Conway, Massachusetts, USA
1894 - August 2 - TWENTY-SIX FIRES. Much Property Belonging to One Family Burned - Charges.

Conway, Mass., August 2. - Mrs. Susan J. Taylor, of Walpole, is under arrest, charged with attempted incendiarism. The insurance companies allege that there have been within a few years, no less than twenty-six fires in property owned by the family of which Mrs. Taylor is a member.

A little more than a year ago George and Brice McDowell, brothers of Mrs. Taylor, came here and bought a grist mill. Some time after a barn they owned burned and $850 insurance was paid. This fire, the McDowells claim, was caused by the carelessness of an employe. Last January the grist mill was destroyed by fire, with its contents. The building was insured for $1,500 and the stock for $2,500. George McDowell admits that this fire was of incendiary origin, but declares he has no idea who set it. The insurance companies refuse to pay the amount demanded in this case, and the McDowells will bring suit next week.

Mrs. Mary E. Griggs, a sister of Mrs. Taylor, lived here until recently in a house owned by Tucker & Cook. The building, with contents, was destroyed by fire. In March, 1893, the house in which three sisters and two brothers of the McDowell family lived at Dorchester was burned. They all held insurance policies ranging from $150 to $1,500, and the five received in settlement, $1,586. They then moved to Walpole, and in the following August the house in which they lived there was destroyed, and the insurance ($1,200) was paid. George McDowell, the police assert, formerly resided in New York, and there collected insurance on three fires - $1,400 on a dwelling, $3,300 on a wheelwright shop and $2,800 on a second dwelling. Mrs. Taylor has been released on $1,000 bail, furnished by her brother, Brice McDowell.

The Indianapolis News
Indianapolis, Indiana
August 2, 1894

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