Vol. LVI. No. 2475. 
NEW YORK, JULY 3, 1897. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE"MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN” OF BARN FIRES 
SOME OF THE MYSTERIES EXPLAINED. 
“ No Smoking in This Barn ! ” 
“ How did the fire start?” “ How did it origi¬ 
nate ?” “ Who set it on fire ? ” These queries were 
eagerly asked by an excited gathering of farmers at 
the midnight burning of a large bank-barn, in which 
were burned alive, a line of 17 fine dairy cows, four 
horses, besides 25 tons of hay, a large quantity of 
oats and other grain, and many farm implements. 
The fire was not discovered in time to save the live 
stock, and the poor things perished—miserably per¬ 
ished by being burned alive. The owner, walking 
slowly around the smouldering ruins, wherein lay 
the roasted car¬ 
casses of his 
noble herd, to¬ 
gether with the 
ashes of their 
food supply, 
could answer 
those queries 
only in a dazed 
sort of way— 
“ I don’t know, 
I don’t know.” 
And he after¬ 
wards added, 
“It is a sad 
blow. At my 
time of life, I 
do not feel as 
though I had 
the strength to 
go forward and 
replace the 
cattle and ma¬ 
chinery, and 
make the 
mighty effort 
necessary t o 
build another 
barn.” 
It was, in¬ 
deed, a pitiable 
sight. Here 
was the accu¬ 
mulated labor 
of many years, 
stored up in the 
cattle, the wag¬ 
ons and farm 
machinery, the 
hay and the 
grain, and the 
fine barn itself 
—all of them 
his strong hope 
of the future— 
ruthlessly 
swept from ex¬ 
istence in a few hours of time. That same answer, 
“ I don’t know,” has so often been the only reply that 
could be given as to the origin of fires that have de¬ 
stroyed many barns, that I determined, if possible, to 
learn the cause of them. 
When a house burns, it is usually a case of sparks 
on the roof, or of defective flue ; but in the case of a 
barn, the cause is often very obscure or entirely un¬ 
known. With this idea in mind, I have propounded 
many times, to many persons, the following query: 
“In what queer and unexpected ways have you 
known a fire to start in a barn, or any other build¬ 
ing ? ” The result has been surprising. Enough well 
authenticated instances of anomalous origin of fires 
have been obtained to account for nearly all of the 
mysterious barn-burnings of my experience for many 
years past. 
While at a social gathering recently, the question 
as to queer origin of fires was quietly started, and the 
free discussion of the subject by those present, 
brought out many startling and unexpected facts 
bearing on the subject. 
The intelligent hostess related this incident: “ My 
father was a great smoker. He smoked in his barn 
and out of hia barn, and in all the farm buildings. 
Though repeatedly warned of the danger of entering 
the barn with a lighted pipe in his mouth, he gave 
but little heed. One Sunday morning as he was pre¬ 
paring the team for the regular church service, he 
noticed a thin column of smoke issuing from between 
the cracks of the barn floor. A hasty examination 
revealed a fire well started in the straw and chaff that 
had sifted down through the cracks. Of course he 
soon put out the fire, and was frank enough to tell 
us all about it, and admit that, in all probability, a 
coal of fire had rolled, unobserved by him, from his 
pipe, and fell through the crack and ignited the chaff. 
Had he failed to discover the fire just as he did, the 
barn and all its contents would, undoubtedly, have 
been destroyed, as the entire family were just ready 
to start for church. As father often smoked with his 
pipe nearly upside down, we all believed that to be 
the true origin of the fire.” 
Now let the intelligent reader observe this fact. If 
the fire had remained undiscovered until they were 
away to church, the barn would have'been “'mysteri¬ 
ously burned”, and the finger of suspicion would 
have been pointed at some unfortunate wretch, who, 
though he might have plenty of sins of his own to 
bear, yet would be entirely innocent of this unde¬ 
served reproach. And it would be something, too, 
that he could not shake off, for the whispered suspicion 
is a dark shadow that may cling to a person for life, 
observed by everybody but himself. So much for the 
pipe. 
A young woman then gave this account: “ A friend 
of mine left his lantern lighted in the barn one even¬ 
ing while he was out driving, so that it might be handy 
to aid him to put out his horse when he returned. Dur¬ 
ing his absence, the barn was burned and with it a 
horse, buggies, 
harnesses, 
robes, etc. The 
carcass of the 
horse that was 
burned was 
found in a part 
of the barn 
quite distant 
from his stall. 
It was, of 
course, very 
reasonably sup¬ 
posed that the 
horse got loose 
and, in wander¬ 
ing about the 
barn, over¬ 
turned the lan¬ 
tern, and thus 
set the barn on 
fire.” Although 
there was no 
great mystery 
about the ori¬ 
gin of this 
fire, it devel¬ 
oped food for 
thought, for, 
on further in¬ 
quiry, the fact 
was brought to 
light that, 
though there 
was a consider¬ 
able insurance 
on the barn, 
the company 
promptly re¬ 
fused to pay it 
on the ground 
of criminal 
carelessness. 
Another mem¬ 
ber of the gath¬ 
ering said: “ I 
set my lantern 
down upon the barn floor, where there was consider¬ 
able hay scattered about. A single stalk of the hay 
ran up through one of the round holes in the plate 
beneath the globe, and touehed the blaze. As I lifted 
the lantern the stalk was in a blaze. I put it out 
quickly, but had I not noticed it as I left, the barn 
would, doubtless, have been mysteriously burned.” 
So much for the lantern. 
The genial host then related the most extraordinary 
instance that has ever come under my notice. “ While 
riding with a friend at quite a distance from home,” 
said he, “ a sudden and violent storm came up, and 
we drove, with the owner’s permission, into a way- 
side barn, which afforded convenient shelter from the 
copious rainfall which followed. While there, the 
