Arson Attempt at Bellingham Bay Sun
A suspicious candle-in-oil setup is discovered in a Fairhaven newspaper office, raising questions about insurance fraud.
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.
An attempt to burn the office of the Bellingham Bay Sun, on Harris street, in Fairhaven, was made tonight. The office is on the second floor of the building, with Miss L. F. Ryan occupying the ground store for millinery. This evening, Miss Ryan observed kerosene oil trickling through the ceiling. She called a neighbor, Mr. Hodge, a real estate agent, who examined the upper floor. He found it saturated with oil, and an oil can, partly empty, in which stood a lighted candle which was not quite burned down to the oil. The police are investigating the matter. The principal owner of the paper is Colonel P. E. Tarbel, formerly of the Seattle Journal. He insured his plant for $2,000 a few days ago, and when the agent heard of the discovery this evening he immediately canceled the policy. The plant is mortgaged for $900. Tarbel has been sued for a board bill due at the Fairhaven hotel.
“He found it saturated with oil, and an oil can, partly empty, in which stood a lighted candle which was not quite burned down to the oil.”
Insurance fraud remains a perennial challenge in the newspaper industry, though modern publishers face digital disruption rather than physical arson. Fairhaven, now a historic district of Bellingham, still retains its late 19th-century character, though the newspaper offices have long since moved or disappeared.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.