Tried to Burn a Barn

New York, 1895

An attempt was made Saturday night to burn the barn of Alfred Cole, in College Point. A quantity of hay in the stable had been set afire, but the flames were quickly subdued.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 1.

A Barn Burned at Roslyn

New York, 1895

A series of assaults and attempted robberies, of which John Fischer, of Roslyn, has been the victim for several months, assumed a more serious aspect on Wednesday evening when his barn was burned. There is every indication that the fire was of incendiary origin.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 1.

A Female Firebug

New York, 1895

Rhoda Carlton, 14 years of age, was arrested in Brooklyn on Saturday for setting fire to a house owned by Adam Caldwell, her stepfather. The little one confessed that she set the building on fire. She said that last Summer she lived in the family of J. L. Hope at Flushing, and that she set his house on fire three times. Mr. Hope was seen, and he said that his house had been on fire three times while the girl lived there. The last time the fire was started he suspected Rhoda and sent her away.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 1.

Insane Suspect in Arson Investigation Sets Fires to Form "New World in Air"

Pennsylvania, 1920

Weird Story Related at County Jail by Maniac From Austria

Denies School Burnings

Frank Karna, Arrested by State Police at Webster, Says He is Agent in Two Counties of Band Formed at Przemyal; Fired Lumber Yards

In the arrest yesterday afternoon at Webster, Westmoreland county, of Frank Karna, an Austrian, who was placed in jail in Uniontown the authorities have a maniac who has confessed to burning three lumber yards and a stable at Webster. That is the extent of the connection they have made between the prisoner and the fires in Fayette and Westmoreland counties that have caused a loss of $500,000.

Karna, whose conversation is of the rambling nature of the mentally unbalanced, denies that he had anything to do with the school house burnings, that he ever burned a school house anywhere.

Questioned this morning Karna told the officers he was working under an organization with headquarters in Przemyal, Austria, and that he had been assigned to start fires in Fayette and Westmoreland counties for a peculiar purpose. The theory of his organization, as he related it, is this:

That the smoke from the fires started by the organization goes into the air and forms a new world — one without ills, by reason of the fact that all germs are killed in the fiery process. This is the only remedy for the troubles now besetting the human race. The world is too old, it has stood too long in one place. It needs a change as a chicken house needs to be changed from spot to spot to allow the sunshine to kill the germs of disease that accumulate. The world will be happy as soon as all germs are destroyed. This will be when his organization has set sufficient fires.

Karna is six feet tall. He has a wild, staring look, with a weirdly serious expression of the face. He told the officers he came to America eight years ago and has lived at Rankin, Webster, Pittsburgh and Donora. He has two brothers at Donora.

Referring to the organization set up to cure the ills of the world by arson, Karna said the "captain" was John Yelen of Przemysl; the "farmer," Yuzef Bukowsky; the "justice of the peace," John Putys; the "burgess," Yedicy Tydzik, all of Sivysouigalicyoi, Austria.

While the officers were inclined last night to believe they had the firebug who had terrorized the two counties for weeks, they were today without anything on which to base any such presumption. The prisoner told an entirely different story today from that drawn from him after his arrest when he declared an "irresistible something" caused him to start fires and that before he could tell more he must "get some rest so he could think."

The story that the man had confessed to the burning of the Marion school building at Fayette City is denied.

Officers are convinced that no one man started all the fires. They were too widespread.

The arrest was made by state troopers.

—The Daily Courier, Connellsville, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1920, page 1.

Faust Story in Court

1901

Des Moines, Dec. 28 — Suit has been brought in the district court by J. R. Faust against the Hawkeye Insurance company to recover on a policy of $2,000 of insurance on the property of Faust which was burned several years ago on his farm in Marshall county.

The suit is the sequel to the startling story which was made public some weeks ago in regard to the life story of Faust. His statements were so strange that many persons believed them to be the vaporings of a disordered mind, but in the suit just brought this matter will be fairly tested.

Faust sets up that his property on his farm in Marshall county was insured by Hawkeye Insurance and that it was burned, but the company refused to settle with him. Before he could fight the case in court he was arrested and accused of having set fire to the property, and for this he was sent to the penitentiary on testimony which he declared was false.

Later another person made full confession of having set fire to the property for the purpose of robbery, and declared that Faust was in Des Moines at the time and could not have been guilty of arson.

Faust was released from the penitentiary after serving his time and was seized and spirited away to the Ohio State Insane asylum, where he was kept for several years. He finally made his escape and rejoined his wife in Cedar county, Iowa. His wife had supposed him dead.

Now he comes to the front to collect the insurance money and to test in the courts the entire proceeding by which he was deprived of his living. He is either strangely insane or has been a terribly abused man, and this fact will probably be demonstrated in court.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, December 29, 1901, page 3.

He Liked to See Horses Run, Boy Tells the Judge

La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1917

Ragged Youth Pleads Guilty and Is Let Off with a Small Fine for False Alarms

It was an irresistible yearn for excitement and the sight of galloping horses which led Frank Edward Love, 17, 327 North Tenth street, to "pull" fire alarm boxes and then hide a few rods away while the fire department dashed to the box, Love told Judge Clinton W. Hunt in police court Tuesday morning.

The boy wore ragged, misfitting clothes and his hair had not been cut for months. He pleaded guilty and was fined $5 and costs. Chief of the Fire Department Fred C. McGlachlin asked the court to be lenient.

Love was arraigned with Harold Johnson, 21, and Gilbert Norton, 17, who declared they were not guilty. Norton, who is part Indian, on parole from the state reform school at Waukesha, denied having confessed to Chief of Police John B. Webber. Johnson had nothing to say. He appeared much older than Norton and Love. Norton and Johnson will be tried Monday afternoon.

E. T. Eaton, parole officer of the Waukesha school, may take Norton before Judge Brindley and if he is found guilty he may return with Eaton.

The fire department is mystified over an alarm sent in over the telephone at 8 o'clock Monday evening. When the automobile truck from Hose company No. 4 reached the 1400 block on George street, where the message said there was a chimney fire, no blaze was discovered.

Lewiston Denies Charge

Leonard Lewiston, arraigned in county court late Monday afternoon on a charge of arson, entered a plea of not guilty and Judge Brindley set his examination for Wednesday morning. Bail of $1,000 was requested. Lewiston is a north side man and is alleged to have set fire to the Powell barn.

—The La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press, La Crosse, Wisconsin, January 23, 1917, page 4.