Burglars ransack Adams St. house and then set it on fire

This story was published by the Ypsilanti Daily Press on September 20, 1909.

Thieves this morning fired the home of Mrs. Minnie Milton, 618 N. Adams Street, after ransacking the entire house from cellar to attic.

Mrs. Milton has been visiting at Armeta Lake with her son Claire for the past six weeks and the house has been closed during that period.

On the arrival of the fire department, which was notified of the blaze at 8:50 by neighbors who saw smoke issuing from the windows in the second story, it was necessary to break in the windows to gain access to the house. Dense clouds of smoke and flame were issuing from the upper windows and the efforts of the firemen to gain a fighting hold in the house were futile for some time.

While the blaze did comparatively little damage the fire attacked the bed and dry goods in one of the bedrooms and the combustible material fed the flames.

Within thirty minutes after the alarm was turned in the men had succeeded in checking the flames and were able to fight the blaze from a more advantageous point.

While this fire was at its height, an alarm was sounded from 317 South Huron street, the home of Mrs. H. H. Goodison.

Chief Babcock ordered one wagon back to the barn and the second hose cart was sent to the ire on Huron street.

When the fire men gained entrance to the house on North Adams street it was apparent at once that the blaze was the work of an incendiary.

After the fire had been subdued, Chief Babcock notified the police department and Officer Tom Ryan immediately began an investigation.

Officer Ryan made a thorough examination of the house. He discovered that the burglars had gained entrance through a cellar window, the screen covering the aperture being torn open and footmarks of the intruders being found in the dust of the cellar.

It is not known whether anything of value has been taken.

The window is exceptionally small, possibly 15 inches square, and it is Officer Ryan’s opinion that either boys or small men entered.

The police theory does not include tramps as those who set the house on fire, as many suits of clothing belonging to Claire, the twenty-three year old son of Mrs. Milton, was found undisturbed on hooks in his room.

Drawers were torn from the bureaus, turned upside down and the contents dumped on the floor.

The fire was confined to one or two rooms upstairs and the work of the department was without fault.

The second alarm was the result of alleged carelessness in holding a lighted match near drygoods stored to the attic of the home of Mrs. H. H. Goodison on South Huron street.

The fire did little damage and was easily extinguished by the use of the chemical extinguisher.