Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-19


heap Of debris and the print Of q horses hoof.
From these the set-on was reconstructed to the
satisfaction Of q Federal court while the track
proved the identity Of the incendiary.
The magnifying lens had been mounted in .
wire frame that ended in long arm. It had
been stuck In the ground IN line with a nile
Of matches and debris from the forest floor,
and was so arranged that when the sun reached
certain point in its course its rays would be
focused upon the matches. Hours after the
set-up had been planted the sun touched OF
the matches. started blaze in the dry debris
and spread to the timber.
24-hour getaway was provided for the In
eendiary and the opportunity to establish q
court-proof alibi. The cattleman had certainly
acted with precaution. But in the end he was
outsmarted. With the set-up carefully remod-
eled and on view in court, together with the
remnants brought from the forest, the plaster
cast Of the horses footprint and the testimony
Of witnesses he had rounded up, the ranger pre-
scented his case. The alibi was thrown out and
the culprit went to jail.
SETF you want to fire the woods, why don't
you fire them in the night when you won't
get caught?"
This naive question, put by an indulgent
mother to her youngest hopeful, fortunately or
unfortunately was overheard by a neighbor
Of Waldron, Ark on q charge of arson In
national forest of that State. The story Of the
case is told in letters and papers filed at the
Washington, d. c. ONCE of the Forest Service.
Oscar apparently started fires for his personal
amusement. There's little enough diversion IN
the backwoods country, and it was rather exc
citing to see how far they would get before q
stream stopped them or the fre squads got
them under control.
Forest Guard Lewis Prewitt found three
smokes in his territory, and as he proceeded to
fire No. l he noticed tracks Of horse in the
trail The FIRE was small and he succeeded in
putting 1t out unaided. He dashed to IRE No. 2
and found the same tracks here and on the
trail going up to fire No. 3. The third fire was
well under way and getting bigger all the time.
He summoned Ranger Younger and Guards
Langley and Hilton to help him extinguish it,
and with them followed the trail of footprints
to Hales cabin
Accosted, young Hale denied the charge but
as evidence was piled up bit by bit he recanted
his story. neighbor had seen some one on
a gray pony" within SO feet Of the first fire.
Another witness identified the pony as one
habitually ridden by Hale. Plaster casts Of the
woodland tracks were identical with those made
by the pony, and to cap the climax some one
had overheard Mrs. Hale make her suggestion.
In Southern State that prides itself upon its
modernism, leading business man and member
OF the State Legislature was indicted recently
and later convicted for starting a FIRE on q ma
tional forest preserve. He was caught red-hand-
ed after an exciting chase through the woods.
A BIG cattle and sheep man, he belonged to
the school that believes in the disproved
theory that woods burning improves grazing.
He was putting his theory into action, despite
the 1act that the forest was placaEded with