The Failed Arson Plot at the Denny Block
A tenant discovers a trail of kerosene-soaked fabric and a trap door beneath his shop, thwarting an attempt to burn down a Seattle business district.
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 incendiary attempt to burn the Denny Block was thwarted yesterday by the discovery of a kerosene trail. Mr. Veblhub, who occupied a room directly under the store of M. Finkelstein, discovered a trail of oil and combustible material ready for the match. Investigations revealed that Finkelstein had recently taken out a heavy insurance policy for the stock on hand and had even moved a large portion of his stock to his home. Authorities found pieces of cloth saturated with oil in Finkelstein's store, a trap door, and a stairway leading from Finkelstein’s shop down into Veblhub’s shop. Finkelstein was in Tacoma at the time the incident occurred but had returned home and promptly fled to Victoria with his wife and child. Mr. Veblhub swore out a warrant for W. B. Siebert, Finkelstein’s father-in-law, charging him with arson. Siebert was arrested and, failing to provide the required bond, was placed in the charge of Constable Van Daren.
“The whole affair wears a rather sensational aspect. It is sincerely and earnestly to be wished that the guilty parties may be apprehended and punished.”
This 1885 report of a suspicious fire in a commercial block mirrors the modern struggle with 'insurance fires' and the high stakes of commercial displacement in a rapidly growing, high-rent urban center like Seattle.
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