Morning Herald (Titusville, Pa.), January 22, 1866
Another Destructive Fire!
The Incendiary at Work: An Attempt to Burn the Town — Suspicious Characters Arrested
Clean Out the Roughs
We are again called upon to record another incendiary hit, and the destruction of one of the principal business blocks in Titusville. About 9:30 last night, the barn in the rear of Ms. Buell’s house on Main Street, near Martin Street, was discovered to be on fire. Before the alarm became general, [the property] was fairly wrapped in flames. The stable was occupied by horses belonging to Mr. Travers. The animals were taken out unharmed. The barn was filled with hay and the flames soon communicated to a dwelling house also belonging to Mrs. Buell and fronting upon the alley between Pine and Main Streets.
The engines were on the ground, but the chronic want of hose and water rendered all efforts of the lookers on comparatively useless. Axes were procured and a part of the dwelling house and a barn next adjoining belonging to Mr. Waite, torn down. Subsequently, No. 2 engine was brought into the yard and a bucket line formed from a well, by which it was fitfully supplied with water, and transferred to the fire.
Another bucket line was formed and a ladder raised against the corner of the burning building, the water passed by hand to the roof and dashed upon the fire.
But before the fire was fully extinguished, another alarm was sounded from the center of the town and presently the flames burst furiously from the south side of Dreyfous & Co., a liquor store, adjoining F. B. Chase & Co., a dry goods store, at the corner of Spring and Franklin Streets. Within five minutes from the time of this discovery both buildings were beyond the hope of preservation.
Independent Engine No. 1 took suction at the millrace of the Titusville mills, and played into Engine No. 2, which transferred the water to the fire. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon our gallant Fire Department, officers and men. They worked with an energy and a heroism characteristic of their noble and self-sacrificing profession. Where all did duty so effectually it would be invidious to particularize individuals. But with a defective apparatus leaky and insufficient hose little else could be done except to prevent the spread of the flames and protect the surrounding buildings.
The substantial brick blocks on the opposite side of both Spring and Franklin Streets were measurably protected by carpets and blankets suspended from the eaves and windows.
The goods removed from the Chase building were deposited in neighboring stores and in the street. Nothing was saved from Dreyfoud & Co.’s liquor and furniture store above stairs. A part of the furniture and fixings in the Bathing House and Barber Shop of O. H. Richard was removed to the street.
The losses as far as reported to us, were as follows:
- O. H. Richard — $2,000; insured $1,200
- C. E. Dreyfous & Co. — Loss over $25,000; insured on liquors $9,000; on furniture, $6,500; building, $2,500
- F. B. Chase & Co. — Fully insured; value of stock and building not reported
- Mr. S. Buell — Loss on house $1,000; insured $4,000; loss on barn $200, no insurance
Messrs. Card & Anderson gratuitously furnished “spiritual” comfort to the boys at work on the brakes, and in return for which several members of the department request us to return their thanks.
The gentlemen who so generously aided us in protecting Windsor’s Block and The Herald office will please accept our grateful acknowledgements.
A Steam Fire Engine Required
We think it has been fully demonstrated that Titusville requires a steam fire engine. Shall we have it by private subscription? The Herald will give $60 and $100 if need be, toward producing it. Why should not the money be raised today and the machine ordered immediately?
The Remedy
An occasion of this kind seems to be upon us now. A meeting of citizens is called for this morning at 9 o’clock, to meet at the room of the Board of Trade, in Fletcher’s Block, to inquire into the circumstances attending the fires of last night, and to take such action as the case shall seem to demand. A notorious character, whose name is said to be Robert Vance, but generally known as ‘Stonehouse Jack,’ was taken into custody with three others, whose names are reported as Henry Vanderbough, George Robertson and Charles McKinney.
If one-half the reports concerning them are true, they are most eligible candidates for the halter. Vance, or ‘Buffalo Jack,’ kept a disreputable house at Shaffer. It is said that he was suspected of causing the late fire at that place. Vanderburgh and Robertson, from the ‘Five Points’ of Buffalo, have the reputation of being equal to any such fiendish plot as was evidently attempted last night. McKinney, who kept a gambling house in Pithole, stated on last Thursday night that he would bet a thousand dollars that Titusville would be burned down before Sunday night had passed.
There are many rumors afloat. Among them all it is impossible to sift truth from falsehood. Among these reports is one to the effect that two men were taken in the attempt to set fire to the Pomeroy House, that another was seen carrying an armful of shavings under a flight of stairs near Ralph’s store on Franklin Street near Spring. And that some balls of rags saturated with some combustible matter and ignited were thrown into the house of Mr. Moore, near the Bliss Opera House.
A crowd of citizens assembled around the lock-up. [They] would have taken out the prisoners and hanged them if they had not been prevented by the police. This morning let the subject be approached with calmness, but with determination.
It is for the citizens at this meeting to adopt such measures as shall secure an immediate trial of these and others who may be implicated. And if the question of guilt is clear, to see that they pay the penalty of then [?] with their lives. Self-preservation requires it. The public safety demands it.
Titusville has suffered enough from incendiaries. The town is full of vagrants, harlots and pimps. Let them be cleaned out en masse. The suspicious characters arrested last night should be first dealt with. If shown that they had any complicity with these acts of incendiarism, they should be hanged. We shall have no more incendiary fires after one or two desperate characters have been lynched.