The flames began before daylight, eating away at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur. They devoured walls, lapped at the dome of the mighty, ornate structure and destroyed numerous files. Among the lost documents were some that detailed alleged fraud by officials in a recent election. Only hours before the blaze, there had also been a statewide elections. Speculation of arson arose immediately.
It was Sept. 13, 1916, a Wednesday, 100 years ago.
“The building was completely gutted,” the next day’s Atlanta Constitution said.
This was the second mysterious fire to take out the county's courthouse. The first was on Jan, 9, 1842, when the building caught fire in the middle of the night, destroying nearly all the county's records, according to The DeKalb History Center. That fire remains a mystery today, but many believe it was intentionally started by "careless card players."
After the 1916 fire, a man claimed he had heard the “dull thud” of an explosion.
He thought it was a can of kerosene.
“Many citizens of Decatur” also suspected the fire was incendiary, the paper said. Others thought a worker who’d been in the building late must’ve started the fire accidentally with a cigarette or cigar.
Gov. Nathaniel E. Harris, who memorably went after the lynch mob that killed Marietta factory boss Leo Frank, offered a $500 reward for the capture of the guilty party or parties, should the fire prove to be arson, the paper reported. Harris was the outgoing governor, having lost the office the night before the fire to Hugh Dorsey, who had prosecuted Frank.
Capt. W.R. Joyner, the state fire marshal, aligned himself with the arson theories.
The local grand jury took up the investigation.
But days later, the Constitution reported that no evidence had been found. The article was brief and leaves much to the imagination, including what the actual cause of the fire might have been.
The history center’s website says the common theory today is that the fire was started by a smoldering cigar left by someone waiting on election results. But apparently a clear cause wasn’t determined.
What about the files?
The county evidently learned from the 1842 fire and kept copies of many important files, including the ones on the alleged election corruption.
Court work shifted to other sites while planning was underway to replace the building.
By February 1917, the local commission had accepted plans to build, and the Constitution carried the headline: “DeKalb County Will Soon Have Large and Handsome Courthouse.”
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