Troy, NY Troy Club Fire, Dec 1903

THREE DIED IN TROY FIRE.

BESIDES MOSES T. CLOUGH AND WILLIAM SHAW, B. W. KINNEY OF BOSTON PERISHED.

Troy, N.Y., Dec. 30. -- Besides causing the death of MOSES T. CLOUGH and WILLIAM SHAW, the fire which partially destroyed the Troy Club at an early hour this morning, cost the life of BENJAMIN W. KINNEY, manager of the Fuller-Warren Company of Boston, Mass. MR. CLOUGH was the Nestor of the Rensselaer County Bar, and the sole survivor of the class of 1834 of Dartmouth College. He was eighty-nine years old. MR. SHAW, who was head of the law firm of Shaw, Bailey & Murphy, of which ex-United States Senator Edward Murphy's son is a member, was nearly seventy years old, and a bachelor.
The dead men were sleeping in the clubhouse, where MR. CLOUGH and MR. SHAW both made their home, and were overcome by smoke. Soon after the firemen reached the scene the doomed occupants of the structure were seen at the windows, but nothing could be done to save them.
Another temporary resident of the club, EDWARD CARPENTIER of New York, was taken from an upper window by the firemen and removed to a hospital, where he is recovering from the effects of smoke inhaled. He was in town preparing for his marriage with a young society woman of the city.
An investigation is in progress for the purpose of determining the cause of the fire. One theory is that the trouble arose from a lighted cigarette coming in contact with some combustible material.
The fire this morning was the sixth to visit Troy in six weeks. The impression in insurance circles was that a number of the fires were the outcome of incendiarism, but there is no claim that the Troy Club disaster was due to criminal action. The police report, however, that while the fire at the Troy Club was at its worst this morning the discovery was made that an attempt was being made to burn the building at the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue occupied by William Conway as a news-stand. The incendiary was caught in the act of applying a match, but ran away, and although pursued, could not be overtaken.

The New York Times New York 1903-12-31
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!