1927-12-01-sr-p10-reardan-fire-incendiary
December 01, 1927 Spokesman-Review Page 10:
CLAIM REARDAN FIRE INCENDIARY
Insurance Companies Resist $25,000 Suit for Loss of Two-Story Brick Building.
Cross-examination of George Snyder and arguments of attorneys occupied the afternoon in federal court yesterday in the case of George Snyder, radio operator, against the Equitable Fire and Marine and the American Equitable Insurance companies.
Snyder is suing the insurance companies for recovery of $25,000 on Insurance policies of a two-story brick building at Reardan which was destroyed by two fires in the summer of 1926.
Under cross-examination Snyder refused to admit to defense attorneys that he had told Harry Shewmaker, deputy state fire marshal, that the Reardan property was turned over to him by his father, Martin Snyder, to protect the older Man from a judgment.
Never Had Seen Shewmaker.
Snyder testified that Captain W. A. Groce, assistant state fire marshal, approached him in a Seattle hotel following the fires and, getting “hard-bolled” with him, tried to make him say that the property had been signed over to him to protect his father, but that he had never seen Shewmaker before the opening of the trial.
In the argument to the jury, the defense centered its case around two points, namely—That the Reardan building was destroyed by incendiary fire, and that Martin Snyder and George Snyder conspired to burn the building.
Claim Fire Was Incendiary.
The alleged facts that the fires started in two rooms at the same time and that they burned as though started with volatile oil were offered in support of the first point in connection with the July 28 fire. Testimony of a witness that he saw flames coming down the bare floor and that the smoke was black was given as evidence that the August 8 fire was incendiary in its origin.
Heavy mortgages on Idaho property owned by the Snyders and Martin Snyder's having slept in the Reardan building the night of the second fire were used in support of the conspiracy theory.
George Snyder's absence from Reardan at the time the fires occurred and no direct testimony that the fires were of incendiary origin were emphasized in the plaintiff's case. The case goes to the jury this morning.
