Crimes, fires, and fraud!

On one particular night in 1938 on this block, there was a 2 alarm fire. The fire took place in 7-8 Blackstone. The fire was able to spread particularly easily due to fact that one of the companies within this site was the Siegel egg company. Their egg crates made it so the fire had an easy time growing. Other businesses affected were Amos Keyes & Company, produce merchants mentioned within the industry page, as well as Carl Weitz who made frankfurters. The fire ended up making three fireman collapse due to both the heat and smoke inhalation. There is no mention if the cause of the fire was ever discovered, however, they did mention that the cost of the damages due to the fire was about $8,000. This fire seemed minor compared to other fires Blackstone Street sustained over the years, however, it did still clearly damage some of the businesses on the block. Luckily, thanks to the firemen, it did not spread too far to destroy more of the block. 

In an even stranger burglary than the one previously described, we learn about a butter thief caught by police. In 1896, John G. Ryan, a worker at 17 Blackstone which at one point was a tavern, filed a complaint with the police that two tubs of butter, one being 30 lbs and one being 10 lbs were stolen from his business. Luckily a police officer saw two young men attempting to get rid of two strangely large tubs of butter on North Street, which is right at the corner of the block, and placed them under arrest after they were unable to justify why they had such large amounts of butter. The young men were identified as two 16-year-old boys and their motives were never made clear. Perhaps it was just a harmless joke gone wrong or perhaps they had more malicious intent; either way it makes for a good story. 

It is not only burglaries and fires that characterized this block but also some fraud, particularly within Dean Foster & Co, a prominent business of the block.

In 1887, Dean Foster & Co was a well-respected company within the glass trade and therefore had a considerable amount of revenue. Jere H. Goding, a twenty-year-old man was in charge of some of the bills for the company. He was well-trusted within the company and therefore was given a considerable amount of power and freedom. However, when he went on vacation, his replacement found that he was misappropriating some of the money and was living a very lavish lifestyle as a result of it. When Dean discovered this, they attempted to reach a settlement with Goding and for him to repay the money however when he did not manage to show up with the money, he was arrested at his home. 

Dean Foster once again was stolen from by an employee in 1901. Thomas J. Gafney worked as a salesman and collector for the company, selling glassware to various saloons throughout New England. However a lot of the money he made from these endeavors he pocketed rather than giving it back to the company. Gaffney, upon discovering he had been caught for this crime, fled the city and went to New Hampshire where he was caught and charged with larceny of $260 which is valued at around $9,000 today. Dean Foster, overall it seemed, was unlucky with who they hired and how trustworthy they were.