The Washington times., 1912-08-13
PAPER STOLEN AND
THEN RETURNED IS
MYSTERY OF FIRE
Firebug Starts Blaze in Com
mittee Room of House
Committee.

A valuable paper was stolen from the
closet of the committee room of the
House District Committee yesterday af-
ternoon. presumably at the same time
that waste paper In the closet was set
afire. Between $3.50 and 1850 o'clock
last night this paper was returned, with
the result that the only loss occasioned
by the fire, SO far as Chairman Ben
Johnson, of the District Committee, has
ascertained, is the. damage done the
mahogany door and the jamb when the
chairman used sledge hammer and a
hatchet head to get to the fire.
About 5:l5 o'clock yesterday afternoon
Miss Katherine Kirby. stenographer to
Chairman Johnson, discovered smoke
the chairman, who was on the floor OF
the House. A score of persons reached
the room before he arrived, but they
did nothing; CONGRESSMAN Johnson
told an employe to break into the car
penter's room and get an AK; the en-
ploye refused on the ground that the
carpenters property was private.
johnson Yields Sledge. ..
"Of course, 1t didn't make any diff
ference tnat the building was burning
down." said Chairman Johnson today
Then Congressman Carey's secretary
arrived on the scene with a hatchet
The handle promptly broken. A man
was sent across the street for an axe.
A sledge hammer was cent instead
Chairman johnson went to work with
the sled9e and the hatchet head. The
lock fell away, the door swung back
and a huge volume Of choking gray
smoke belliel into the room. A little
water extinguished the smoldering fire.
Chairman Johnson promptly began to
search Tor the vaiuaLle papers stored
in the closet. His suspicious had been
aroused because the door was locked.
Except when there was no one in the
office this door, he said today, had
Il looked about for six papers which
were especially important. J found all
but one and called attention to the fact
that 1 had not found It. 1t was kept
in a particular place and there Is no
chance that 1 overlooked 1t.
Late last night I came to the office
with Mrs. Johnson after the theater.
I wanted to show her the results Of the
fire. l looked about and there was the
paper / had missed"
How Fire-Bug Entered.
The adventure of the Vanishing Pa
per also includes circuitous en-
trance into tftf room by the incend-
larry. There are tracks to indicate that
the fire-bug went out upon the gall
lery at the end of the west corridor,
then climbed behind two marble COL
umns to the small balcony outside the
committee room, then cut the screen
TO permit the lock being turned and
SO got into the room without being
| observed.
II do not know when the fire was
| set. II may have been about 1880
when Miss Kirby went to lunch, or 1t
may have been later in the afternoon
when She was absent for about fifteen
minutes. The fire started in bag of
waste paper and caught on q wooden
coat belonging to former messenger
TO the committee. This coat may have
smoldered for hours, I am told by
those who know how wooden goods
| burn.
! Chairman johnson said that he did
not wish to reveal the contents of the
paper which was stolen and subsequent
ly returned. as he di dnot wish to cast
reecuons on anyone, as he felt he
would be interpreted as doing were he
to tell the nature of the paper.
This office has been robbed twelve
times in the last seventeen months. Pa
| pers on various subjects have been
taken, No one has ever bene found to
whom guilt was attached
He acknowledged that the paper in
question concerned a matter of imme-
diate and present Importance.
The best theory advanced so far is
that whoever stole that paper and set
the fire learned that the fire was
| Had the first burned we would never
have known but what this paper was
lost with the others said the chairman
Of the District Committee.
The good carpentry on the close
fitting door saved the day. The door fit
SO tight that after the oxygen in the
closet was consumed the fire smoldered.
| Il might think that mice and matches
were responsible except that mice do
not lock doors, cut screens, leave marks
of shoe nails. nor steal papers and re-
! turn them"
Loss Is Only Slight.
The incident. which resulted in only
slight loss for only the door and jamt
must be replaced, is being investiga ted
Many Congressman called this morn
ing to see the alleged ravages Of the
| fire, and Chairman johnson was kept
busy most of the morning rehearsing
the details of The Adventure of the
Vanishing Paper"
THE statement that the District Com
mittee Is about to make revelations that
| will cause a scandal is no we'll founded
! That is only surmise. The District
Committee Is not going to spring a
scandal. There are scandalous charges
on file. eX parte statements that are
one-sided only. but these do not consti-
| tute a scandal. l did not think wher
| Investigations were begun that scan
dals would be unearthed, and said sc
at the time. Nothing has been found
| to change my opinion"
Among the records in the closet was
the evidence gathered regarding the
management of District government af.
fairs.