This version was derived from Pinkerton Website.doc
Accessioned in 1976.
The reports were rescued by WestConn professors Truman Warner and Herb Janick and some student volunteers around 1970. Janick and Warner had been notified that items were being disposed of at Danbury's old City Hall and that anything disposed of was for the taking. Janick and Warner gathered some of their students and went to City Hall to salvage what they could. According to one of the students involved in this operation, Randy Potter found the Pinkerton reports and statements folded and packed into a shoebox and showed them to Janick. Janick saw to it they were added to the collections at WestConn.
Open for research without restrictions. Digital copies available and in the preferable means of access.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
Ruth A. Haas Library
Archives and Special Collections
181 White Street
Danbury, CT 06810
Phone: 203-837-8992
E-mail: stevensb@wcsu.edu
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); The Pinkerton Detective Agency Danbury Fires Investigation Collection; MS 020; box number; folder number;
From the summer of 1888 to February 1891 (and two fires in April of 1893), Danbury was plagued by a series of fires started by person or persons dubbed by the press: the "Firebug." The city sought help outside the Police Department to look into the case. Operative McM (John T. McManus) from Pinkerton's National Detective Agency in New York was hired by Joseph M. Ives of the City of Danbury from January 9 to February 5, 1891.
The "firebug" from 1888-1893 caused the modern equivalent of tens of millions of dollars of damage in Danbury and in such close proximity were many of the fires that there was an area dubbed to be the "firebug" district. There were many potential sources of animosity that may have motivated an arsonist but the identity of the perpetrator(s) will likely never be determined.
During the rash of arson cases (or incendiarism as it was usually called then) from 1888-1893, there were many who believed that it was the formation of a professional municipal fire department which had motivated the "Firebug." Many believed the perpetrator(s) belonged to one of the volunteer fire companies. The fires coincided with Danbury's transition from a borough to a city in 1889. Danbury followed cities like San Francisco, Baltimore St. Louis and Patterson, NJ and moved to adopt a paid department shortly after becoming a city. In late 1890, a huge fire had been deliberately set that destroyed the Foster Brothers factory and Chief Engineer Meyers' DFD was blamed for mismanagement of the fire. The Common Council had called a Special Committee to consider censure of the Fire Department and asked for Meyers' resignation. Hearings were held, firemen resigned en masse ostensibly for higher wages, and fires kept occurring. At that point, the Common Council hired a Pinkerton operative but there is no documentation of what specifically the operative was hired to do.
Morris Meyers, John Ellwood, Captain Keating, "Nasty" Gaylord, "Whiskey" Davis, Howard Stevens, Mayor Hopkins, among others were important characters in the story of the Danbury "Firebug."
Pinkerton operative McManus's (aka McM) 17 handwritten and (1 typescript transcription) to Joseph M. Ives on the Board of Aldermen can be found in folders 3 through 19. Individual statements from firemen, suspects, and witnesses as to their general knowledge of the fires can be found in folders 1 and 2.
Persons providing statements include: Ellwood, John H (volunteer firemen).; Bradley, David (police officer); Meyers, Morris (chief engineer DFD) x 2; Stevens, Howard (fmr firefighter, volunteer, and suspect) x 2; McCarty, Patrick (witness, ex-con); Brady, Terence (witness); Scanlon, James (witness); Darragan, Edward (witness); Bartram, William (witness); Mead, Silas (witness); and an anonymous letter addressed to Alderman G. Mortimer Rundle.
Chief Meyers, a Democrat, in his first statement identifies a key conflict that existed between him Republican and Former Chief Ellwood.
McManus also wrote daily reports that reference these statements and are viewable in the next section. In his reports, McM mentions more statements being taken than are here included. Conspicuously missing are statements that he reportedly took from Mayor Hopkins, Capt. Keating, Sgt. Waggneor, Daniel McCreedy and James Preston, among a couple others. The reports provide an interesting look at the lives many of the working men and idlers of the time.
Arranged in two series: Statements and reports
Folders are arranged chronologically.
The files are grouped into 1 series.
Morris Meyers Statement; folder # 1
7 pgs
John Ellwood Statement; folder # 1
7 pgs
David Bradley Statement; folder # 1
2 pgs
Bert Contrell Statement; folder # 1
2 pgs
Howard Stevens Statement; folder # 1
5 pgs
Morris Meyers Statement # 2; folder # 2
5 pgs
Howard Stevens Statement #2; folder # 2
3pgs
Patrick McCarty Statement; folder # 2
5 pgs
James Flinn Statement; folder # 2
2 pgs
Edward Darragan Statement; folder # 2
3 pgs
Terrence Brady Statement; folder # 2
2 pgs
Mrs. Terrence Brady Statement; folder # 2
2 pgs
M. Parker Statement; folder # 2
2 pgs
James Scanlon Statement; folder # 2
1 pg
William Bartram Statement; folder # 2
3 pgs
Silas Mead Statement; folder # 2
2 pgs
Anonymous Letter; folder # 2
2 pgs
Report; folder # 3
12 pgs
Report (typescript transcription of Jan 13, 1891 report); folder # 4
9 pgs
Report; folder # 5
3 pgs
Report; folder # 6
6 pgs
Report; folder # 7
7 pgs
Report; folder # 8
2 pgs
Report; folder # 9
1 pg
Report; folder # 10
10 pgs
Report; folder # 11
9 pgs
Report; folder # 12
5 pgs
Report; folder # 13
7 pgs
Report; folder # 14
5 pgs
Report; folder # 15
4 pgs
Report; folder # 16
5 pgs
Report; folder # 17
3 pgs
Report; folder # 18
3 pgs
Report; folder # 19
7 pgs