Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/181

Rh stock, my suspicions were confirmed. It was composed entirely of bulky merchandise, evidently selected with a view to a fire.

“The manner of its arrangement in the building was exceedingly suspicious. The boxes had been piled up before the windows in such a manner as to prevent the firemen from entering the building even after the iron bars had been cut, and the arrangement was such that when the fire should gain headway and the windows be opened, the position of the boxes would act as a sort of flue and thereby greatly assist the fire. It was all exceedingly well planned, and if the building had been entirely consumed, detection would have been impossible. Nothing could have prevented this but the unforeseen storm, and had it not occurred just when it did, Hall's scheme would have proved a masterpiece of its kind.

“I gave the public no intimation of my conclusions concerning the incendiary nature of the fire, but when the investigation was concluded, I took Hall to the hotel, and told him frankly that my company would not pay the loss, as it was quite evident that it was all a