The Illinois times. (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-19??, 1951-08-08
Arson Is Charged
In Sayles' Fire

Arson was AAHf& Aeh AA a4NNHAi.
gators as the cause Of fire d
covered At ssle a. m Thursday
in the residence Of Police officer
Ira Sayles. iIlS North Firth street
fremen Who broke into the
locked aud uneecopied dwelling
found fires had been SET at tour
! places. including on two beds in
separate bedrooms
They extinguished the flame
! without difficulty. although cor
siderable smoke damage was Ia
! eurred 10 the interior II The goui
room frame structure.
i Investigations were launched In
modiately hy The file department,
! police officers, Assistant State
Attorney FRANK Middleton, and the
sheriff's office.
OFFICER sAiLES and John
+ butler. who lives with him. had
reported fer work at house under
construction on Flora drive when
a neighhnr observed the fire Say
les works during his nondnty hours
as construction iahorer with
Evan Rasmussen. contractor hul
Ter Is employed similarly.
Lieut.. George L, Hagerman, fire
department Inspector, spent the
morning questioning neighbot
and studying the house for clues.
hat reported Thuraday noon that
he could learn nothing of value
Animosity toward Officer Say
les, possibly incurred In his dutioa
as police officer. was suspected
by investigators a. the moat prob
able cause for tho attempt 80 burn
the residence.
FIRE CHIEF Roy w Alaip said
there Il no question bat what IN
eendiarism was responsible for the
fires. II would have been an inlpoas
Aible coincidence for fire 10 have
broken out simultaneously in sev.
eraI places, the chief noted.
Alsip quoted Sayles and Butler
as saying they knew Of no reason
| for the fires. Butler was said to
have assured Investigators that
neither man left anything iRniied
in the house OF had been smoking
tn bed
Chief Alsip said ho did not find
any evidence Of The use of gasoline
or other highly inflammabte sub
stances To speed the progress Of
the fires. He estimated they could
have been smouldrring for 30
minutes To an hour.
INSPECTOR HAGERMAN com.
mented that II was strange that
none of the neighbors had noticed
any unusual activity in thr vicinity
of Sayles' residence at that hour OF
the morning.
Sayles' estranged wife waa at
the scene soon after the fire
department appeared. the invosti-
gators reported She told them she
was notified by n neighboF
Police officers assigned TO the
investigation declined to confirm q
report that two revolvers used by
the officer In his police duties were
missing from the house.
Examination Of the premises,
Chief AiAip reporteii, failed tn
show any indications of foreible
entry. The windows appeared to be
tightly closed and firemen had To
break In the front and rear doors
TO get at the fire,
MRS. SAYLES, who lives at 302
East Washington street, told the
investigators that the property ON
Fifth street lsvaa tbs saIsae OF both
she and her husband
SayleA has been policeman
since 1919 He shot and killed Per
cy James Mason Feb. 20, 1860,
when the latter assertedly resisted
arrest in front of a North Poplar
street restaurant. A cornorer's Jury
exonerated sayles of any wrong
doing in the shooting.
Incendarism was blamed also for
minor fires at :23 D. m. Wednes.
day in the warehouse of the ]. NJ.
Jones Distributing Co, $50 North
Walnut street, and in a railroad
box car on adjacent siding.
II. A. Wright a painter working
at the Jones building, told police
officers that three boys lighted and
tossed into the warehouse and
freight car fuses they apparently
had stolen from the Illinois Central
railroad.
The boys, described as in their
early teens, ran away before they
could be stopped. Fireman deserib-
ed the damage as slight. Cartons of
soap were inrperiled by the fire in
the Jones' warehouse and one car