From the Richmond Dispatch, 11/30/1861, p. 2, c. 3
Fire. – Between 8 and 9 o'clock yesterday morning, a shed in the rear of Dibrell's Warehouse, on Cary street, below 21st, was discovered to be on fire, and the alarm was promptly given. The reel of Company "C" was soon on the ground, and the flames were extinguished after burning some big holes through the roof. The shed runs back to the County Jail, the windows of which overlook it, and some of the Yankee prisoners seemed vastly amused at the proceedings incident to the fire. The supposition is that they know something of its origin, for there is no way in which the building could have taken fire unless someone had climbed upon the roof and kindled it, (which would hardly have been done in broad daylight,) or else by dropping some combustible from the Jail windows. Though this may possibly have been done carelessly or thoughtlessly, there was a very general impression in the neighborhood that the fire originated in this manner. If our caged Yankees show a disposition to indulge in that sort of pastime, it would be well enough to have them looked after. Had not the fire yesterday morning been early discovered, many thousands of dollars worth of tobacco, to say nothing of other property, would have been consumed.