The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1912-12-06
FIRE BUGS after
WELAKA'S HOTEL
For Second Time in Year In
Cendaries Attempt its
Burninu.

The business men of Welaka wer,
in Palatka in force last Tuesday; they
came to attend the preliminary tria
of young man charged with an at
tempt to set fire to the Welaka hote
on the night of November 26th. The
thing was getting serious; only lasI
| August a similar attempt was made
to fire the building. Both attempts
were discovered and the fire extin.
gulshed before much damage had beer
done to the building. But on each oc.
casion the evidence of incendiarisnl
was irrefutable.
The fire of last week was discovered
after midnight; strange young man
had been about the town the day be-
fore and acted suspiciously; he car
rled parcel under his arm; this par =
Gel according to the memory of the
witnesses resembled the paper which
held the oil and cotton waste under
the house and which had been used to
start the fire. Suspicion lighted on
this stranger. Deputy Sheriff l.. j.
Mcleod hastened to Sisco and caught
the early morning train for .Palatka
sitting in the smoker of the train was
the stranger; he had no parcel; Nc
Leod placed him under arrest and
brought him to -Palatka.
At the preliminary hearing before
Judge Haskell on Tuesday of this
week witnesses from Pomona and We.
laka to the number of nearly dozen
were examined.
1t was established that the young
mans name was Jack Gordon; that
his home originally was Brooklyn, N
Y, but that he had been living in
Jacksonville for the better part of two
years. At the Welaka hotel he reg
Istered as Joseph Meyer.
He said he left Jacksonville looking
for work and with the idea of better.
ing himself; that he took the Clyde
line steamer for Welaka Sunday the
oath of November, reaching that place
in the night He stayed about town
till nearly noon on Monday when he
walked across country to Pomona,
distance of five miles; at Pomona he
stayed for the night at the boarding
house of John Tyler-having supper,
lodging and breakfast; that he then
looked for work at the Pomona mill
and was told that he could have one of
two jobs; he evidently decided to take
neither as he did not return to the
mill. He was seen about the Pomona
depot Tuesday evening before dark;
he was not seen there after that. He
says he spent the night in a box car
and took the early train Wednesday
morning for Jacksonville. 1t was or
this train that Deputy Mcleod arrest
ed him.
The theory of the Welaka witnesses
is that he went back to Welaka after
dark on Tuesday night and set fire tO
the hotel and then skipped back to Po-
mona and took the train.
The young man tells pretty
straight story and there is some tes-
timony in confederation of his story;
he is no fool; on the contrary he made
a good impression on the stand. There
was reasonable doubt as to his guilt
and had he been on trial it is more
than likely he would have been ac-
quilted. But there were suspicious
and enough was shown
to justify Judge Haskell in holding
him to the circuit court.
In the meantime the Welaka wit
nesses say they have more evidence up
their sleeves; that when the trial
comes on this will be better developed
The hotel is occupied, and had it not
been for the fortunate discovery of
the fire by late prowler of the town
their lives would have been endanger
ed. The hotel is the property of E.
S. Green of Jacksonville, a former cit
izen of Welaka.