Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-10-16
STATE OFFICIALS DETERMINE
RESPONSIBILITY FOR IN
CENDiARY FIRES.
OBJECTIONABLE DOORS
GIVEN AS ONE REASON
Youth of 10 Years Arrested as Leader
of Gang Which Has Caused Losses
OF s25c,0oo = Youth Makes Partial
Confession and duplicates compan-
ions-Watei, Fires Burn.

SION NINA- Acl. 40.---Al ga = score
OF incendiary fires in the south part
of the city enta:ling l6ss Of approx
u1ateiy s250,o0o have been The direct
result Of an arson gang. locatsd on the
bottoms. according to Information
secured By Deputy state Fire Marsha!
J. A Tracy, who with the aid Of Fire
Marshal VI X. Hartman, OF Sioux City,
has been Investigating a series Of
hlazes IN that section Of the s.ty.
According to Tracy sworn evidence
IS al hand 10 show that Bud Gath. IS
years Of age living with his parents
on South Wall street. is the leader Of
the arson crowd, and that he has been
the i0siisator OF the majority u me
ineendiary fires.
n the crowd are eish: or zen other
boys, according TO Tracy. ranging in
ages from is TO % years all Of them
living Oh the bottoms
The fires REGARDING which partial
confessions have been secured from
members OF The gang. are three at the
warehouse Of the Bolles * Rogers COM
pary. one at the Anheuser-B usch
warehouse and one at the Sacks or L.
Sherman hafn on the Bottoms"
Three Fires at One Plant.
According 20 the disclosures % the
boys implicated, the first fire at the
8olles < Rogers plant was set on Ocr.
IL, 1914 the second occurred on May
- and the last on the night Of Aug.
!, this year. All NJ these tres were
SET in the same manner states The
confession. Waste was gathered from
box cars near the warehouse and
placed in convenient spots about The
building
win soma Of the boys standing
watch. Gath j. said 70 nave isnited Ire
waste. and after making sure Il would
burn. ali Of the boys raced uptown and
waited until the fra engines passed
them. then leisurely wen. down and
watched rhe work.
PLEADS odor as Reason.
In one Of me confessions. the reason
for the firing q this place is given
that Gath declared the building stunk
so that he wanted 10 burn il 20 the
ground and sc, II our OF the way"
The fire at the Stevens Kennedy
warehouse, better known as the An
heuser Busch place. was set on the
night Of Aug q this wear AT this
place the boys say they Went for the
purpose 9f breaking in and getting
some bear, bul when they We're IN
successful IN this Gath said: Lets
burn the down ihen" ana with
waste gathered from boxcars q fire
was starred.
See Own Destructive Work.
To make sure % their work here
the boys say they stuffed the waste
into the building thru holes they made
in the panels Of the doors In this in
stance they ran down 20 Fourth street
and waited in a restaurant for the fire
department. . 20 past and then joined
the crowd Al the ire.
Two efforts Were made 20 burn the
Sacks barn ca the night of July % this
year. The aGst efforts being failure,
the boys went into the hay NOW and
started second fire, which was more
successful.
The evidence in the hands Of Tracy
shows that upon the majority Of the
cases the boys had been drinking beer
and carousing before the fires were
started
our evidence said Mr. Tracy.
shows that this gang IS Without DOUBT
the toughest We have had to contend
win for some time. The record looks
as tho they were implicated in other
ares Of q serious nature, ana We are
making most thorough investigations
Thursday Night Fires lncendiary.
Fires in three barns Thursday night.
presumably Of incendiary origin, would
seem u si3o" that tae arson ring has
not yet been broken UP, say the au-
thor!ties. All three fires were on the
west SIDE, between 40 and II O'Clock.
Two were discovered within five min
utes. In answering a call TO the first
blaze at BALM Bros barn. 7Z2 West
Seventh street, J, ". Cunning Of hose
company 40. ., suffered severe in
juries when a ladder to which he was
holding slipped from the wagon,
throwing him 10 the street.