Servant Burns Engle Home

THE DEVILISH DEED OF A COLORED GIRL.— About three years ago Mr. Jesse A. Engle, the teacher of the public school at Bakerton, W. Va., built himself a handsome dwelling house on a beautiful site overlooking the Potomac at Rattling Spring, between Bakerton and Harper’s Ferry. Last Friday afternoon the dwelling was set afire by a colored servant girl and completely destroyed. A couple of months ago Mr. Engle got the girl, who was fourteen years old, from an institution at Washington. She became dissatisfied and wanted to return to Washington, but was not allowed to do so. On Friday afternoon Mrs. Engle saw the girl coming down the stairs with a box of matches in her hand. Her suspicions were aroused and she ran up stairs. She found that a fire had been kindled in the garret and had gained so much headway she could do nothing to save the house. An alarm was given, causing the neighbors to hastily gather, and a large part of the furniture was saved. The dwelling, however, was burned to the ground, together with Mr. Engle’s supply of bacon, a lot of corn that was stored in a room over the kitchen, and some other articles. In the meantime the girl had stolen away. She went to Harper’s Ferry, with the intention of taking a train for Washington, but was arrested there Saturday and taken to jail at Charlestown. – Shepherdstown Register.