1926 Fire

Harrington Citizen: 6 August 1926:

Bad Fire Hits Reardan
One of the worst fires in the history of Reardan occurred Tuesday of this week when some $60,000 worth of property was destroyed. The fire started in the old Bowie block and spread to several other buildings. Just twelve days previous a similar fire started in the same building but was extinguished without great damage. It is said that the fire is thought to have been of incendiary origin. The Pioneer Drug Store, owned by A. B. Hanel and the Masonic and Eastern Star paraphernalia were in the Bowie building and were burned. The Finrow general store, the Inland Hotel and the Reardan Gazette were also burned. Among the losses were: Bowie block, George Snyder, owner, $15,000, insured; Finrow company store, owned by the Farmers’ State Bank, $2,500, insured for $1,500; Finrow company stock, $18,000, insurance $13,000; Pioneer Drug, loss $7,000, insurance $6,000; Inland Hotel, $2,500, insurance $1,000; Reardan Gazette, building and damage to plant, $1,500, covered by insurance. Loss to the Masons and Eastern Stars was probably $1,500, with virtually no insurance. Plate glass fronts on the opposite side of the street were cracked and the loss is estimated to be several thousand dollars. The Farmers’ State Bank building was damaged to the extent of $500. The Davenport fire company came to Reardan to assist in staying the fire.”

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Reardan Fire of Reardan, Washington, submitted January 17, 2006
to the WAGenWeb by Marge Womach
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Bellingham Hearld 16 August 1926 p3 c8:

Arson Charged Over $60,000 Reardan Fire
DAVENPORT Aug 16— Martin E. Snyder, Spokane, was arrested there Saturday on a first degree arson charge and was brought to the county jail here. He is charged with setting fire to the Bowie block at Reardan August 3. The fire caused 60,000 damage and endangered lives in the Shipman hotel at Reardan. Officers charge that George Snyder of Seattle, a son of the prisoner, owns the Bowie block.

Spokane Chronicle 3 March 1927:

DAVENPORT MAN GUILTY OF ARSON
M. E. Snyder Convicted of Setting Fire Which Destroyed Business Block.
DAVENPORT, Wash., March -2. (Special.) M. E. Snyder was found guilty of arson in the second degree by a jury which brought in a verdict at 9 o'clock this morning after being out 20 hours in a case which has continued eight days.

He was accused of causing the fire which last August burned a business block In Reardan belonging to Mr. Snyders son, George. Evidence was offered to show that George Snyder obtained the property by a trade a short time before the fire and that he insured it for $25,000.

George Snyder was a defendant in the prosecution, but the case against him was dismissed for lack of evidence by Judge Joseph Sessions, after the prosecution had submitted its case.

The father, who is said to live in Spokane, was in Reardan before the fire, working about the building which the son had acquired. In the early morning of the fire he was not seen. The son, 25 years old, gives his residence as Seattle.

Spokane Chronicle 11 Mar 1927 p3:

Sentence Snyder on Arson Charge
M.E. Snyder of Spokane, convicted by a jury last week of arson in the second degree, has been released from jail on surety bond. He was given notice of appeal. Mr Snyder was tried on the charge of setting the fire that burned a large part of the business district last August.

Spokesman-Review 24 November 1927 p6:

SUES TO COLLECT INSURANCE
Reardan Plaintiffs' Father Under Sentence for Arson.
The first civil suit in the November term of federal court opened yesterday. The case is that of George M. Snyder against the Equitable Fire and Marine Insurance company and the American Fire Insurance company for $25,000 insurance, declared due following the destruction by fire of Snyder's two-story brick building at Reardan in July and August, 1926.

Fire partially destroyed the building in July, 1926, and the building was completely destroyed by fire early the next month. Snyder has been unable to collect the $25,000 insurance on the property, the defendants claiming that the fires were of incendiary origin.

Snyder, now radio operator for KGA, was operating a radio on a seagoing vessel at the time of the fires and suspicion does not attach to him, arguments of attorneys yesterday showed. M. E. Snyder, father of this plaintiff, was sentenced recently at Davenport to serve two years in the state penitentiary for arson, the sentence growing out of a trial following the fires. He is at liberty pending appeal.

Selecting the jury required an hour and a half. As the case had reached only the completion of the arguments of the attorneys at 4 p.m., Judge Webster dismissed the jurors and will not require them to appear again until 10 a.m. Monday. Non-jury cases will be heard Friday and Saturday.

Olympian 21 Jan 1928:

COURT GRANTS NEW ARSON CASE TRIAL
Failure of the Lincoln county court to give the jury an instruction requested by Martin E. Snyder convicted of second degree arson in connection with a fire tn a building owned by him In Reardan and which seemed reasonable to the supreme court resulted in the court’s granting Snyder a new trial Friday. Snyder had been sentenced to serve from two to five years in the state penitentiary.

Evidence gathered by the prosecution showed that the structure's market value due to business moving away from its location was only ten or fifteen thousand dollars although it would have cost more than $25,000 to build. The prosecution declared that Snyder had obtained $25,000 insurance on the building more than it was worth, and that Snyder in bad financial straits, had set fire to the structure to recover the insurance. The policies were in favor of George M. Snyder the appellant’s son.

Spokane Chronicle 30 Jun 1928:

GETS INSURANCE DESPITE CHARGES
George Snyder Awarded $27,000―His Father Charged With Arson.
A verdict of $27,000 in favor of George M. Snyder was returned by a federal court jury last night against the Equitable Fire and Marine Insurance company and the American Equitable Assurance company. The verdict was for the full amount sought.

The insurance companies had refused to pay claims on a fire in Reardan in August, 1926, claiming the fires were of incendiary origin. Martin E. Snyder, father of the plaintiff, was, convicted of arson in connection with the case, but was granted a new trial by the state supreme court.

When the verdict was returned last night all federal jurors who had served in June were discharged. It is probable there will be no more jury cases tried before September.

Spokane Chronicle 1 December 1928 p3:

Will Not Retry Snyder Arson Case at Davenport, Judge Decides.
DAVENPORT, Wash., Dec. 1. (Special.) The case of the state vs. Martin E. Snyder, charged with first-degree arson and found guilty by a jury of second-degree arson, has been dismissed by Judge Joseph Sessions of the Lincoln county superior court on motion of Prosecutor Joseph H. Johnston. Snyder, who owned the Bowie building in Reardan which was burned in 1926, was arrested and tried for setting the fire, found guilty and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of from two to five years in February, 1927. Appeal was taken to the supreme court, which sent the case back for a new trial. The lapse of time handicapped the state in securing the necessary witnesses for another trial and the case was dismissed.