought to have
been caused by the burglar being
careless with matches. The blaze
I originated in the basement, presum-
ably among some old papers. The
|s church and Sunday school are heated
from the Central Heating Company's
plant, and, consequently, there was
no fire IA the furnace. Nor could the
IRE have started from the electric
working order when DR.. Rowland
tried them Immediately after the fire
was extinguished.
The fire was discovered by Robert
Erskine, driver for Towar's Wayne
County creamery, about 4:40 o'clock,
Thursday morning. Smoke and flames
were coming out OF the open Sunday
+ school door, as he passed the build
ing. He notified II. e. Rupp, janitor
Of the Vendome apartments. across
" the street from the church. The lat
ter notified fire headquarters by tele-
. phone, while Erskine FASTENED to a
IRE station in the neighborhood TO
turn in an alarm. The fremen were
Quickly on the scene, but the fire had
already caused the complete destruc-
ton OF the interior The firemen,
however, confined the flames to the
<0unday school, the church auditorium
being only slightly damaged by water,
which soaked part of the carpet. No
Manage was done to the pipe organ,
Hhich IL valued at $4,000, being one
"a the finest in the state.
The Sunday school classes will
meet hereafter In the church until
4 the school rooms are repaired and
redecorated.
The Rev John Britain Clark, pas
tor of the Woodward-ave. Presbyter-
ian church, called at the burned Sun.
day school, Thursday morning, and
Rendered DR.. Rowland the use OF his
Sunday school, pending the repairing
of the damaged structure. DR.. Row.
land thanked him, but explained that
the church auditorium could be used
for Sunday school purposes until the
work of repairing the burned section
- completed.
Investigation by Detectives Sey-
mour and Brooks led them to believe
that the burglar got into the church
by raising q rear window, the partial
INSTRUCTION OF vine running up TO
the window leading them TO this con-
.clusion. DR.. Rowland was inclined to
think that he might have attended
I. the services in the church, Wednes-
day night, and secreted himself some
where In the building at the close. in.
stead OF leaving. A mysterious feat
ure of the operations of the burglar
Is how he got into the pastors study
In the Sunday school. The door was
locked by DIR. Rowland when he left,
Wednesday night, and IL was still in
that condition when he arrived soon
after the fire was discovered. Yet
the drawers In his roll-top desk were
all pulled out and ransacked. II was
from the desk that the comb and
brush We're stolen. The detectives
tried to operate the lock with skele.
ton keys, but failed. They explained
however, that the burglar might have
y had a key to At the lock. They were
puzzled to know why he should lock
the door on leaving
The church silverware was in a
safe, which was not molested. About
year ago, burglars visited the edifice
and stole silverware TO the value
OF SIS.
In the Sunday school fire, oil DOR.
traits OF the first five pastors of the
church were destroyed. The paintings
were OF the following: The Rev. w.
w. Washburn, the first pastor: the
Rev. Camden M. Coburn, second; the
Rev. G. T. Allen, third; the Rev. A.
b. Storm, fourth, and the Rev. 4. ].
Baskerville. fifth. The portraits were
painted by VIM. b. Conely, No. liz
8elden-ave.. Detroit, and were highly
PRICED by the congregation.
DR.. Rowland. while deeply regret
ting the IRE, was not too much down
hearted to crack joke about it, ex
planning to the reporters that his ser.
mcns didn't burn, although they were
dry"
This is the second church fire. the
+ work OF burglar, within a week, the
Polish Congregational church, branch
Of the First Congregational having
been robbed and slightly damaged by
Are some time last week
aumor Kills Abdul Hanid Again.
LONDON. March 23.-An uncon
armed report from Salonika today
1nys that Abdul Hamid, the deposed