THE CORBETTON FIRE BELT

Did you know... that the “most gigantic conspiracy if its kind in Canadian history” was in Melancthon?

In 1897, five men were arrested for charges of arson. For the past three years, brothers James and David Ballard, William Reid, Alonzo Smith, and James Corbett set a total of 40 barns on fire throughout Melancthon Township in the surrounding areas of the village of Corbetton, thus deeming the area “The Fire Belt.” Little did these men know as they stood on trial, that they would go down in history as “one of the most famous arson cases in Ontario.”

Together, these men conspired to set fire to each other’s property. These fires occurred more than once, David having five fires on his own property. The objective of these conspiracies was to collect insurance money. They used props in their schemes, such as burnt metal left over from a previous fire. This metal was then planted in the embers as “evidence” of expensive farm equipment that was destroyed. On the contrary, said equipment had been previously moved to another location for safe keeping. They did this with all the building’s contents. Therefore, they kept the contents of the barn, while claiming it all for insurance. Occasionally, they would set fire to other insured buildings that were not connected to them, to help avoid suspicion.

The jig was up when they set fire to the Fenton residence, where a fatality occurred. Up until this point, the houses that were set afire were vacant, resulting in no casualties. The night of the event, Henry Cotterel was tending to his sick child at night when he saw the fire across the street. Cotterel was the brother-in-law of James Ballard and was currently visiting around the holidays. He alerted Ballard, who claimed an injured shoulder and sent Cotterel to notify the homeowners. Edward Fenton was the first person out of the house, immediately going to the barn ablaze to save his horses. Cotterel helped him, bringing the horses to Edward’s wife, Alice. Edward returned to the barn to save more horses, never returning.

If it was not for Fenton’s death, the scheme could still have been continued. However, it was only a matter of time before their ploy caught up to them, as Mr. George Forsythe (a fire loss adjuster) was building a case against the accused on behalf of insurance companies. With his years of evidence, he teamed up with Detective W.C. Greer to bring down the arsonists. The Ballards were known to approach people and offer them $5 to set fire to a building. Those who refused eventually stood as witnesses in court, helping to condemn the arsonists.

After a hearing in Shelburne, the five men were sent to the Dufferin County Gaol in Orangeville to await their trial. There were suspicions that there were more arsonists, and in the end, eight men were sentenced to 12 years at Kingston Penitentiary and one man was sentenced to 8 years. Four men were given shorter terms and two were set free due to the evidence they provided in court.