Heading Over the Edge
Eventually, he thought – or someone suggested -- that maybe it wasn’t a probate issue. Maybe the heirs were at fault. Maybe they wanted to get a little extra money and avoid taxes by renting the old house after all. Desperate to move things along, and worrying more and more, he “reasoned” that no landlord could rent out a burned-out shell of a house. And so, one night he started a fire, just in case.
Afterwards, he may have thought that his arson had achieved its purpose: no one repaired or tried to rent the damaged house. On the other hand, the end of probate still was not in sight. Kyriacou seemed no closer to owning the corner, and the house was more of an eyesore than before. Summer went by; autumn went by. The Empire would soon celebrate its second Christmas on the new site, and the empty little house was still there, hogging the corner to no one’s benefit.
As December came, his frustration became unbearable, and he lashed out – not against any person, but against the empty house itself. He devised a Plan B, which turned out to be his old Plan A, but with an extra order of gasoline on the side. The result was not at all what Archie Kyriacou had wanted:
Initial news reports said that a Nassau County policeman had been on duty at his assigned post, the John Street Police Booth. Let’s look at that intersection again, this time focusing on the booth, which I’ve circled – well, ellipsed. The news reports pointed out that it was only “steps away from” the house.
Before being sedated heavily for medical reasons, severely burned Patrolman Charles Beck had been able to relate that he’d observed two “boys” (later described variously in news reports as teenagers, men, vagrants, etc.) enter the deserted house. He attempted to investigate, but as he opened the house’s door, he was hit by an explosion that burned away most of his uniform. He might survive his burns, but it was unlikely that Beck would ever be able to work again.
There was a fortunate but puzzling aspect to his tale: no bodies or survivors were found in the house. What had happened to the two people who entered it just before him?
Facts and allegations dribbled in over the next several days. Then Archie Kyriacou was arrested and charged with second-degree arson, pending Grand Jury deliberations. He admitted pouring gasoline into the house through a window, but he denied that he had set it on fire. He added that he was very upset about the injuries to Patrolman Beck, whom he considered a close friend. Reporters confirmed that Kyriacou had requested, and had been granted, a private hearing with the judge who would be handling the charges, but what the two had discussed remained confidential.
