Police Think Tuesday's Cleverly Blaze Planned

Tuesday night's fire in Cleverly Hall was called the work of an arsonist by Cambridge Police and Fire Department officials yesterday. Although the cause of the blaze is still of "undetermined origin," investigators revealed that they had several suspects in mind and are now seeking to link the recent blaze to Saturday night's $65,000 conflagration.

Detective Captain Patrick F. Ready of the Cambridge Police Department and Lieutenants Crowley and O'Conner of the State Fire Marshall's office are directing the investigation. University Police Chief Alvin R. Randall is assisting.

Carefully Planned

According to Ready, the location of the Tuesday fire in an out-of-the-way closet on the first floor of Claverly indicates that the job was carefully planned. O'Connor agreed with Ready's theories last night and suggested that the location might mean that students were involved.

Chief John R. Collins of the Cambridge Fire Department has officially handed the case over to the State office. He said his personal theory was that someone was trying to burn the whole building down.

Report the Suspicious

Although no official warning has been issued, Captain Ready last night asked the CRIMSON to warn all students in the Harvard area to report any suspicious looking people to either Randall or Ready. "There's definitely something wrong up there," Ready said, "and until we find out just what it is, everyone is in danger."

Meanwhile, while police were trying to link the two fires, Gardner E. Lindzey, lecturer in Social Relations, suggested the theory that someone with latent pyromaniac tendencies might have been inspired to set the second fire by the publicity and attention given the first one. He added, however, that this was pure conjecture.

There have been several other fires in dormitories this year, but none have followed each other so suspiciously as the Claverly blazes.