Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1925-02-26

Failure Of fire to follow a strip OF
ceIluIOid film under a door is prpbabz
" all that frustrated the attenfpt Of
an incendiary TO burn the Rose thea
tire and Hub pool hall last Sunday
night says the Judith Gap Journal
Had the fire been carried along, as the
incendiary most undoubtedly thought
! il would, it would have reached two
piles Of rubbish in a short time and
the entire block on Main street from
the Dolan hotel to the Security State
bank building would now likely be in
ashes.
Evidence of the attempt to fire the
theatre building was found Monday
morning by Bud Beers who. during
the absence Of Jack Davis, ownsr Of
the property. had been IN charge. M.
Davis left for Belt on Saturday and
was not in town at the time Of the M
cendiary attempt. Mr.. Beers went In
to the theatre Monday morning and
noticed that film was scattered on the
floor at the rear Of the building. but
being in a hurry paid little attention
to it, thinking that one of the Davis
children had done it in play. Tuesday
morning he again went to the theatre
and upon starting to gather up the
film noticed that an attempt had been
made to fire the building. He at once
notified Mrs Davis, and later inform
Town Marshal McClelland Of the cir
cumstances.
State Fire Marshal w. G. Brooks
was at once notified and arrived here
Wednesday night to make an investi-
cation. He found that the incendfAry
had set fire, using a candle to 6ns
it, in a one-pound coffee can IN
closet in the rear of the building. In
the can around the candle had been
put layer Of gauze and ronfetti, and
over the contents had been poured
pint of kerosene. Strips of fflim
reached from the can to pile Of rab-
bish under the east side of the stage
and through door and up flight Of
stairs onto the stage and from there
TO trap door and into the attic over
the Hub pool hall, where the roll of
film was scattered about over a pile
of paper. The candle ignited the COM
bustible material in the can as planned
by the inceHdiary and fired the film,
which, however, burned only as far as
the door of the closet. Repeated ex-
periments by Mr.. Brooks showed that
the film could not be made to burn
past the closet door, although there
was almost quarter inch space be-
tween it and the floor. This was prob
ably accounted for by a slight draft
toward the fire from the outside OF
the closet. Had the fire progressed
beyond the door it would have been
only few seconds until the whole
rear end Of the building would have
been in flames, and it seems unlikely
that single building on the west side
of the block could have been saved.
Mr.. Brooks investigation has con-
WINGED him that the incendiary is
known, and arrest of that person and
accessories is expected soon. Finger
prints taken from the film, the bottle
which contained kerosene, and other
articles handled by the incendiary,
point conclusively to the guilty party,
he says.
A total Of $4,000 insurance was car
ried on the theatre and contents and
on the pool hall building All Of this
insurance viii be cancelled IL the rec
ommendation of Mr.. Brooks 10 the
fire insurance underwriters is needed.
Mr.. Davis had the theatre building and
fixtures insured for 5000, and Heebe
Ogilvie carried $4,000 insurance on the
pool haIl, part Of which was payable
to loan company In case il became
Insurance carried by owners of the
property threatened By the attempted
amounted to S4S,660. The
value Of this property is placed con-
servatively at slightly over 500 900.
George g. Haynes Of the Haynes Drug
company would probably have been
the biggest loser had the block burned.
On an investment Of approximately
SIC, 900 he had only $3.50 insurance.