‘This Cigarette Did Mischief’

A canvas awning on fire alerted police to unlawful activity in August 1911 — working on a Sunday.

Firefighters put out the fire at 108 West Baltimore Street, then police started investigating its cause.

“In going upstairs they say they found seven men at work on the third floor and three men sitting in an office on the second floor,” reported the Baltimore Sun. “All were taken to the Central Police Station and charged with working on Sunday … The police believe that one of the men threw a lighted cigarette on the canvas awning.”

Source: Baltimore Sun, August 19, 1911