The Suspicious Sunnyside Blaze
A doctor's Ford car is reduced to ashes in Sunnyside while en route to Kennewick under mysterious circumstances.
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.
The Ford car belonging to Dr. H. O. Perry was destroyed by fire while standing in the yard of the L. A. Johnson residence at Sunnyside last Friday night. Dr. Perry and his family had stopped at Sunnyside while en route from Ellensburg to Kennewick. It is not known how the fire started, but it is supposed that someone perhaps was attempting to 'borrow' the car, turned on an overflow of gasoline and in some way ignited it. The machine was well insured through the R. H. Zercher agency, Mr. Zercher going to Sunnyside Saturday to adjust the loss and dispose of the engine and chassis.
“It is not known how the fire started, but it is supposed that someone perhaps was attempting to 'borrow' the car.”
Car theft and insurance fraud investigations have been a part of local news reporting since the dawn of the automobile age.
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