Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1912 — MORE ABOUT KOHN; ALLEGE BIG PLOT [ARTICLE]

MORE ABOUT KOHN; ALLEGE BIG PLOT

Thought That He May Have Had Something to Do With Fire at North Judson Tear. The North Judson News contains a complete story about Ben Kohn, who is under arrest charged with arson. The authorities have evidence of a gigantic arson conspiracy. Associated with "Kohn was Ben Franklin, alias Fink, alias Finkelberg, called “The Torch,” because he has had so many fires. Kohn was a traveling man for some time and only last year he and Dave Rosenberg ran a gent’s furnishing store at North Judson. A fire there is thought to be traceable to the arson gang. Of the fire and explosion at South Bend, the Times of that city say*: ‘The explosion and fire which partially wrecked the building and destroyed the stock of the Farmers’ & Workingmen’s Friend store, operated by Ben Kohn, was one of the most- spectacular as well as suspicious which* ever occurred in this city. Indications of the dse of oil, the force of the explosion which,, it was evident, could not have been spontaneous and Kahn’s actions before and after the event all pointed toward incendiarism, according to local authorities who made a probe of the affair. “Suspicious actions of Kohn and strange men about the store were uncovered by tlje authorities. Customers who were in the store on the night before the fire told the police that Kohn came up out of the basement to wait on them, that he was dirty and nervous and seemed anxious for them to leave. “It was also alleged by persons living in the vicinity of the Kohn store that shortly before the fire Kohn and an assistant were seen packing gooeft in large boxes in the rear lot. The boxes were taken away on a dray, it is said.” Kohn was running the store at Remington when the fire occurred in February, 1910. He carried SIB,OOO insurance on a stock that was believed not to exceed SB,OOO. He is said to have collected $&100. He then went to Seattle, Wash., and a business venture there is said to have been a failure.