The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1914-11-14
C0NFESSES He
STARTED FIRE
IN SILVER CAMP
Boris Thomasen, Industrial Worker
of World, Explains How He
Caused Confiagration
USED PHOSPHORIC ACID
POURED INTO WET RAG
Threw 1t Into Corner of Foyer OF
Nevada Theater and Waited
for Fire Alarm

Nevada Theater and Waited
for Fire Alarm
For fear of mob violence and to
prevent him from communicating
of the world held on suspicion
being accomplices, Boris Thomasen,
alias The KAISER" who Tuesday
confessed at Hawthorne that he had
set on fire the Nevada theater in To-
nopah on the night of October 20,
was brought to Goldfeld last night
by Deputy Sheriff William Baker
and Deputy Constable June Peck of
the silver camp and placed in the
county Jail. The prisoner was this
afternoon taken back to Tonopah
by Deputy Constable Peck and Dep
uty Sheriff Charles Perry.
During his brief stay in the coun.
ty Jail Sheriff Ingalls, questioned
Thomasen, who is a Russian Ger
man and apparently about twenty
four years old, as to his knowledge
of the supposed incendiary fire which
about ten days ago destroyed the
buildings on the roperty of the yell
low Tiger Mining company in this
camp. Thomasen denied having any
knowledge of the local fire and de-
clared that he could throw no light
on it's origin. However. Sheriff In
gals is still strongly inclined to the
belief that the Yellow Tiger fire was
II xvN~lx g ooAnlfor;D o~l h. 0~A
his deputies are working under sew
eral clues. In the course of his talk
with Sheriff ingalls,, Thomasen stat
ed that he and twenty-six others. all
claiming membership in the indus
trial workers of the world. left
for Tonopah. On the way several of
the party gave up tn trip, but a
majority of the original number ar
rived in Tonopah about a month ago
They beat their way on the railroad
as far as Hazen and walked from
there to Tonopah.
Scent' Danger
Following the ::rU which destroy
ed the Nevada theater and fifteen
residences in Tonopah, involving a
loss of about $22,0OO, Chief of Po-
lice Evans of Tonopah and District
Attorney Sanders OF Nye county OBJ,
tanned information that caused them
to suspect Thomasen as having caus-
ed the conflagration. Seeming
danger, Thomasen and another in
dustrial worker left Monday. They
were arrested Tuesday near Thorne,
Mineral county, for beating their
way on a freight train, from which
they were taken. The two men
were removed to the Mineral coun-
ty Jail at Hawthorne. Soon after
they were placed in a cell, Thoma-
sen began talking of the Tonopah
fire and explained how he had caus-
ed it.
His statements were overheard by
the officers, and when confronted
with them by Chief of Police Evans,
who arrived in Hawthorne soon
after his arrest, Thomasen confess
ed the crime. He explained that he
was present in the Nevada theater
at the time Miss Minnie Bronson of
New York City, the a~nti-suffrage
leader, delivered her address and
that in leaving he threw into a cor
ner of the foyer of the playhouse a
vet rag, into which he had previ-
ously poured phosphoric acid. He
further stated that he knew that
when tie moisture in the rag evap-
Grated combustion would occur, a
fact that is we'll known to all
chemists. After he had placed the
rag containing the p~hosphoric acid
in the theater he went to his cabin
and waited for the fire alarm, which
ne knew would be sounded. After
waiting about thirty minutes Thoma-
sen heard the alarm and rushed with
the crowd to the burning building.
Questioned as to his motive for
causing the fire, Thomasen said he
had none, other than he wanted to
cause some damage in Tonopah and
decided upon setting fire to the thea
as the agency.
Taken tO TOnOpah
Although Thomasen implicated
none of his fellow members, of the
industrial workers of the world, the
man arrested in his company at
Thorne and whose name is unknown,
was brought back to Tonopah from