Home Fire

Neighbors of Edward Frances Murphy on the outskirts of San Jose, Calif, were surprised, one day last month, to see him chopping down the trees and shrubs around his two-room cottage, surprised next to see him move all his belongings out of the house and padlock the doors, surprised next to see smoke curling out of the building. Firemen came in time to save the framework but Edward Murphy's cottage was as good as destroyed. When police arrested him for violating the arson law, he was indignant. The nearest house was 100 feet from his. Having no insurance, he was perpetrating no fraud. "A man has as much right to burn his home down as he has to tear it down," said Edward Frances Murphy. His reason for so doing: he hated his neighbors.

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