116 Years Ago
The July 30, 1908 Colorado Transcript reported that residents on the north side of the creek were worried about a “mysterious tramp,” who was “believed to be demented, and seeking to wreak upon the innocent, vengeance for some imaginary wrong.”
The man had made his first attempt on Saturday, but the family and neighbors quickly extinguished the blaze. The next day he returned “and saturating a heap of rags in coal oil kindled a blaze in the coal shed.” Mr. Watkins was away at the time, but Mrs. Watkins managed to extinguish the flames. As she arrived, she saw a man leap the fence, declaring as he did so that he would yet burn the place. Another attempt was made that night, and another on Tuesday morning. In each case, the fire was seen and put out before any great damage was done.
The prevailing thought was that the tramp was insane. I found no more references to this story, so perhaps the man moved on to set fires somewhere else.
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
