Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-15
Fire Laid 10 ;
Visiting Chiefs
Daughter, IS

JOabAAo bOAoJ "NAN
charged with setting a $250.000
stable fire near the Laurel Race
way to keep a fire chief occupied
so they could visit his daughter
The blaze last Thursday night
destroyed four horses, a pony.
an indoor training track and the
stable with 100 mahogany stalls.
on the estate of Richard Hutchi-
son, sr. The stable adjoins the
raceway, which Mr.. Hutchinson
owns.
| Held on arson charges are:
Jerry Knisely. %: Thomas
O'Keefe, 10, and William Muir
ray, Is, all of Savage, Md, which
lis along the Baltimore boulevard
north of the raceway.
All were held on $4,000 bail
each. Howard County Judge
James MacGill waived juvenile
jurisdiction in Murray's case be-
cause of the seriousness of the
charge, according to Detective
Sergt. Wilton r. May of the
Maryland State Police.
Father Enforced Rule
Sergt. May said the trio were
frequent visitors to the apart
ment of Connie Redmond, H.
daughter of Fire Chief Lewis S
Redmond, of the Savage Volun-
lteer Fire Department. The girl
lives with her mother, Mrs. Mar
garet Redmond, a telephone
operator who is separated from
the fire chief.
Although the couple were sep
arated, with some of their six
children living with each of the
parents, there was standing
rule in the family that all visit
ors had to leave by 9 pm, and
the children had to go to bed
The father had been enforcing
the rule in both homes since the
mother worked until 1890 pm
Last Thursday night, Sergt
! May said, the three youths were
at the apartment after 9 pm.
with Connie and another 15-
year girl. Someone sug-
gested, the sergeant said. that II
a fire was going. the chief
wouldn't come around to enforce
the curfew.
Set Fire to House
Then, he said, the boys went
out to look for place to set a
fire.
They went to a vacant house
on the Hutchinson estate about
300 feet from the stable and at
tempted to set fire to it in two
different places by igniting loose
paper. the sergeant said.
They returned to the Redmond
apartment, expecting a fire
alarm, but the fire had gone out
and no alarm was turned in.
| The sergeant said they again
left the girls and returned to
the Hutchinson estate, a part of
which can be seen from the Red
mond apartment.
On the second trip. Sergt. May
fsaid he was told. they went to
the stable and set a fire in two
different places, using lighter
fluid on hay. They went back
to the apartment again, waiting
to see if fire would develop.
They saw no flames and had
started back for a third time
when they saw flames shoot up
from the stable.
Then they heard the fire
alarm at l0:40 pm.
Sergt. May said they picked
up the girls and drove to the
fire to watch it and mingled
with the crowd.
Arson was suspected after in
veStigators found traces of at
tempts to set the fire in the
vacant house.
Charged in Other Case
The trio charged were linked
with the fire while undergoing
questioning in connection with
the breaking and entering of a
grocery in Anne Arundel County
Saturday night.
They were arrested in that
ease last Monday night and all
three were charged. =.
During the questioning by
Sergt. May and John J. Meyer,
chief investigator for the Mary
land State Fire Marshal's Office.
the three admitted setting the
fire, the sergeant said.
Knisely already is under in
dictment in Howard County. the
sergeant said, for breaking and
entering a warehouse near Saw
age last fall, but has not yet