INCENDIARY FIRE AT BACCHUS MARSH.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 646, 10 March 1870, Page 4

INCENDIARY FIRE AT BACCHUS MARSH.

[SXPKBSS.] A destructive tire occurred at midnight on Friday, 11th Feb., at -the. homestead of Messrs Oain, close to Becchns Marsh. It appears that shortly after retiring to rest, Mr T. Cain, jun., was aroused by his wife telling him that she Haw the reflection through the window of a fire outside. He immediately ran. out and saw flame 3 beneath the barn door...;' fie .'ran round the building, and saw two stacks on fire in opposite directions; He immediately concluded that the fire had been wilfully caused. By thia time, hia -father was -aroused, and he, coming from; a different direction, saw a heap of bags: of grain alight, as. well as the two stacks ; consequently, there is evidence that the property was fired in four places: Of course, all -was confusion and terror^ and but little could be saved, i as- the flames goon ascended to a height of several hundred feet. The barn was a building 70ft long by 15ffr wide, and with a shed or verandah' 10ft wide all round. It had ; au upper storey naed as ar ,granary> being closely boarded with pine, and. capable of holding 4000 bushels of grain. The building contained 440 bags of barley and -wheat, and about 40 bushels of wheat in sheaves, reserved .for hand threshing for seed ; also, a spring cart and harness, ' new '■;' two reaping machines ; weighing -machine'; chaff-cutter, plough, pair of harrows, ten sets of harness, several 100 ft of sawn timber, and numerous other articles, such as hayforks,, hayknife, &c. Two saddlea were saved, and about 50 bags, of grain were unconBnnied, these being staciked away from the barn. About equal to 60 bags of grain was also saved -train ; .<ih@- bam in a partially burnt state. The. stacks were mostly straw and hay, and. their value is set down at Ll5O. Wi"h it were also consumed a | lot of fencing^ cow- bails, &c. Fortunately there was little or no wiiirt blowing at 1 the time the fire occurred, otherwise the whole of Mr W. -Henry -M'i'arlnne's homestead must have been burnt, or else Mr Cain's dwelling*house, which was saved by dint of exertion in keeping wet blankets on the roof. Mr M'Farlane was of course amused by the fire, as his dwellinghouse. is almost as close to the burnt barn as Mr Gain's is, He saw the flames ■ breaking out in three different places. The Messrs Cain (consisting of Mr T. Cain and his sons Thomas and Martin) estimate their loss at LI 2OO, and much sympathy is felt for them under this very severe loss* which, coming as.it does after a very bad season, is additionally disheartening: The man Hayea, who is in custody on a charge of arson, was a shipmate of Mr- T, Oain, junr., on his coming to this colony some twenty years ago, he then; being a boy of 13. Naturally enough an intimacy was preserved between Hayes and the Cains, and subsequently the former married a fellow townswoman j of theCJains, but there was no relation- i ship Hem, aa we h;ir« licird

reported. Mr T. Cain, sen., being posb sessed of some property in Melbourne, h« : got Hayes to collect the rents, allowing ] him the use of them for long periods. He likewise advanced him money, and Ly ; this means Hayes became landlord of the Barkly Hotel, Carlton, and possessed of a , jjood deal of money. Here he fell into Had courses, and his wife left him, in consequenco of which he failed, and Mr ! Cain, senior, was put down aa a. creditor. I From that time to the present Hayes has i been aY outcast, and as he fell into bad health, Mr T. Cain, jun., besides giving v him money from time to time, invited ! him to come .to Bacchus Marsh for the good' of his health. He remained some months. on the property he has now devastated, and only left on Monday week last. He made 1 a claim for commission upon the rents he had collected for Mr Cain, and this was refused, as it was thought that the use he. had had of the money was sufficient recompense, to say nothing of the loss owing, to his insolvency. Mr T. Cain, jun., admits that Hayes threatened, in town, to make him suffer for refusing what he .asked, bnt he subsequently said, on receiving the L 4 he mentions in his statement, that he was sorry for having said so. So little did Mr Cain think of this quarrel that he never suspected Hayes of being the incendiary, even after the fire had taken place.