Pinkerton's National Detective Agency - Danbury "Firebug" Investigation Collection

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."