ARSON AS A FINE ART.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1699, 15 March 1913, Page 8

ARSON AS A FINE ART.

ORGANISED INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK. % HOW INSURANCE CLAIMS ARE FAKED. ii The confessions of the American incendiary, Stein, have thrown a startling light on the causes of the prevalence of fires in New York (says the London "Daily News"). Stein acknowledged that he had set fire to 1200 houses in order that his gang might collect the insurance money. His prowess won him a great clientele, if ho is to be believed, for, according to his story, more than a thousand residents in East Side asked him to fire their houses for them.. That this shameful trade is a wellorganised industry, each branch of which is a profession in itself, is made clear from a report' 011 incendiarism in Greater New York in 1912, transmitted by the Fire Commissioner to the Mayor of the pity. The report is one of the most amazing official publications ever issued. It is estimated that in Greater New York 4,000,000 dols. worth of property is destroyed every year through deliberate incendiarism. The persons concerned in this gigantic development of tho crime of arson are:— 1. The tenement dweller who sees in the destruction of his few stocks tho easiest and quickest way of making a little money; or the wholesale merchant who has an unsaleable or deteriorating stock on hand. 2. The person who brings expert assistance and personally accomplishes tho fire by the most up-to-date methods undertaking to leave .no tell-tale traces. Whereas the early arson-man worked with kerosene, benzine, turpentine, or other common materials, the modern expert employs highly volatile substances of unusual composition," and evinces great skill and knowledge in the handling of chemicals aiul explosives, time fuses, and other, devices. 3. The fire adjuster, who hastens immediately to the scene of the fire and offers to collect the insurance money in return .for a commission, or buys the claim outright. (( Tho incendiary commonly employs a "solicitor" whose business it is to follow bankruptcy proceedings and to make proposals to likely clients. It is clear that tho operations of these professionals aro rendered possible through the lax practico of insurance companies in tho States. Even reputable companies are content to' accept, through a broker, bad business along with the good. In order to prove the responsibility of the insurance companies for incendiarism the City Fire Department instructed one of its officers to take a tenement, to place in it some household effects, and try what could be obtained in the way of insurance. Tho "furniture" insured consisted of 2. wooden chairs, 1 small gas-heating stove, 3 sash curtains, and 1 cuspidor, of the total value of 3.-14 dollars.

Upon these articles, and including insurance at an address where there whs no property at all, tho Department obtained altogether the sum of 00,500 dollars' worth of insurance.

Policies amounting to 40,000 dollars were secured «n two picture-irames and one nickel-plated soap-dish, which were the solo contents of a flat.'

The conclusion arrived at in. the report was that insurance and incendiarism go hand in hand; and no radical chango can bo brought about in the conditions until insurance companies seriously grapple with the problem of previous inspection of all property on which, application for insurance is made.

Tho "faking"-of evidence of tlio value of tho goods, supposed to bo destroyed offers little difficulty to the incendiary, who lias a supply of invoices of goods, and, where necessary, a load of damaged furniture which may havo dono duty at previous fires. Iho insurance companies, therefore, cannot rely on proof after the event; the only effectual check is personal inspection when the policy is issued. Ono of the blackest l branches of the trade lias been tlio burning of 6tables .from which horses capable of work havo \been removed to make room for decrepit animals ready for tho knacker's yard. The horrible flite of tho liorses ( does not deter the criminal. .

"Arson as a regular business is being carried on in every large city of tho world," says Mr. Glidden, of tho Chicago Board of Underwriters; but that it is moro common in the United States than in any other country is seen from the following figures: In London, during 1910, there were 3941 fires, while New York had 14,405. Paris had but 2030 fires; Berlin, 2008. Greater New York has 300 fires per 100,000 inhabitants; while London for the same population, has but 81; Paris, 74; Berlin, 97 ; Vienna, 59; St. Petersburg, 76. w The fire-loss per head of the population in New York is nearly five times greater than that of any European city. •