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The Young Boys Who Burned Down A School Because They Hated Their Reading Assignment
In 1904, a Chicago school was burned to the ground by three grade school children who loathed the book their teacher was making them read
Children often dig their heels in when they come across something they don’t want to do. However, patience and teachable moments often get compliance without any further significant backlash. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in 1904 when three young grade school boys burned their school to the ground when their teacher kept making them read and learn from a book they all hated.
The March 23, 1904 issue of the Chicago Tribune told the story of how the Holden School in Chicago was mysteriously burned to the ground, causing the injury of six men caught in its destructive path. Shockingly, an investigation found that the conflagration had not only been arson, it had been committed by three young boys. 10-year-olds, Stanislaus Marcenkowski and Fred Jezuita, and eight-year-old Charles Zintak, who all lived in the same building a block from the fire, were taken into custody.
Young Zintak copped to what he and his friends had done after he was arrested and answered questions about why they had committed the horrible deed:
