The Mysterious Fire on Second Avenue
A Spokane shopkeeper finds herself behind bars after a suspicious blaze tears through her dress shop.
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.
In Miss Emma Alfstad's dress shop on Second Avenue last night, the circumstances were so suspicious that Miss Alfstad was arrested on a charge of arson and is now confined in the city jail. Kerosene was plentifully sprinkled over the floor in the room where the fire originated, and the bureau drawers were full of excelsior and similar inflammatory material. Other circumstances that led to the arrest were that Miss Alfstad, shortly after the fire started, claimed a great many articles of value were in the house, including fine laces and silk, and that the losses would be quite heavy.
“Kerosene was plentifully sprinkled over the floor in the room where the fire originated, and the bureau drawers were full of excelsior and similar inflammatory material.”
Arson for insurance money remains a trope of urban insurance crime, though modern forensic fire investigation has moved far beyond the 'kerosene and excelsior' evidence used in 1894. Second Avenue in Spokane has transformed significantly from the dress shops of the late 19th century into a core part of the city's modern commercial and residential district.
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