Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-02
FURNITURE FIRM
ENPLOYE ADMITS
STARTING 4 FIRES
Loader at Hub Warehouse
Says He Accidentally Caused
Disastrous BIazes.
MATCH HEADS FLEW
IN DARK, HE DECLARES
Man Employed by Company Six
Years Declares One Blaze Was
Due to Smoking.

Lingan Asbury Butler, 42-year-old
employee of the Hub Furniture Co, adj
mitted to the police today that he had
been responsible for four of the five
fires which have caused losses of more
than $250000 in warehouses of the
company during the past two years.
Butler, loader, who has been en-
ployed at warehouses of the company
for the past six years. claims that he
set the fires accidentally. He was ar
rested yesterday as the result of an
intensive investigation, which began
when fire wrecked the warehouse at 30
L street northeast, September "a. He
lives at 1883 U street southeast. The
police questioned him last night and
again this morning. Shortly after noon
today he began to talk.
Heads Flew Off Matches.
Three of the fires, ne said, were start
ed when heads few Off matches which
he said he lighted in dark parts of the
warehouses to see the numbers on fur
niture crates. He admitted that he had
not been sent to the warehouses to get
the numbers and declared that he now
realized that he did wrong not to re-
port that he knew. how the fires started
The fourth fire, he said, was started
when he dropped match after light
ing a cigarette. He said he did not
report that one because it was against
the company's rules to smoke in the
buildings.
He said that in the case of the fire of
September "a he was attempting to
read the number on a crate about a
kitchen cabinet. He pulled the paper
away, he said, and lighted the match.
The head flew off and ignited the paper
and the warehouse was soon a mass of
flames, he continued.
Last Fire September "a.
The last of the five fires which have
damaged warehouses of the furniture
company within the last two years oc-
CURED September "a, at the plant at
30 l. street northeast. This blaze,
causing loss estimated by Fire Depart
ment officials at $4,000, boosted to
more than a quarter of million dol
lars the aggregate damage in the series
of fires.
Three of these blazes were OF major
Importance, each requiring concentra-
ton Of every resource of the Fire De-
partment before they were brought I'M
der control. Several smoke eaters"
were injured while combating the
flames and other lives were endangered.
Perhaps the most spectacular of the
SCl 1cS VI DldLcS WAS Tic IIlOSG TeCenL.
Huge pillows Of smoke were whipped
into the heavens by strong wind.
Firemen were forced to wear gas masks
in order to combat the poisonous fumes
created by the burning of large stocks
OF furniture and a tar-covered roof.
Four Other BIazes.
In addition to this fire, official records
disclosed there have been four other
disastrous blazes in the warehouses of
the Hub Furniture Co. since February 8,
1929. The first caused loss of S78, 800,
the second $500, the third $497 and the
fourth $149,294.
The far-fiung investigation of the
series of fires was instigated at the
instance of P. w. Nicholson, acting
chief of the Fire Department. He de-
clared the Police Department should
delve into the situation because he was
certain there was something queer
about these fires"