BAD TOWN #4 BAD ARSON TOWN plus -Halloween Special!

BAD TOWN PODCAST

If you didn’t already know - the Good Time Girls have teamed up with the ladies of The City of Subdued Podcast to bring you the darkest, the most oppressive, the spookiest, and the baaaaaadest parts of Bellingham History!

We’ve ben so BUSY with spooky October activities we are combining our bonus podcast material here in one blog post for season 2 episodes 4 and the SUPER SPECIAL HALLOWEEN EPISODE of the City of Subdued BAD TOWN.

You may have heard the story of “Spider Biles, The Fire Bug” on our Fairhaven Gore and Lore Tours, or perhaps read about it in @Southsideliving Magazine.

Spider Biles the Fire Bug, Nabbed Here Oct 1892

As autumn brings spider webs and spooky things, here is a seasonal tale from the Good Time Girls’ “Gore and Lore” crypt…

Frank Biles arrived in Fairhaven during the boom days of the early 1890s with his twin brother Fred and their father George Biles.  Frank worked as a draughtsman for Longstaff and Black, architects, and on the side volunteered as a fire fighter with Wardner’s Hose Company #2.  Proving adept at fire-fighting, he earned the title of Assistant Fire Chief in 1891, however the following year after a close election the position went to someone else. 

That summer things really started “heating up” around Fairhaven as the town was swept by a series of fires, believed to be of “incendiary origin.”   On June 17, 1892 a headline read: “Fire Bug Abroad Again.” In July, the papers reported on another suspicious fire, while also crediting volunteer Frank Biles as having done some of the best work in aiding the fire department. 

Fires of suspected incendiary origin continued into the fall, “shrouded in the usual mystery,” while Frank Biles continued to be the first to arrive at the scene and do “great work” in putting out the fires.

On October 2nd, 1892, buildings on 10th Street were on fire, just behind the Morgan Block.  Simon J. Craft, proprietor of the “Famous Shoe House” in the Blonden Block heard a fire alarm in the courtyard behind his building and ran to warn his clerk. As he did, he witnessed a man in shirtsleeves crawling underneath the foundation of the Tontine Saloon, through gaps where the boards had come loose. Who should crawl out?  None other than Frank Biles.  As he was covered in cobwebs, he earned the nickname of “Spider Biles, the Fire Bug.”    

Biles’ trial was a regular news feature throughout the winter.  His legacy of being “first at the scene” of every suspicious fire suggested that he was starting the fires so that he could be a hero when he put them out.  A twist occurred during the testimony of wholesale butcher and burned-building-owner, Joe Allsop, who claimed Biles had threatened him after some trouble over a bad check.  In defense Biles claimed that this was in fact his twin brother Fred, and the lawyers moved to strike the testimony. 

Interestingly, this was neither the first time nor the last that the Biles brothers’ identical appearance caused confusion in court.  Both Fred and Frank Biles were in and out of prison on a regular basis, and used each other’s identities as well as aliases.  Before the adoption of fingerprinting, the “Bertillon system of identification” used a combination of photography, measurements and detailed descriptions.  In several cases, habitual criminal status was dismissed because they could not tell which Biles twin had served which prior sentences based on these types of records. 

The judge overruled and Biles was found guilty of arson and sentenced to 18 months hard labor at Walla Walla State Penitentiary.  Simon J. Craft collected a $500 reward for his aid in the apprehension. Things cooled down for Fairhaven and the Fire Department once Spider Biles the Fire Bug was caged.  His story is memorialized on a “Fairhaven Marker” in the cobblestone alley next to Skylark’s Café.

Some images to accompany our special Halloween Episode! You’ll have to listen for more details…

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