He Paid a Man $12 to Burn His Own House

As the result of a clever piece of detective work on the part of Detective Phillips, assisted by Chief Rogers, two individuals, Thomas F. Shoemaker and John Mills, are now locked up in the city jail charged with arson, and the confession of each man has been secured, making the case perfectly plain against each and both.

On March 22 the fire department was called to 128 Rollin street, where the house, occupied for some time by Shoemaker, a barber working in Cragwell's shop, was found in blaze. The house was owned by James H. Woolery, and the fire department reported that the same house had been on fire on March 5, though it was not much affected at that time. The last time the fire destroyed house and contents. The house was insured for $400, the insurance having been reduced after the first fire nearly one-half. Shoemaker had $400 insurance on his furniture, which the insurance company offered to settle for $300. Chief Rogers, suspecting that the fire was incendiary in its origin, put the matter in Detective Phillips' hands, and his effective work resulted in the landing of principal and accomplice and the voluntary confession of both. Mills was arrested by Phillips last Sunday, and Chief Rogers and Phillips arrested Shoemaker at the barber shop yesterday morning.

Mills, a Black man who finds work wherever he can get it, volunteered when arrested the information that he had only been the tool in the affair, and without much ado offered to enlighten the chief on the facts in the case. As Shoemaker's confession, made yesterday subsequent to his arrest, corroborates every fact set forth by Mills, there is no room to doubt the truth of either of them.

Mills says that Shoemaker hired him to come out to his house the Sunday before the fire, and there, after laying the carpets and plying him with plenty of beer, made the proposition to him that he (Mills) should burn the house at a time agreed upon, and he (Shoemaker) should be away from the city. No fixed compensation was agreed upon, according to the confession, but he was to be well cared for. Mills agreed to the proposition, and the beer bottles being left filled with oil for Mills to operate with, the two plotters separated.

March 22 was the day agreed upon for the fire. On that day Mills, well primed with beer, went to Shoemaker's house and piled kindling wood by the bed in the sitting room, by the lounge and other pieces of furniture. He then saturated all of these with oil and, uncorking the two bottles, touched the whole off with a match and made his escape through the side door and up through the alley. He then came down town, had some more beer, and stayed around waiting for developments. When the fire bell rang "off" he went back to see the effect of his handiwork and "joshed" the firemen about the fire they had had. That night Shoemaker, who had returned to town, and at a secret meeting questioned Mills very closely as to whom he had been talking to about the fire and the reward, and when satisfied that the secret was safe between them, slipped him a $10 gold piece. Several days after that Shoemaker gave him $1, and still a little later squeezed out another dollar, and that was the extent of the pay received for firing the house.

Shoemaker's confession corroborates Mills' in the main facts, but Shoemaker claims that Mills was the first to put the proposition to him that Sunday, March 19, after inquiring about the insurance he carried on his furniture. The plan was agreed upon, however, and the two "beered up" to cinch the bargain. Shoemaker left town the day before the fire and returned the night of the fire in time to find the job done.

The two men may be brought up before Judge Glasgow for arraignment today.