The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1913-01-24
CHICAGO OVERRUN
BY ARSON GANGS
At the Mercy of the Relent-
less FirebugS.
Rival Bands in Fiercc Competi-
ton to Secure Business"
and Stop at Nothing.

y Chicago, Jan 2.-Starrtllng disclosmro:
s~>ative 30 the existence of NOT ole
bet scvcral gangs Of fire bugs IN Chi
sAgo, te fIarctst kind Of composition
ossug nsen WHO aNe alloSad 30 haze
Jgown WEALTHY by making prson their
- bribe State Officials invesai yttins;
s,,snfftary fires were made by "A. \.
-, Chief Deputy STATE Fire MafsIal.
Nr. Iiach opns n'r7l TO talk OF tae
alleged c,nspiracles to deftaud insur-
Ooe companies after lossning Of The
ss~st of Joseph Clarke. insurance at
.ney 20 Edward j. RlbeG, Assistant
Atates Attorney. in an effort 3, brl5e
him.
An Indictment charging clarke with
bstbeFy was returned befons Jude
BnIrke. Tie true bin contains five
ssin,s HIS bonds wars find at sl1.-
~
Chicago toIly, 1 believe, has tie
bssiessi fi1e bugs of any city in me
s~IniSy." sud Mr.. Bach. ''Thay aHs
MT banded toyeahor as one gang. but
sr-re aae several gangs at work. anil
~ rivalry among the dtffeDen. bands
" oonsInhnto-s Is as bitter AM kan
o. IL the composition bsItwarn any
Glass of tradssmen. There are Nl~.e
. s'en in OrsGago known as nsn1lnce
siJsst.rs who often gs 70 ftrs before
~. firman. They slep with a1e!r
bpsts on. have AUTOMOBILES In r.suli-
mass u4nl. reoaiving tips Irat a fine IS
aAN,ut TO be started. are on the way
amost h,;ore tie alarm comes In.
''Thase Insurance aijlrsteis do No.
SSuallS start fires themselves. Lhny
sud,l,y men t, do that. and they only
spiicit business They maize their mon-y
~ adjusting the losses.
''pan pr cent of the firss In Chicago
ae of dncendiary prlg!n. and our de-
sscthes, as well as fineman. generally
kaow the name of the arson finn thdt
y sFsg,unsible for each f,ue.
'"phese firsbuss' know that aaay are
slspectsd. They even have the aEia--
Nv TO can at my office. md once pa4
q them Insisted on taking me out
- dinner. We tell them to Their Gas;es \
SHAT they are 'finsbugs' and that We
will work might and day to land n,sm. |
Ii Is uo.hsng urFammon fog ons of these
ismown firebugs 10 Offer our 6etscblves
brides. They are clever and never talk
s.sen thsre is a possibility of Wi S,essss
''1)he Clarke incident, In the sraae's
Attorneys office, WIS unusual. We
have set tnap attlr trap In our oafice.
AMI. although they viii offer q -'a.ec-
slys $50 ar 500 on the street. pfss will
AssxF walk into trap. 1t Us eass
n one ynlam's word Against onother's.
I've anN'e AN index of all the sus-
Nccted fire bugs in Chicago. We have
detaatbves watching their every move.
and still 1t Is Impossible TO secure con-
ftcasons. They abuse each other mer-
'c4lessly and. IL opportunity. ooasred.
would not hesitate for second 10
squeal on zach qther.
AS evidence of tine open way In
which these 'ftrebugs' work. noInplete
with each ptlner for business. mace to
fines in automobiles 10 get on the
gnoqnd before their compe uitons, and
boldly proclaim THAT they can ADJUST
any Suspicious loss, l will say CHAT We
ana often Informed days In aiyan,e
when and where fires ane ito be startei.
In that way we ane able ~ pnavent
many blazes and keep down the total
loss from inceniiarism.
might after nAght we have had de-
tectiNes wa.chlng buildings that hal
been mar0ed for the torch. We have had
tips bhat have led us to buildings with
tine basement filled with excelsior. tie
floons saturated with oil and the stock
hacked in combllstible material. All
tlsat we could do was TO notify the in
sAaalsce companies and have the In
surance cancelled. In such cases the
f4reS were nswsr startsd.
\ One insurance adjuster, known as
ftrebug,' called at any office and nskei
II could suggest a legitimate bust
ness that he could engage In. He SAID
at he was tired of having everyone
call him 'firebug. Thai man hal