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FOUR MORE DOUK SCHOOLS ARE BURNED

Flour Mill and Warehouse at Glade Also Burned — Police Have Difficult Task

Four more Doukhobor schools were destroyed by fire last Monday night more or less simultaneously, and at the same time a flour mill and a warehouse were also burned.

The Spencer school, six miles west of Grand Forks, was completely destroyed, as also were three schools at Brilliant, as well as a flour mill and a warehouse at Glade. This brings the number of schools burned since school closed this summer up to six. One at Brilliant and one at Glade were burned the latter part of June.

When the Spencer school was found on fire Tuesday morning the police rushed to the outlook school and there found that it had a plant of hemp soaked in kerosene with fuse all ready for action.

Staff Sergeant H.W. King of the Provincial Police arrived Tuesday evening from the Okanagan to take charge of the situation here.

The information that has been placed before the police is to the effect that a certain group of Doukhobors, about half a dozen in number, were here in June when the Outlook school was found "planted" for a fire. Later this group left for the Kootenays and about that time two schools at Brilliant and Glade were fired. Then this group moved to Saskatchewan, and newspapers told of their meanderings there and also of the fact that some ten schools were destroyed by fire. Only last week this same group of Doukhobors have in sight at Grand Forks from the prairie; on Monday evening part of the group left by train presumably for Brilliant; that night fires occurred at points where members of this particular group were known to be.

Police are working hard on the trail of the firebugs, and while they are reasonably sure of the men that caused the damage there is great difficulty in proving anything.

Source: "Four More Douk Schools Are Burned," Grand Forks Gazette, August 9, 1929.

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