A YOUNG INCENDIARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11544, 1 December 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

A YOUNG INCENDIARY.

BURNS A TOWN HALL AND ELEVEN HOUSES. Harry Glenn, an eleven-year-old boy, a native of Fresno, in California, has been charged with having set fire to no less than 12 buildings within two weeks, and the proof against fcim is overwhelming. About 14 days ago (says the San Francisco Call) a fire occurred at Sanger, the circumstances strongly indicating incendiarism. Constable Irvine began an investigation, and kept a number of suspicious characters under surveillance, but never suspected the real culprit. In the meantime more fires occurred, all attended by suspicious circumstances. Finally the town dance hall was fired and partly burned. The following night the torch was again applied and the building further damaged. For six successive nights the dance hall was kept trying to burn and finally it was reduced to a a pile of debris and was torn down. Young Glenn was not satisfied with having destroyed the building. On the night after it had been torn down he set fire to the heap of remnants and was seen applying the match. The boy was not arrested on the spot, the officers desiring to obtain more evidence. On the following night two barns were destroyed, one of which contained a number of hogs and one horse. The animals were, incinerated. The last structure which the lad set fire to was a cottage, and it was partly destroyed. ,By this time sufficient evidence had been obtained and Constable Irvine concluded to' take Glenn into custody lest he should destroy more property. Before he had been detected setting fire to the dance hall he had burned a row of Chinese houses belonging to the Pacific Improvement Company. The youthful prisoner cried bitterly when brought to the gaol, and placed in the cell formerly occupied by the boy prisoner, Fred. Himes. He refused to talk about his case, though he had previously made a number of statements to the officers. His stories were conflicting, and when the contradictions were pointed out to him he wept and declared he did not know better. It is supposed that he set fire to the buildings in order to watch them burn. He was always one of the first to reach a conflagration and gazed eagerly 'at the flames. He hated Chinese, and this probably accounts for the fact that he first destroyed the row of houses belonging to the Mongolians. He is a bright-looking youngster.