118 Years Ago
The July 30, 1908 Colorado Transcript reported that the Watkins family on Golden's north side experienced repeated arson attacks by "a mysterious tramp,” who was “believed to be demented, and seeking to wreak upon the innocent, vengeance for some imaginary wrong.”
The man made his first attempt on Saturday, but the family and neighbors quickly extinguished the blaze. The next day he returned “and saturating a heap of rags in coal oil kindled a blaze in the coal shed.” Mr. Watkins was away at the time, but Mrs. Watkins managed to put out the fire. She saw a man jump the fence, declaring as he did so that he would yet burn the place. He tried again the same night, and again on Tuesday morning. Each time, the fire was seen and put out before any great damage was done. The prevailing thought was that the tramp was insane.
I found no more references to this story, so perhaps the man moved on to set fires somewhere else.
