News

Fire at historic house apparent arson

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 10:16 AM CST

Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services officials said Tuesday a fire that destroyed a historic home on West Barraque Street Monday afternoon was apparently arson.

“It’s still under investigation, but from all indications, it was intentionally set,” Fire and Emergency Services Lt. Shauwn Howell said about the blaze at what was formerly known at various times as the Bell-Robinson/Bridges-Triplett-Jordan House at 811 W. Barraque St.

“They (Fire Marshal Capt. Fred Tisdale, Assistant Fire Marshal Lt. Ernest Jones and other officials) were going to go back out there in the day time today but it’s going to be a slow process because you’ve got to be real careful in an old two story structure like that, especially since the roof fell in,” Howell said Tuesday afternoon.

Sue Trulock, director of the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Historical Museum, said the house was built in the 1850s, and was the first brick home in Pine Bluff. At that time, the only other brick building in the county was the courthouse. The Arkansas River was behind the house, and a tunnel connected the house to the river.

“Originally, there was a large balcony over the first floor, and when the house was remodeled in the 1800s, the balcony was extended,” she said. “The balcony was removed in 1914, and the house was not on the National Register because the original appearance was changed.”

The house was built by Judge Samuel Roane and his wife as a wedding present for their daughter, Julia, who married her first cousin, Marcus Lafayette Bell, Trulock said.

“Legend holds that during the Civil War and the Battle of Pine Bluff, the Yankees came to occupy the house to use as a residence or hospital and Mrs. Bell wrapped up two small children in bandages and told the Yankees there was a smallpox epidemic,” Trulock said. “Also, a Union cannon located on the courthouse square supposedly fired a cannon ball that went through the house and rolled across the floor.”

Early photographs of the house, which was last remodeled in the early 1950s, showed gothic arches and a gazebo on the side of the building.

At one time, Ralph Robinson, who started what later became Ralph Robinson & Son Funeral Directors, owned the home, his great-grandson, Adam Robinson Jr. said.

“My father (Adam Robinson Sr.) was born in that house in 1924,” Adam Robinson Jr. said. “A good bit of history disappeared when that house burned.”

Adam Robinson Jr. said he had also heard the stories about the cannon ball hitting the house and rolling across the floor.

Trulock said she remembered as a young bride going to parties in the house with her husband in the 1950s.

At that time, the house was owned by Ralph Robinson’s sister, Annie, and her husband Sam Bridges, and Trulock said “Miss Annie just loved young couples, and we had such a good time there.”

She sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Triplett in 1955, and after Mrs. Triplett’s death in 1969, the house was left to her nephew, Dr. William King Jordan of Little Rock, who lived there until his death in 1995.

In his will, he requested that it be torn down but Mrs. Triplett’s daughter, Tomme Fullerton hired an attorney and had that request reversed, Trulock said.

The house was bought by Ed Thompson and Wanda Bateman in the summer of 2000.

“If we didn’t have this bed and breakfast, we were thinking about redoing the house and living in it,” Bateman said. “It sat on a whole block and there were so many things you could have done with it.”

Describing the scene she saw Monday afternoon, Bateman said the fire reminded her of the fire at the Jefferson County Courthouse a number of years ago.

“Seeing those flames shooting from the roof was just like it was back then,” Bateman said.

Bateman is no stranger to fires, since two apartment buildings she owned, a combination office and apartment building, and rent houses have burned in the past few years, with several of those fires attributed to arsonists.

“I appreciate so much the job the fire department does,” she said. “Every time they go to a fire somebody sets, they risk their lives and the job they do is just amazing.”

Like a number of others, Trulock said she went to the fire scene Monday afternoon, but left after a short time.

“I watched for a while, but I just couldn’t stand it,” she said. “This was a terrible loss for Pine Bluff.”

Howell said anyone with information about the fire should contact the Fire and Emergency Services Department Arson Hotline at 543-5150.

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