Tuesday, August 14, 2007

"Little Lamb" house destroyed by arson

One of Sterling's landmark sites was burned to the ground Sunday morning. According to the Telegram and Gazette, the home of Mary Sawyer, the girl described in "Mary Had a Little Lamb," was destroyed in a suspicious blaze:

STERLING-- The birthplace of Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, the girl who became famous for bringing her lamb to school in the poem, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," has been destroyed by fire.

Fire officials are calling it arson.

About 4:30 Sunday morning, the Fire Department received a phone call from a neighbor saying the house at 108 Maple St. was in flames. Firefighters arrived to find the house -- in which no one has lived for about 18 years -- engulfed in flames.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal's office, as well as Sterling police and fire investigators.

It's a disgrace that someone would torch what is probably our town's proudest historic site (To give you an idea of how important the poem is to Sterling's identity, we have a bronze statue of the lamb on the town green).

There is a $5,000 reward for info leading to an arrest. Hopefully that will be money well spent.

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