The Baltimore Oyster House Fire
A suspected arson and double tragedy at a Second Street hotel leaves the community in shock as the accused points a finger at his own wife.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
J. B. Shelton is currently being held in the county jail without bail, charged with a terrible crime following the destruction of the Baltimore Oyster House on Second Street, near Washington. The tragedy claimed the life of one Jerry Connor, who burned to death in the hotel, and a local man who was stopping at the house is also missing. The investigation suggests that Shelton, who had been on a prominent spree prior to the fire, may have saturated the stair carpet with coal oil and ignited it. When questioned, Shelton denied the act, telling reporters: 'My wife did it. I saw her take a lamp and pass the oil from it up onto a nightshirt under the stairs, and then set fire to it.'
“I saw her take a lamp and pass the oil from it up onto a nightshirt under the stairs, and then set fire to it.”
This 1887 report of a lethal building fire and the accompanying blame-shifting is a grim reminder of Seattle's early, often unregulated, urban density. Today's fire safety codes and modern fire investigations evolved directly from the deadly consequences of such wooden, coal-oil-lit structures that defined the city's early streetscapes.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.